insecurity. In most cases, presumably, such hidden
goods were subsequently retrieved by the owners, but
evidently there were many cases where this did not
happen and the objects remained concealed until acci-
dentally found at a much later date.
It is in the nature of such hoards that they tend to
contain valuable and important objects—precisely the
types of object that are rarely encountered in the exca-
vation of settlement sites. This underlines the importance
of hoards in the study of medieval Irish society. A case
in point is the hoard of handles, plates, and frames from
Donore, County Meath. These highly decorated pieces,
dating to the early eighth century, are thought to be door
fittings from a church, or perhaps a portable shrine, that
were concealed for safekeeping at an unknown date. Had
they been left in their original location, it is most unlikely
that they would have survived to the present.
The most important and spectacular hoards known
from medieval Ireland are two groups of early medi-
eval ecclesiastical metalwork, found at Ardagh,County
Limerick, and at Derrynaflan, County Tipperary. Both
hoards are best-known for their magnificent silver
chalices, but each contained a disparate assemblage of
eighth- and ninth-century objects that had clearly been
concealed for security in the face of some threat. The
Derrynaflan hoard is thought to have been deposited
during the ninth century and the Ardagh hoard was
probably deposited slightly later, perhaps in the early
tenth century. It seems reasonable to suggest that the
Derrynaflan hoard—composed entirely of liturgical
objects, such as a paten and wine strainer, in addition
to the silver chalice—represents the altar service of
the early medieval monastic church at Derrynaflan.
The Ardagh hoard also consists, at least in part, of
liturgical vessels—including a bronze chalice, smaller
and simpler than the silver chalices—but it was found
on a secular site (a ringfort) and its origins are more
difficult to reconstruct.
The Viking period also witnessed the appearance of
a new and distinctive type of hoard—silver hoards, com-
posed of combinations of coins, ingots, ornaments, and
hack-silver (cut-up fragments of ingots or ornaments).
Over 130 silver hoards, datable from the ninth to twelfth
centuries, are known from Ireland and are an invaluable
source of information on the Viking and Hiberno-Norse
periods. What the hoards reveal, above all, is that hith-
erto unprecedented levels of wealth, in the form of sil-
ver, were reaching Ireland in this period—clearly as a
result of Scandinavian activity. The hoards also chart,
in outline, the progression of the Irish economy from
an entirely coinless system, through a bullion economy,
to a faltering coin-based economy. Analysis by Sheehan
and Graham-Campbell has revealed that hoards of the
ninth and early tenth centuries are almost entirely
coinless—consisting of objects being kept for their
bullion value, in an economy where silver bullion, rather
than formal coinage, was the main medium of exchange.
In the tenth century, mixed hoards—containing some
coinage—become more common, and after about
940 A.D., hoards composed exclusively of coins begin
to predominate. These comprise predominantly Anglo-
Saxon coins, in the tenth century, and Hiberno-Norse
coins in the eleventh century. A series of extremely large
hoards of late-tenth-century Anglo-Saxon coins, discov-
ered in late twentieth-century excavations in Dublin, is
seen as part of the process leading to the minting of the
first Irish coinage, which took place in Dublin circa 997.
Although coin hoards are common, however, they rep-
resent a relatively insignificant amount of silver, in bul-
lion terms, and Sheehan argues that most silver was
imported into Ireland in the period from 850–950,
before the use of coinage became common.
Analysis of the distribution of Viking-Age silver
hoards reveals that while the coinless hoards are rela-
tively evenly spread over much of the country (although
with a discernable concentration in the Midlands),
mixed hoards and coin hoards display a strong concen-
tration on the east coast and east Midlands. This is taken
as evidence for the central role of the Viking coastal
settlements—particularly Dublin—in the dispersal of
this silver within Ireland. The distribution also makes it
clear, however, that much of the wealth represented by
the hoards ended up in Irish hands, presumably, in the
main, as a result of trade with the Vikings and Hiberno-
Norse. In the later Middle Ages, hoarding of objects
other than coins becomes so rare as to be effectively
nonexistent. Coins continued to be hoarded, however,
especially in times of insecurity, and coin hoards con-
tinue to be an important source of information.
ANDY HALPINReferences and Further Reading
Gerreits, M. “Money Among the Irish: Coin Hoards in Viking
Age Ireland.” Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of
Ireland115 (1985): 121–139.
Graham-Campbell, J. “The Viking-age silver hoards of Ireland.”
InProceedings of the Seventh Viking Congress, Dublin 1973,
edited by B. Almqvist and D. Greene, 31–74. Dublin: Royal
Irish Academy/Viking Society for Northern Research, 1976.
Kenny, M. “The Geographical Distribution of Irish Viking-Age
Coin Hoards.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy87C
(1987): 507–525.
Ó Floinn, R. “The Archaeology of the Early Viking Age in
Ireland.” In Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age,
edited by H. B. Clarke, et al., 131–165. Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 1998.
Ryan, M. F. The Derrynaflan Hoard I: A Preliminary Account.
Dublin: National Museum of Ireland, 1983.
Sheehan, J. “Early Viking Age Silver Hoards from Ireland and
their Scandinavian Elements.” In Ireland and Scandinavia
in the Early Viking Age, edited by H. B. Clarke, et al.,
166–202. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1998.HOARDS