0:00:03 > 0:00:07Ireland's museums are rich with treasure.
0:00:07 > 0:00:12Precious artefacts that connect this land to its ancient past.
0:00:14 > 0:00:19Some are iconic, others overlooked.
0:00:19 > 0:00:25But each one has a story to tell and a unique place in Irish history.
0:00:28 > 0:00:29In this programme,
0:00:29 > 0:00:33we'll explore the forgotten riches, remarkable discoveries
0:00:33 > 0:00:39and surprising tales behind this island's most precious artefacts.
0:00:39 > 0:00:43And we'll reveal how ancient treasures continue to shed new light
0:00:43 > 0:00:46on the story of Ireland, north and south.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51To tell this story, we've asked leading experts
0:00:51 > 0:00:56to champion the treasures they feel are the most exceptional.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59This scroll is unique in medieval Europe,
0:00:59 > 0:01:01there's nothing like this anywhere else.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Treasures integral to Ireland's story.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07They still bear the physical impression
0:01:07 > 0:01:09of King William's own hands.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13This book is the earliest surviving manuscript,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16written entirely in the Irish language.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19And treasures that astound us.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21They weren't noticed by the robbers
0:01:21 > 0:01:25because they're extremely flat, they're extremely light.
0:01:26 > 0:01:31These are the undiscovered tales and astonishing stories
0:01:31 > 0:01:34behind Ireland's greatest treasures.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47Dr Gavin Hughes and I have been given full access
0:01:47 > 0:01:50to the island's two largest museums -
0:01:50 > 0:01:53the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin,
0:01:53 > 0:01:57and here, the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
0:01:57 > 0:02:02- Here we come over to the Bronze Age. - Look at this gold, that's wonderful.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04I quite like the battle axes but that's just me.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Using this incredible collection,
0:02:09 > 0:02:12we are about to uncover the stories
0:02:12 > 0:02:14behind Ireland's best-loved artefacts.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21And we begin with this island's most celebrated treasure.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24Jewellery from medieval Ireland,
0:02:24 > 0:02:28that would shape history in modern Ireland.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31No country in the world
0:02:31 > 0:02:35is as closely associated with the Celts as Ireland is.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37But that wasn't always the case.
0:02:37 > 0:02:42And there's one iconic treasure that helps to tell the story of how,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45in the 19th century, Ireland put the Celts
0:02:45 > 0:02:49at the heart of their national story.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51That treasure is the Tara Brooch.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01The brooch is on permanent display at the National Museum of Ireland,
0:03:01 > 0:03:06under the watchful eye of museum director, Dr Raghnall O Floinn.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11The Tara Brooch is probably the single greatest treasure
0:03:11 > 0:03:13in metalwork that survives in Ireland.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17It is effectively the equivalent in metalwork of the Book of Kells.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22It was exceptional in the early 8th century,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26when it was made, and remains an exceptional piece today.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28Modern jewellers are still confounded
0:03:28 > 0:03:31by some of the techniques used in its manufacture.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37Even the name, the Tara Brooch, has a majestic feel,
0:03:37 > 0:03:40conjuring a bygone Ireland of ancient kings,
0:03:40 > 0:03:45ruling from the island's most famous royal site, the Hill of Tara.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49But these are only romantic connections, not based on fact.
0:03:52 > 0:03:53The Tara Brooch, in fact,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56is nothing whatsoever to do with the Hill of Tara,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59the reputed seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01It was actually found some miles away
0:04:01 > 0:04:04at the coastal site of Bettystown, County Meath.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Soon after it was found in 1850,
0:04:07 > 0:04:11the brooch was sold to Dublin jeweller George Waterhouse,
0:04:11 > 0:04:13who saw its commercial potential.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16Replicas were advertised as "The Tara Brooch,"
0:04:16 > 0:04:18for its regal status,
0:04:18 > 0:04:23both in Ireland and for a much larger market in England.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28He presented the brooch to Queen Victoria,
0:04:28 > 0:04:31within a couple of weeks of him acquiring it.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34He then marketed the brooch under the title,
0:04:34 > 0:04:37the Royal Antique Irish Brooch.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40So it was doubly associated both with the High Kings of Ireland
0:04:40 > 0:04:42and with Queen Victoria.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46The Tara Brooch had become a fashion symbol.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50And by the turn of the century, adverts were in every newspaper.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Even in theatre brochures for plays by WB Yeats.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58But the significance of the Tara Brooch was changing.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03As Irish nationalism rose, this treasure rose with it,
0:05:03 > 0:05:06becoming a symbol of resistance.
0:05:06 > 0:05:07During the Easter Rising,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11it was literally a badge for certain rebel groups.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16So, here you have this brooch,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18on the cusp of the changeover
0:05:18 > 0:05:21from the fashionable 19th-century wearing
0:05:21 > 0:05:23of archaeological jewellery,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27the rediscovery of an Irish national costume,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30and moving into the political nationalist arena
0:05:30 > 0:05:32in the early 20th century.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38The Tara Brooch was at the centre of a Celtic revival.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41Whether as a fashion item endorsed by the Queen,
0:05:41 > 0:05:47then replicated for the mass market, or as a symbol of Irish rebellion,
0:05:47 > 0:05:52this brooch has always been linked to a Celtic past,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55used to create a distinct Irish identity.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03I think the idea of Celtic identity is probably much stronger now
0:06:03 > 0:06:07- than it ever has been. - As proved by the Celtic revival.
0:06:07 > 0:06:12It's almost like a renewal of identity on a perceived past.
0:06:12 > 0:06:16And largely through the prism of the Tara brooch.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18And it's incredible how important art work is
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- to that construction of identity. - That's right.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25- So this is a replica of that wonderful brooch.- It is.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29I mean, it is really amazing, it's incredibly ornate.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32It is, quite clearly. It borrowed from the reputation
0:06:32 > 0:06:34and the whole symbolism of Tara.
0:06:34 > 0:06:36I mean, you look at the front of it and you think,
0:06:36 > 0:06:39that's pretty fantastic to begin with.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42- But the really interesting thing is, you turn it over...- Oh, wow.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45- ..and it's even prettier. - That's beautiful.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47That's fantastic, isn't it?
0:06:47 > 0:06:51And this, of course, is the side of the brooch which would not be seen
0:06:51 > 0:06:52when it was being worn.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54So the wearer knew that it was there.
