Peter Costello
Archives | State Papers
Echoes of the past from the archives
In previous centuries, perhaps even down to the 1950s, local traditions and what were called then ‘superstitions’ prevented Irish country people interfering with ancient sites from prehistoric, Celtic and early Christian periods. ‘A fear of the fairies’ went along way to prospering field monuments, raths, and tombs.
But the discovery of such things as the Broighter Hoard in 1896 suggested that there was money to be made out of ancient objects. The finders of that got £600 from the British Museum. Later treasure hunters naturally hoped for more as greater scientific interest raised the value of finds as treasure trove, despite legislation north and south that was aimed by the new administrations to preserve the past from plundering.
The releases this year provide examples of this plundering relating to the Tully Processional cross and the Derrynaflan Hoard. These make for sad and also shocking reading, especially for those with a particular reverence for or scientific interest in the relics of our Christian past.
[Files 2017/4/662; 2017/2/73]