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SCANDINAVIAN OBJECTS FOUNi:) AT ISLAND-BRIDGE AND 



KILMAINHAM. 



By GEOECtE COFFEY and E. C. II. ARMSTEONG. 

 Plate IV. 



lioiid Feiiuuauy 14. Ovdercl foi- I'libliuiition Feuiiuary 1G. Piililislicrl >[av 1!1, 1910. 



In vol. X. of the Proceedings of the Eoyal Irish Academy, 1866-69, there 

 is a report of a paper read December 10th, 1866, by Sir William Wilde, 

 Vice-President, " On the Scandinavian Antiquities lately discovered at 

 Islandbridge, near Dublin." 



The report states that " Sir William Wilde, Vice-President, brought under 

 the notice of the Academy an account of the Antiquities of Scandinavian origin, 

 lately found in the fields sloping down from the ridge of Inchicore to the 

 Liffey, and to the south-west of the village of Islandbridge, outside the 

 municipal boundary of the city of Dublin, where, there was reason to believe, 

 some of the so-called Danish engagements with the native Irish took place. 

 These antiquities consisted of swords of great length, spearheads, and bosses 

 of shields, all of iron ; also iron knives, smiths' and metal smelters' tongs, 

 hammer heads, and pin brooches, &e. Of bronze there were four (pair) very 

 beautiful tortoise-shaped or mammillary brooches found, likewise some 

 decorative mantle pins and helmet crests of fiudruiu, or white metal ; beams 

 and scales of the same material, and leaden weights, decorated and enamelled 

 on top, and in some cases ornamented with minerals." 



A further description of some of the objects follows and some remarks 

 upon the pattern of the swords. 



The question as to the conditions of the find was next considered, and the 

 report goes on : — 



" The circumstances under which the osseous remains and the accompany- 

 ing relics were found were well worthy of consideration. The surface of the 

 great pit from which the macadamizing material of Dublin was being 

 procured, which was about twenty feet in section, consisted of a layer of 

 dark, alluvial soil, varying from eighteen inches to two feet in depth, l^pon 

 the gravel bed on which it rested were found several skeletons ; and 

 among their bones, both above and below them, were discovered the ditt'ereut 

 articles referred to. It would appear that they were worn by or were in the 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXVril., SKCT. C. [17] 