0:06:54 > 0:06:56- The wearer knew. - This must have been an object...
0:06:56 > 0:06:59- a really prized personal possession. - Well, this is it.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01And you can quite easily see why,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04whenever it came to light in 1850,
0:07:04 > 0:07:08why there's a sudden kind of spiralling of jewellers saying,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12"Right, we're going to make things exactly like this."
0:07:12 > 0:07:16- They're cashing in. - They are cashing in, absolutely!
0:07:16 > 0:07:21These Tara-inspired brooches would become a fashion staple
0:07:21 > 0:07:22in Victorian times.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25But it's still big business in Ireland today.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29Modern jewellers capitalise on the Celtic designs
0:07:29 > 0:07:32that Ireland has become famous for.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34But in actual fact,
0:07:34 > 0:07:38the original Tara Brooch was made hundreds of years after the Celts.
0:07:40 > 0:07:44Fortunately, the Ulster Museum has an artefact that IS Celtic.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46Made in the Iron Age.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53And, of course, here we have, if you like, the real thing.
0:07:53 > 0:07:57This is the Bann Disc, and this dates to the first century AD.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01- This is what I would call proper Celtic artwork.- Yes.
0:08:01 > 0:08:02See, what I find interesting is,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06this is speaking of a connection with the continent,
0:08:06 > 0:08:10of a style of art which is there in Ireland, and in Britain,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12and across to the continent.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16Whereas these brooches are a much more Western phenomenon.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18They're Irish, they're Scottish.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21There's inspiration perhaps coming through from the Iron Age,
0:08:21 > 0:08:23but also from other areas as well.
0:08:23 > 0:08:24And I know that art historians
0:08:24 > 0:08:27are really nervous about calling this Celtic art.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29It's what everybody thinks of as Celtic art.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31This is it, it's the traditional kind of idea,
0:08:31 > 0:08:35the stereotype of what Celtic art should be, this is it.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37I think it reminds us that all too often,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39we look at jewellery and artwork perhaps
0:08:39 > 0:08:41as slightly frivolous objects,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44but they have immense political weight.
0:08:44 > 0:08:48The Tara Brooch helped to forge Ireland's identity
0:08:48 > 0:08:53as a Celtic nation, but connections back to the Iron Age Celts
0:08:53 > 0:08:55are still hotly debated.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58There's little evidence of a Celtic invasion of Ireland.
0:08:58 > 0:09:02Ancient Irish art combines inspiration from the continent
0:09:02 > 0:09:04with home-grown ideas.
0:09:04 > 0:09:10The topic of the ancient Celts divides archaeologists to this day.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13But debate is a cornerstone of archaeology,
0:09:13 > 0:09:15as seen again with our next treasure.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20The story behind Ireland's most famous golden treasure
0:09:20 > 0:09:25cuts right to the heart of how we interpret our ancestors.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27It straddles borders,
0:09:27 > 0:09:32and it pits what we perceive to be modern truth against ancient myth.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34It is the Broighter Hoard.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42Made up of seven gold ornaments,
0:09:42 > 0:09:46every artefact in the hoard has been worked by a master craftsman
0:09:46 > 0:09:47in the Iron Age.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Dr Ned Kelly is the former head of antiquities
0:09:51 > 0:09:54at the National Museum of Ireland.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57He's spent decades unravelling its significance.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01He's convinced these objects are of European-wide importance.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08The Broighter Hoard is truly one of our great national treasures.
0:10:08 > 0:10:14The quality of the artwork on the objects, and indeed,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16the technical superiority of the craftsmen
0:10:16 > 0:10:19who made these objects,
0:10:19 > 0:10:24places them at the very forefront of European metalwork in the Iron Age.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28The hoard was discovered in 1896
0:10:28 > 0:10:32in the townland of Broighter near Lough Foyle.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Within months, the British Museum had purchased the gold
0:10:35 > 0:10:38for its London collection.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41It was an act unpopular in Dublin.
0:10:42 > 0:10:43The Royal Irish Academy,
0:10:43 > 0:10:47with their advocate in Parliament, William Redmond,
0:10:47 > 0:10:50led a crusade to bring the hoard back.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Their key weapon was a fiery lawyer named Edward Carson.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00The irony here is extraordinary.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02A decade later, Edward Carson would battle William
0:11:02 > 0:11:07and his brother John Redmond over the burning issue of home rule.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11It would bring the country to the very brink of civil war.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16But for now, in 1903, they were united in a common cause -
0:11:16 > 0:11:18to bring an Irish treasure back home.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26To decide the gold's fate, the court sought to answer a single question.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Why had these objects been buried over 2,000 years ago?
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Edward Carson argued the hoard had been buried
0:11:35 > 0:11:38but the owner intended to come back for it.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42He knew that under the laws of treasure trove, a lost artefact
0:11:42 > 0:11:47would be awarded to the state where it was found, in this case, Ireland.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50The British Museum disagreed.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53They claimed the gold was an offering to the gods.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56The owner had no intention of recovering it.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01So, under the law, ownership fell not to the state
0:12:01 > 0:12:02but to whoever found it.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Central to this argument were the stories found
0:12:08 > 0:12:10in Ireland's Iron Age mythology.
0:12:10 > 0:12:15Tales relating to an Irish sea god named Manannan mac Lir.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Ned Kelly has studied these myths for years,
0:12:19 > 0:12:22and can link them directly to both the artefacts
0:12:22 > 0:12:24and the location where they were found.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31In the ancient mythology, Manannan mac Lir is a solar deity,
0:12:31 > 0:12:37who was believed to have had a residence underneath Lough Foyle.
0:12:37 > 0:12:42And Manannan would have been one of the attendants of the sun,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44to protect the solar boat,
0:12:44 > 0:12:48especially as it travelled through the Otherworld at night.
0:12:48 > 0:12:54So this would have been very appropriate to offer to a sea god.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00The connections are feasible.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02But would a British court uphold an argument
0:13:02 > 0:13:04based on ancient Irish folklore?
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Or would the judge rely instead on the bare facts
0:13:09 > 0:13:11that suggested this treasure was lost?
0:13:13 > 0:13:18As it turned out, there were no ambiguities in the decision.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20This was the judge's verdict.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24"I must express my opinion that the court has been occupied
0:13:24 > 0:13:28"for some considerable time in listening to fanciful suggestions
0:13:28 > 0:13:31"more suited to the poem of a Celtic Bard
0:13:31 > 0:13:34"than the prose of an English Law Report.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37"The result is that I will make a declaration
0:13:37 > 0:13:41"that the articles in question are treasure trove."
