Global InformationBallinderry Brooch information
| Ballinderry Brooch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | Copper-alloy, tin, enamel, millefiori |
| Size | head (diameter): 8.6cm, pin (length) 18.3cm |
| Period/culture | late 6th or early 7th century |
| Place | Ballinderry lake, County Offaly |
| Present location | National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin |
| Identification | NMI E6:422 |
The Ballinderry Brooch is an Irish penannular brooch dated to the late 6th or early 7th centuries. It was found in the 1930s, along with a number of similar objects, underneath a timber floor of the late Bronze Age Ballinderry Crannóg No.2, on Ballinderry lake, County Offaly.[1] Made from copper-alloy, tin and enamel, and decorated with millefiori patterns, it is relatively small, with a maximum ring diameter of 8.6 cm, while its pin is 18.3 cm long.[2]
The brooch is on permanent display in the National Museum of Ireland Treasury room. It is considered one of the most important and elaborately formed and decorated of the surviving penannular brooches. Although locally produced, it may have connections to Anglo-Saxon metalworkers as it closely resembles designs from a fragment of a hanging-bowl frame dated as pre-625 (probably 600 AD), from the Sutton Hoo hoard.[3]
- ^ Newman (2002), p. 111
- ^ Ryan (1989), p. 41
- ^ Bruce-Mitford, et al (2015), p. 440