Inch treasure up for major award

Inch treasure up for major award

3 May 2017

A BRONZE age gold locket found buried in Inch farmland has been shortlisted in a UK-wide competition celebrating the best ever treasure finds.

The incredibly rare ‘bulla’ was unearthed outside Downpatrick in October 2008 by a treasure hunter with a metal detector and officially declared treasure the following year at Belfast Coroner’s Court.

The bulla — an amulet worn like a locket — was found by Bangor man Glen McCamley on land owned by Inch farmer John Kennedy and put on display in the Ulster Museum.

Less than three centimetres in length, it was considered remarkable for its intricate gold work.

And now the gold bulla has been shortlisted as one of the ‘Treasure20’ after experts in Celtic, Romano-British, medieval and early modern archaeology met this week at the British Museum to select their favourite finds over the past 20 years.

You don’t have to be an expert, however, to vote for your favourite, with the competition opened to the public on the Daily Telegraph newspaper website. 

Listed as the ‘Downpatrick Bulla’ on the shortlist, the entry reads: “This tiny gold object (less than 3cm in length) is an item of jewellery from the Late Bronze Age in Ireland (around 950-800 BC.) It is a rare, evocative find and remarkable for the quality of the gold work on such a miniature scale.”

The bulla has two main parts – a heart or bag-shaped body and a tubular top. The thin sheet of gold from which it is made is decorated where the front and back join with 13 tiny strands of twisted wire and four strands along the top.

The Ulster Museum believe the fact that it has a tube along the top suggests it was threaded with a leather thong and worn as a sacred necklace or locket.

At time of its discovery only six others from Ireland were known.

Mr Kennedy told Belfast Coroner’s Court back in April 2008 that the bulla had been found on arable crop land.

“It is quite small but there is an incredible amount of detail for something so small,” he said.

“There is a lot of history behind the whole place and it would have been all sea where we lived so perhaps this is how it got washed up.”

The Treasure20 competition is part of the celebrations of two decades of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which encourages the voluntary recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public.

The gold bulla is up against treasures such as 2,000 year-old Iron Age spoons, a hoard of Roman coins and rare Viking silver.

Calling for gold bulla votes, the Ulster Museum tweeted: “Please vote for our Bronze Age #Downpatrick gold bulla (locket) as your favourite UK treasure find #Treasure20.”

Cast your vote by May 15 at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/mood-and-mind/treasure-20-vote-favourite/