0:13:42 > 0:13:46Redmond's Irish Parliamentary party, Edward Carson
0:13:46 > 0:13:48and the Royal Irish Academy, had won.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54So, the Broighter Hoard would be the prized possession not of London,
0:13:54 > 0:13:56but of Dublin.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59A city that just 20 years later
0:13:59 > 0:14:01would be part of a different country.
0:14:03 > 0:14:06Ned Kelly has joined us to unravel this story further.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Along with the curator here at the Ulster Museum, Dr Greer Ramsey.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15There are so many ironies about this case.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19We have Redmond allying with Carson, the Royal Irish Academy,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21to bring this back to Dublin.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24How significant was it to be returned to Dublin?
0:14:24 > 0:14:29I think Carson and Redmond, the Royal Irish Academy
0:14:29 > 0:14:32and the British Museum all recognised that this was a treasure
0:14:32 > 0:14:36of European proportions, it was a really, really important find.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39And Carson, of course, as a lawyer,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42he would have realised that the legal process
0:14:42 > 0:14:47to determine who owned these items hadn't been carried through.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50But also, as a Dublin man who grew up just around the corner
0:14:50 > 0:14:54from the National Museum, he would have seen the National Museum
0:14:54 > 0:14:58as the appropriate place for a great national treasure to be placed.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02And what do you think about the story behind this boat, Ned?
0:15:02 > 0:15:06Is it representing some sort of Iron Age mythology?
0:15:06 > 0:15:10Well, we have a number of clues in the mythology.
0:15:10 > 0:15:16Manannan mac Lir is believed to have a residence beneath Lough Foyle.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18- So is he a deity?- He is a deity.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And then there's the actual objects that are in the hoard.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25We know Manannan has a boat that travels over land and water,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27that, of course, was the solar boat.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30But he also has a cauldron of plenty.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33These are both objects which are represented in the hoard,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36and which are associated with solar worship,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39the cauldron of plenty being the sun itself.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42We find it in the Bronze Age, we find it in the Iron Age.
0:15:42 > 0:15:43The idea that objects were
0:15:43 > 0:15:45deliberately disposed to appease the gods,
0:15:45 > 0:15:48whether it's bringing good luck or warding off evil.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50So when you look at all of the evidence,
0:15:50 > 0:15:54it's definitely pointing you towards these objects being
0:15:54 > 0:15:57a votive deposit to this particular deity.
0:15:57 > 0:16:00Now, both of you seem to be very comfortable discussing this hoard
0:16:00 > 0:16:02as a votive offering.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05So historically, then, you would have been arguing
0:16:05 > 0:16:07for it to have been kept in the British Museum.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09At the time, that's the argument.
0:16:09 > 0:16:12You might not necessarily think,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14"And therefore it should go to the British Museum."
0:16:14 > 0:16:18I think people would always have wanted this hoard to stay in Ireland.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21So this means the metalwork from this hoard ended up
0:16:21 > 0:16:23in its right place in Ireland,
0:16:23 > 0:16:25but for the wrong reasons.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31But being in its right place would be short lived.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35The partition of Ireland in 1922 left the hoard
0:16:35 > 0:16:37and a wealth of other artefacts
0:16:37 > 0:16:40separated by a border from where they were found.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46It means here at the Ulster Museum, we must view a replica.
0:16:48 > 0:16:49- Can I pick this up?- Yeah.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52This replica, these are antiques in their own right, aren't they?
0:16:52 > 0:16:55- Yes, they were...- It feels like it's going to come apart.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57It will actually come apart.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01If you twist it, it shows you how the hinge mechanism works.
0:17:01 > 0:17:04So we're presuming this is how it would've been originally joined.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07So unfortunately, as you say, it's not the original we have,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09it's a replica.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11After the island was partitioned,
0:17:11 > 0:17:15discussions took place between the authorities in the north and south
0:17:15 > 0:17:18on what to do with the national collection.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22The outcome of the negotiations was that the northern attorneys
0:17:22 > 0:17:25- took a cash settlement.- Really?
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Yes, and the whole of the national collection stayed in Dublin.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30This is your predecessors, Greer!
0:17:30 > 0:17:33Yes! I should of course point out that the majority of treasures
0:17:33 > 0:17:35in the National Museum,
0:17:35 > 0:17:37the best treasures in the National Museum,
0:17:37 > 0:17:40were of course from the north, including the Broighter Hoard.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45The story of where the Broighter Hoard ended up
0:17:45 > 0:17:48is rich with irony and tangled in politics.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52A tale almost as sumptuous as the treasure itself.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57But further back than our modern notions of this island,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01this gold treasure is part of a flowering of art and craft
0:18:01 > 0:18:05that accompanied the first metalworking in Europe.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10In the Bronze Age, Ireland was the centre of gold working in Europe.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And today's craftsmen still marvel at the skill
0:18:13 > 0:18:15of those ancient metalworkers.
0:18:17 > 0:18:22As a result, Ireland's museums are filled with artefacts,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25treasures emblematic of the Bronze Age.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28But they also remind us that this landscape
0:18:28 > 0:18:31was once rich with our most valuable metal -
0:18:31 > 0:18:33gold.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35It doesn't rust or tarnish.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Treasures shine as if they were just crafted.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45But gold is also easily reused,
0:18:45 > 0:18:51and countless artefacts must have met their fate in a melting pot.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53Lost forever.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57It is a small miracle when precious objects survive from antiquity.
0:19:01 > 0:19:07Our next treasure is not just one artefact, but dozens.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12Gold rescued from being melted down by an antiquarian
0:19:12 > 0:19:15before Ireland's National Museum had even been founded.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22Unlike the Broighter Hoard, this treasure would end up in London.
0:19:22 > 0:19:26A vital piece, in fact, in the British Museum's gold collection.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31But it all began in a small village in County Kilkenny.
0:19:33 > 0:19:35It was here in Piltown
0:19:35 > 0:19:39where Redmond Anthony started a small museum in the 1830s.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50Redmond Anthony was my great-great-great-great-grandfather,
0:19:50 > 0:19:52and he lived here in the inn in Piltown.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55The inn at the time was a hotel and it had a museum upstairs
0:19:55 > 0:19:57here in the bar just above me.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Anthony's museum displayed gold artefacts
0:20:01 > 0:20:05he had bought from local jewellers, along with other curiosities.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11The museum didn't just hold the antiquities that Redmond collected
0:20:11 > 0:20:14but it also held things such as a stuffed polar bear,
0:20:14 > 0:20:17coins from Alexander the Great, etc,
0:20:17 > 0:20:19and so it was probably quite unusual
0:20:19 > 0:20:23in the time in rural Ireland to have those type of items
0:20:23 > 0:20:26and therefore quite a few people travelled from far and wide
0:20:26 > 0:20:29to just come and visit the museum here in Piltown.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34Redmond Anthony's museum was not a vain pursuit.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38By the mid-1840s, the Great Famine was ravaging the country.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41Anthony believed his museum could help.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46The entrance funds that were collected for the museum
0:20:46 > 0:20:49he donated to the fever hospital in Carrick-on-Suir,
0:20:49 > 0:20:53which went a long way towards alleviating some of the suffering in Carrick-on-Suir.
0:20:55 > 0:20:58Redmond Anthony died in 1849,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01just as the Great Famine was coming to an end.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04His museum closed and his artefacts were sold off.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09But part of his collection would stay together -
0:21:09 > 0:21:11not in Piltown but in London.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16Dr Neil Wilkin is the curator of the Bronze Age collection
0:21:16 > 0:21:18at the British Museum.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24Mr Anthony's son sold the British Museum around 50 objects
0:21:24 > 0:21:25from his collection.
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Two of the most fantastic objects that he collected
0:21:28 > 0:21:31were of Bronze Age gold and we've got two of them here.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35The first one is a gold torque
0:21:35 > 0:21:37of a middle Bronze Age date,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39so around the 14th-12th century BC.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43It's made from a single bar of gold
0:21:43 > 0:21:46that's been twisted in the hand from left to right
0:21:46 > 0:21:50with these terminals left at the end and hooked back to fasten it.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53It would have been worn around the neck of
0:21:53 > 0:21:55a very important Bronze Age person.
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Objects like this torque contain valuable amounts of gold.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Anthony kept close ties with jewellers,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08so when a treasure appeared, he bought it before it was melted down.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12This fantastic gold bracelet
0:22:12 > 0:22:15that would have been worn around the arm or upper arm.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19One of the clever features of this object is that it appears
0:22:19 > 0:22:22to be solid, but has actually been made from a tube of gold,
0:22:22 > 0:22:26so it's hollow, and in that way the Bronze Age goldsmith could
0:22:26 > 0:22:30create the appearance of something solid using far less gold
0:22:30 > 0:22:33than would be required to make it completely solid.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35Redmond Anthony's gold
0:22:35 > 0:22:40would help build the British Museum's Bronze Age collection.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44They still hold the list that came with the artefacts in 1849.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47I can read you a few of the objects from the list.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51So we have a flange twisted gold torque,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55a gold wire twisted bracelet, another gold bracelet,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57gold sleeve fastener and another of those,
0:22:57 > 0:23:00gold ring money and several more of those,
0:23:00 > 0:23:02gold wire twisted fingering,
0:23:02 > 0:23:04a golden ribbon torque.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09It formed the basis of the Bronze Age gold collection in the museum.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12To this day, scholars still come to the museum
0:23:12 > 0:23:14to learn about Bronze Age gold.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18Redmond Anthony is all but forgotten in Ireland.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25But his legacy lives on at the British Museum in London.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29An antiquarian who believed that
0:23:29 > 0:23:33this island's golden riches were worth saving.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39Many of Ireland's ancient treasures end up in the national collections
0:23:39 > 0:23:41through sheer good fortune
0:23:41 > 0:23:45thanks to a keen-eyed ploughman or a lucky turf cutter,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49but the story of how our next treasure became known to archaeologists
0:23:49 > 0:23:53is more extraordinary, perhaps, than the treasure itself,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56and it all starts in a rural pharmacy.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01Sheehan's chemist in County Roscommon
0:24:01 > 0:24:06has been an institution in Strokestown since the 1930s.
0:24:06 > 0:24:07But in 2009,
0:24:07 > 0:24:12this family-run business hit headlines around the world.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15I got a knock on the door. I was in bed at the time,
0:24:15 > 0:24:177.40 in the morning.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21It was 27th March 2009 and it was the local garda,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and he told me I had unwanted visitors during the night.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28So out the hall door I went and in the shop door.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31The gate was down, the door was wide open
0:24:31 > 0:24:35and already there were two guards here having a look around the place.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41As she slept, thieves had stolen the Sheehan family safe,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43the contents locked inside.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50Despite the intrusion, Sunniva thought only papers had been lost.
0:24:51 > 0:24:55Next thing the phone rang and it was one of my sisters, and I told her
0:24:55 > 0:24:59what had happened and she says, "Oh, what about Daddy's necklace?"
0:24:59 > 0:25:03And I says, "What necklace?" She says, "The gold one in the safe."
0:25:03 > 0:25:05And I says, "Oh, Sacred Heart!"
0:25:05 > 0:25:09With the whereabouts of the necklace unknown, a frantic search began.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Word spread around Ireland,
0:25:11 > 0:25:14eventually reaching the National Museum.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21Within minutes, I got a call from Mary Cahill in the museum
0:25:21 > 0:25:23to say she was coming down
0:25:23 > 0:25:28and herself and Ned Kelly from the museum arrived,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32I'd say, within two hours, they were here, with two books,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and the three of us went into the kitchen.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40Together they set about pinpointing exactly what the necklace was
0:25:40 > 0:25:42and how important it might be.
0:25:43 > 0:25:48We opened up the books and I identified this lunula,
0:25:48 > 0:25:50which is the first time that I heard the word,
0:25:50 > 0:25:52and these two discs
0:25:52 > 0:25:58and Ned Kelly, when I pointed out what they were in his books,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02he was hopping on the chair and he got highly, highly excited,
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and I thought he was really going to levitate up and hit the ceiling,
0:26:06 > 0:26:07I'd have to scrape him off it,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11but at the same time I got such a fright because
0:26:11 > 0:26:16it was only then that I realised the importance of these items.
0:26:17 > 0:26:20The necklace was in fact a priceless gold artefact.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24This new information kick-started the search.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29Within days, the Gardai had a breakthrough.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32There were two lads from here going to work early that morning,
0:26:32 > 0:26:36around four o'clock, and they noticed a van up and down the street
0:26:36 > 0:26:40acting suspiciously, so they took note of the number
0:26:40 > 0:26:43and they rang the guards, so at least the guards had that to go on.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47The tip-off would lead to a discovery -
0:26:47 > 0:26:51the contents of the safe had been tossed in a skip in Dublin.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56I got a call then from the guards in Roscommon and they invited us
0:26:56 > 0:26:59up to the Garda station to view it
0:26:59 > 0:27:05and it was funny to see it laid out in these cardboard boxes
0:27:05 > 0:27:07with tissue paper and white gloves beside it.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11I'd never even handled the thing. I'd never even had it in my hands.
0:27:12 > 0:27:17For the National Museum, and keeper of Irish antiquities, Mary Cahill,
0:27:17 > 0:27:21finding the gold was fantastic news and incredibly lucky.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26They weren't noticed by the robbers because they were extremely flat,
0:27:26 > 0:27:28they were extremely light,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32and they were on a piece of card wrapped in brown paper
0:27:32 > 0:27:35and looked to all intents and purposes like
0:27:35 > 0:27:40a large letter or envelope, so they were recovered intact and undamaged.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46Even more amazingly, the hoard contained not only the lunula,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48but two gold sun discs
0:27:48 > 0:27:53pulled from a bog together in Coggalbeg back in 1945.
0:27:54 > 0:27:59The Coggalbeg hoard sheds new light on our Bronze Age ancestors.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Well, we're talking about the period
0:28:02 > 0:28:06around perhaps 2200, 2300 BC.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09This is when gold working was first introduced to Ireland,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12so any object of this type during this period
0:28:12 > 0:28:15can be truly called a treasure in its own right.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19It's made of gold, it's very finely worked, it is a treasure.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23However, in the case of Coggalbeg, we have the additional value
0:28:23 > 0:28:27of the discovery of the gold discs and the lunula together.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Discovering them together
0:28:29 > 0:28:32connects two distinct artefacts like never before
0:28:32 > 0:28:37and means that this chance discovery from Sheehan's chemist
0:28:37 > 0:28:40could rewrite how we see our Bronze Age ancestors.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45But there are still more mysteries to this story.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49How did it end up in a pharmacist's safe?
0:28:49 > 0:28:52And were archaeologists at all aware of it...
0:28:52 > 0:28:54- No.- ..before it was stolen in 2009?
0:28:54 > 0:28:55We had no notion whatsoever.
0:28:55 > 0:28:59The man who found it was a local farmer called Hubert Lannon
0:28:59 > 0:29:03and he used to buy products from Sheehan's chemists
0:29:03 > 0:29:06and he was known to have an interest in history,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09so Hubert Lannon sold the items to Mr Sheehan.
0:29:09 > 0:29:12Presumably they were just forgotten about then, that was the thing,
0:29:12 > 0:29:17they were tucked away, and being so light and wrapped in paper...
0:29:17 > 0:29:21Yeah, they were just in an envelope with cardboard backing to it
0:29:21 > 0:29:27and there was a lot of paper in the safe, I went through all the stuff
0:29:27 > 0:29:31that was recovered from the skip in a garda cell in Roscommon!
0:29:31 > 0:29:35Hoping to find another couple of lunulae tucked between some pages?
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Well, not quite, but what I was looking for
0:29:37 > 0:29:41was details as to where he had acquired the objects.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45What Ned found was vital evidence
0:29:45 > 0:29:49that the lunula and the sun discs had been found together
0:29:49 > 0:29:51in the bog at Coggalbeg.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57Is that the first time, then, that a lunula has been found with discs?
0:29:57 > 0:29:59It's the first time we can say for certain.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03We had always suspected that they were associated objects,
0:30:03 > 0:30:06but of course, never having found them together,
0:30:06 > 0:30:08you couldn't prove that.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10These are two lunulae from our collection
0:30:10 > 0:30:12which are similar to the Coggalbeg hoard.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15They look incredibly thin, actually,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19- it's easy to see how they were passed over by those robbers.- Yeah.
0:30:21 > 0:30:23It's thin, but very heavy.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25I mean, you feel the weight of the gold as soon as
0:30:25 > 0:30:27I've got it there on my fingers.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29I think the entire Coggalbeg hoard
0:30:29 > 0:30:33weighed about two-and-a-half ounces, about 78g.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35They've almost the consistency of tinfoil,
0:30:35 > 0:30:37- just that they sort of bend.- Yes.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41But the metalsmiths really took advantage of the properties of gold.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43Are they unique to Ireland, Greer?
0:30:43 > 0:30:46There's around 100 lunulae known in total
0:30:46 > 0:30:49and it's estimated that around 80 are from Ireland
0:30:49 > 0:30:53and the others, then, there's a little scatter in Scotland,
0:30:53 > 0:30:55Wales and south-west England, around Cornwall,
0:30:55 > 0:30:58and a few are also known from the continent,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00so they really reinforce this idea
0:31:00 > 0:31:04that Ireland was a major producer of Bronze Age gold work
0:31:04 > 0:31:05right from the early Bronze Age
0:31:05 > 0:31:07through the middle and late Bronze Age.
0:31:07 > 0:31:10It's such a great story, the Coggalbeg hoard,
0:31:10 > 0:31:11and the way it came to light
0:31:11 > 0:31:14and the fact we've got this definite association now
0:31:14 > 0:31:16between sun discs and lunulae,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19and I just hope that the next lunula turns up, I hope
0:31:19 > 0:31:22there's an archaeologist there when it comes out of the ground.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25It would be nice to be that archaeologist!
0:31:25 > 0:31:27THEY LAUGH
0:31:27 > 0:31:31Archaeological discoveries can fire our imagination like nothing else,
0:31:31 > 0:31:35giving us stories that bring our treasures to life.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Yet archaeology is a relatively new discipline.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45We often have others to thank for preserving our greatest artefacts.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51Today, museums are the custodians of our most priceless objects
0:31:51 > 0:31:53but for centuries in Ireland,
0:31:53 > 0:31:55precious treasures were entrusted
0:31:55 > 0:31:58to generation after generation of local families.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00But by the 1800s,
0:32:00 > 0:32:03many of these guardians were facing desperate poverty,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07and so those riches were either sold or stolen,
0:32:07 > 0:32:12which explains why our next treasure is not in Ireland, but in London.
0:32:16 > 0:32:18During the 19th century,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21London was the place to be if you were an antiquarian.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24It was the height of the British Empire
0:32:24 > 0:32:27and artefacts flooded into the city from around the globe.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31These included Irish artefacts.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Dr Niamh Whitfield is an Irish archaeologist
0:32:37 > 0:32:39living and working in Britain.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42She's come to the British Museum to look for a treasure
0:32:42 > 0:32:44that for over 1,000 years
0:32:44 > 0:32:48used to call Christian pilgrims to County Donegal.
0:32:48 > 0:32:54The treasure is St Conall Cael's bell and the shrine that held it.
0:32:55 > 0:32:56The shrine itself
0:32:56 > 0:33:00is beautifully decorated and a treasure in its own right,
0:33:00 > 0:33:03but the real treasure here is the simple iron bell.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06It's a rather ordinary-looking bell
0:33:06 > 0:33:10made from a single sheet of iron folded and riveted.
0:33:12 > 0:33:14It may appear ordinary
0:33:14 > 0:33:17but this bell is associated with a remarkable figure
0:33:17 > 0:33:23dating back to Ireland's earliest Christians in the 6th century AD.
0:33:23 > 0:33:27Legend has it that the bell belonged to St Conall Cael.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31He had been a stonemason but he murdered his father,
0:33:31 > 0:33:36did penance, came to God and founded a monastery on Innishkeel,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39an island off the coast of south-west Donegal.
0:33:40 > 0:33:44St Conall Cael would be redeemed, and his monastery flourished.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47This bell is part of his great legacy.
0:33:49 > 0:33:51But it also reflects a transformation,
0:33:51 > 0:33:54as Christianity took hold of a pagan Ireland.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Such bells form part of what was probably the greatest change
0:34:00 > 0:34:04in Irish history because they were used to carry the Christian faith
0:34:04 > 0:34:07to an island at the extreme edge of Europe,
0:34:07 > 0:34:10as far west as you could travel in the early Middle Ages.
0:34:10 > 0:34:15Here, on the edge of the medieval world, Conall Cael's bell
0:34:15 > 0:34:21served a sacred purpose, calling Christian pilgrims to a holy site.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25It was venerated for centuries
0:34:25 > 0:34:28during a pilgrimage to the island of Innishkeel,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30right up to the 19th century.
0:34:30 > 0:34:31To the pilgrims who venerated it,
0:34:31 > 0:34:35being in the presence of the bell was seen as a means of salvation.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39For centuries, the bell itself was saved,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42kept by the O'Breslin family in Donegal.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45They were believed to have descended from Conall Cael himself,
0:34:45 > 0:34:49entrusted with protecting this precious treasure.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53Relics like this survive into modern times
0:34:53 > 0:34:57because they were looked after for centuries by hereditary keepers.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01The senior O'Breslin would hold the bell forward to be kissed
0:35:01 > 0:35:06by pilgrims, saying, "A penny for me and you may kiss the bell."
0:35:06 > 0:35:09The O'Breslins were the custodians of St Conall Cael's bell
0:35:09 > 0:35:13right up to the 1850s, when poverty forced the family
0:35:13 > 0:35:17to sell the treasure they'd guarded for over 1,000 years.
0:35:20 > 0:35:23Today it brings us back to a time
0:35:23 > 0:35:26when Christianity was transforming Ireland.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30Monasteries flourished as the gospel message spread to all corners.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36The artefacts reflect this change
0:35:36 > 0:35:38and here in the Ulster Museum
0:35:38 > 0:35:42is one of Ireland's greatest religious treasures -
0:35:42 > 0:35:43the Clonmore Shrine.
0:35:46 > 0:35:48It dates to in and around the 7th century,
0:35:48 > 0:35:53so this is at a time when Christianity had arrived in Ireland,
0:35:53 > 0:35:55and with Christianity also came writing,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59but also the church demanded fine pieces of metalwork.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03It's remarkably intricate and detailed and so small.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05What do you think it was used for?
0:36:05 > 0:36:07This was designed to hold the relics of a saint,
0:36:07 > 0:36:09and by the relics of a saint,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13I suppose we're thinking about a piece of hair or a bone or a tooth
0:36:13 > 0:36:17so you can imagine, if I'm the Abbot of Armagh, what do I need?
0:36:17 > 0:36:20I need a bell, a book, I need my crozier,
0:36:20 > 0:36:22but I also need my shrine.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25The Clonmore Shrine was made during a time
0:36:25 > 0:36:29when Irish monks were gaining renown across Europe.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33At the centre of this monastic movement was the city of Armagh,
0:36:33 > 0:36:35close to where the shrine was found.
0:36:39 > 0:36:42It was to Ireland what Rome is to Italy at the time
0:36:42 > 0:36:45and we're told that one of the reasons why Armagh was so important,
0:36:45 > 0:36:49it had, we're told, the relics of St Peter, St Paul, St Laurence,
0:36:49 > 0:36:52and one that I never get tired about saying, it's also said
0:36:52 > 0:36:56that Armagh had the bloodstained sacred linen cloth of our Lord,
0:36:56 > 0:36:59so it had the Armagh Shroud before the Turin Shroud,
0:36:59 > 0:37:03but we can imagine these small bits that people believed, I suppose,
0:37:03 > 0:37:06were imbued with powers, were hidden inside the shrine
0:37:06 > 0:37:08and that's what gave it its power.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12The Clonmore Shrine dates to a time
0:37:12 > 0:37:16when Ireland is often called "the land of saints and scholars",
0:37:16 > 0:37:21when Irish monasteries gained prominence as bastions of knowledge.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25They would preserve ancient scholarship for centuries to come.
0:37:31 > 0:37:32When the Roman Empire collapsed,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages,
0:37:35 > 0:37:40500 years for which there is little in the way of a written record,
0:37:40 > 0:37:44but in Ireland it was a different story.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47Here, right on the edge of the known world,
0:37:47 > 0:37:50Irish monks continued to write,
0:37:50 > 0:37:53producing exquisite manuscripts
0:37:53 > 0:37:56containing not only Christian stories, but also,
0:37:56 > 0:37:58as our next treasure reveals,
0:37:58 > 0:38:03also preserving ancient Irish mythology and language.
0:38:11 > 0:38:16Everybody's heard of the Book of Kells. It's so majestic.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20Some call it Ireland's Sistine Chapel.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26Penned in Latin in the 9th century, it tells the gospel story
0:38:26 > 0:38:28in 680 dazzling pages
0:38:28 > 0:38:31of illustration and calligraphy.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38In medieval Europe, it illuminated the story of Christ,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41catching the eye of anyone who glimpsed its pages,
0:38:41 > 0:38:43and it's still true today.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Housed at Trinity College Dublin,
0:38:46 > 0:38:50over half a million people come to see these works of art every year.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55But also in Dublin is a manuscript
0:38:55 > 0:39:00possibly more important to Ireland than the Book of Kells.
0:39:00 > 0:39:02It's not written in Latin.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04It's not even a biblical tale.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09It's a book from the 12th century
0:39:09 > 0:39:14that tells the story of the Irish in the Irish language.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20This book, Lebor na hUidre, "The Book of the Dun Cow",
0:39:20 > 0:39:22is the earliest surviving manuscript
0:39:22 > 0:39:25written entirely in the Irish language.
0:39:26 > 0:39:29Legend has it it was written on the skin of a cow
0:39:29 > 0:39:33belonging to St Ciaran, the founder of the monastery of Clonmacnoise.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36In monasteries across the country,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40the story of Christ was spread through the written word,
0:39:40 > 0:39:43but this book is not Christian.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47In these pages are the ancient stories of pagan Ireland.
0:39:48 > 0:39:51These tales are set in Ireland's pagan, pre-Christian past,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53but were written by monks in monasteries,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57who showed a great interest in this aspect of Ireland's prehistory,
0:39:57 > 0:40:00in the characters, the pagan characters, in their customs,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03their way of life, and were totally at ease in dealing with this,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06even though their own message was a Christian one.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Recorded in this book are the mythological stories
0:40:10 > 0:40:13that bring to life the heroes of Iron Age Ireland.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18The most important is the epic of the Tain,
0:40:18 > 0:40:22led by the earliest champion of Ulster, Cuchulainn.
0:40:22 > 0:40:27Among the tales contained in Lebor na hUidre is Tain Bo Cuailnge,
0:40:27 > 0:40:30the Cattle Raid of Cooley, the Irish national epic,
0:40:30 > 0:40:34and just as Achilles is the great hero of Greek tradition,
0:40:34 > 0:40:38so Cuchulainn is the hero par excellence of Irish tradition.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40In this story,
0:40:40 > 0:40:44the western province of Connaught attacks a depleted Ulster army.
0:40:44 > 0:40:49One man stands in the way of victory - Cuchulainn.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53The province of Ulster is being defended by the youthful warrior,
0:40:53 > 0:40:57Cuchulainn, because all men are suffering an illness
0:40:57 > 0:41:01and he holds off the Connaught army until the Ulstermen have recovered
0:41:01 > 0:41:05and are able to join the fight with him and defeat them eventually.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09The epoch of the Tain is part of the Ulster Cycle,
0:41:09 > 0:41:12a classic of Irish mythology.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14As the earliest known version,
0:41:14 > 0:41:19the Book of the Dun Cow stands alone in its importance to Ireland.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24The stories contained in this manuscript have fired imaginations
0:41:24 > 0:41:26over very many centuries.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30They are a very, very important part of Europe's literary heritage
0:41:30 > 0:41:33like Beowulf, like the old Norse sagas, like The Iliad.
0:41:33 > 0:41:35As WB Yeats has said,
0:41:35 > 0:41:38this is part of Ireland's gift to the imagination of the world,
0:41:38 > 0:41:42and as such, I believe, this is one of Ireland's greatest treasures.
0:41:44 > 0:41:48The Book of the Dun Cow records Ireland's earliest stories,
0:41:48 > 0:41:51including the heroic legends of Ulster.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55While these words were written in the 12th century,
0:41:55 > 0:41:59the stories are set in a time before Christianity,
0:41:59 > 0:42:02giving a snapshot of a pagan culture in Ireland.
0:42:07 > 0:42:12Dr Peter Smith is an expert in these ancient Irish manuscripts.
0:42:14 > 0:42:16These are wonderful stories, aren't they, Peter?
0:42:16 > 0:42:17It must be amazing to be able
0:42:17 > 0:42:19to read them in the original.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22Well, the collection is absolutely fantastic
0:42:22 > 0:42:26and of course the Dun Cow has that brilliant collection of
0:42:26 > 0:42:30the material from the Ulster Cycle.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Why do you think it is written in Irish and not in Latin?
0:42:33 > 0:42:36For the sagas,
0:42:36 > 0:42:40the medium par excellence was the Irish language rather than Latin.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42They have a sense of themselves,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45they see themselves as a great civilisation
0:42:45 > 0:42:52and clearly the medieval Irish monks saw it as one of their functions
0:42:52 > 0:42:59to record as much of that seanchas, or inherited lore, as was possible.
0:42:59 > 0:43:03The monks were discovering their ancient past, inspired
0:43:03 > 0:43:06by the great works of literature they had studied in Europe.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11The Irish monks brought into their collections
0:43:11 > 0:43:13the books of classical literature
0:43:13 > 0:43:17that had survived from the final years of the Roman Empire
0:43:17 > 0:43:21and they realise it's all right to have a pagan past
0:43:21 > 0:43:25and if that was good enough for the people of continental Europe,
0:43:25 > 0:43:29surely they could find a place in their hearts
0:43:29 > 0:43:31for their own ancient literature
0:43:31 > 0:43:37and from that, they are beginning to construct the national history.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40It's interesting, isn't it? Because what you're saying is that
0:43:40 > 0:43:42the mythology is being transformed into history
0:43:42 > 0:43:45- rather than the other way round. - Yeah, exactly.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50The medieval monks, they found themselves without a written record
0:43:50 > 0:43:52for the very early period,
0:43:52 > 0:43:58and this material acts as history in that sense.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02My guess is that they probably saw this as fiction,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05but they undoubtedly felt
0:44:05 > 0:44:09that there was some foundation of historical truth to it
0:44:09 > 0:44:14and I think that they held it in great esteem indeed.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18These tales, whether fact or fiction,
0:44:18 > 0:44:21were now part of Ireland's story
0:44:21 > 0:44:26and, in more modern times, would help to restore a lost heritage.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30This material, for a few hundred years,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34became kind of the preserve of the Irish-speaking world.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38In the final years of the 19th century
0:44:38 > 0:44:42and the early 20th century, the figure of Cuchulainn becomes
0:44:42 > 0:44:46the very embodiment of the Irish hero.
0:44:46 > 0:44:49If the Finns have their great sagas
0:44:49 > 0:44:53and the Norse people have their sagas,
0:44:53 > 0:44:57we have our saga in the form of The Cattle Raid Of Cooley,
0:44:57 > 0:45:01the Tain Bo Cuailnge, and it is, I suppose, the national epic.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05And I think it's interesting with stories, that there is
0:45:05 > 0:45:09an evolutionary element to this, that good stories endure,
0:45:09 > 0:45:11and that these are obviously very good stories.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14They are persisting down through the centuries.
0:45:14 > 0:45:15They still speak to us today.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22These Irish myths, written down in the early 12th century,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26have become part of the great tradition of classical literature,
0:45:26 > 0:45:29chronicling the story of ancient Ireland.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36But less than a century later, that story would face turmoil.
0:45:38 > 0:45:44In 1169, invaders from Britain landed on the east coast of Ireland.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48It's often taken to mark the beginning
0:45:48 > 0:45:52of an English-Irish struggle, present to this day.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54But as history records,
0:45:54 > 0:45:57this relationship was not always how it appeared.
0:46:00 > 0:46:02Many of this island's treasures
0:46:02 > 0:46:05have been made to serve political purposes
0:46:05 > 0:46:07at some point in their history.
0:46:07 > 0:46:11Works of art used as pieces of political propaganda.
0:46:11 > 0:46:16But our next treasure IS a piece of political propaganda
0:46:16 > 0:46:18that looks like a work of art.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21It was created 800 years ago
0:46:21 > 0:46:24and it reveals how an Irish city
0:46:24 > 0:46:26proclaimed its loyalty to an English king.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34The great port city of Waterford.
0:46:34 > 0:46:38It was here where some of the first Anglo-Norman invaders landed.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44By the 14th century, this was a royal port -
0:46:44 > 0:46:47THE trade link between England and Ireland.
0:46:47 > 0:46:49Waterford had a monopoly.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55But there was competition and a struggle for economic power
0:46:55 > 0:46:58would produce Waterford's greatest artefact.
0:47:00 > 0:47:02Stretched out before us
0:47:02 > 0:47:06is one of the most intriguing treasures of 14th-century Ireland.
0:47:06 > 0:47:08It's the Great Charter Roll of Waterford.
0:47:08 > 0:47:14Over four metres long and made of calf skin, the Charter Roll contains
0:47:14 > 0:47:16the earliest contemporary portrait
0:47:16 > 0:47:19of a medieval English monarch, Edward III.
0:47:19 > 0:47:25And the first depiction of an Irish city - Waterford.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27This roll is unique in medieval Europe.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30There's nothing like this exists anywhere else
0:47:30 > 0:47:35and for that reason alone it is one of the great treasures of Ireland.
0:47:37 > 0:47:39But, beautiful as this object is,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43it was never meant to be just a work of art.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Instead it's a legal argument in which the city of Waterford
0:47:47 > 0:47:52pleads its case to remain the centre of royal trade in Ireland
0:47:52 > 0:47:55in the face of a competing port at New Ross.
0:47:57 > 0:48:01What this roll was trying to do was flatter the king,
0:48:01 > 0:48:03keep the king's attention about what was
0:48:03 > 0:48:06a very complicated legal dispute with the town of New Ross,
0:48:06 > 0:48:10and hope that the king would come down on the side of the port of Waterford.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Drawn into the roll are subtle reminders
0:48:13 > 0:48:16of Waterford's allegiance to Edward III.
0:48:17 > 0:48:19The roll has on the top of it here
0:48:19 > 0:48:23an image of the walled town of Waterford and above that,
0:48:23 > 0:48:26King Edward III receiving from the mayor of the city a key.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29And that's the key to the gates of the city,
0:48:29 > 0:48:34recognising the fact that the king was lord and owner of the city
0:48:34 > 0:48:36and that he could come and go as he pleases.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41But this document represents more than mere flattery.
0:48:41 > 0:48:46It is an overt declaration of loyalty to the English crown.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52Lined all along one side of the roll are images of kings of England,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55and here, what they were trying to say is,
0:48:55 > 0:48:59not only was this a royal city, but also that it was a loyal city,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02and had been continuously loyal
0:49:02 > 0:49:07since the very first English king came here to this city in 1171.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10However, these warm words and flattering images
0:49:10 > 0:49:14only barely concealed a cold threat.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18Along with the great images of the kings are the governors of Ireland,
0:49:18 > 0:49:22accompanied by four mayors, and what they were trying to say was,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25if you diminish the port of Waterford, you are also diminishing
0:49:25 > 0:49:31the power of your other royal towns, that's Dublin, Cork and Limerick.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Diminishing one of us, you diminish all of us
0:49:34 > 0:49:37and you will make enemies of all of your royal ports.
0:49:37 > 0:49:39The threat would work.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43King Edward III kept Waterford a royal port,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45clinching the city's monopoly on trade.
0:49:47 > 0:49:48In the coming centuries,
0:49:48 > 0:49:52the relationship between England and Ireland would evolve,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57but it would be fraught, marked by war, rebellion
0:49:57 > 0:49:59and deeply entrenched in myth,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02seen clearly in our next treasure -
0:50:02 > 0:50:05an artefact from Ireland's most famous battle.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11The Battle of the Boyne was a turning point in Irish history,
0:50:11 > 0:50:13when the Catholic King James
0:50:13 > 0:50:15challenged the Protestant King William.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18At stake was the English throne.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21But the legacy of William's victory
0:50:21 > 0:50:24was felt most strongly here in Ireland
0:50:24 > 0:50:30where 300 years later, it is still a symbol of religious divide.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32But like most histories,
0:50:32 > 0:50:35this story is not as black and white as it seems.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38It is, as our next treasure reveals,
0:50:38 > 0:50:41full of contradictions and surprises.
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Collins Barracks in Dublin.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51Originally built by the British to defend against Irish rebellion.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57Today it's part of the Republic of Ireland's National Museum,
0:50:57 > 0:51:00and home to a symbolic and contentious treasure.
0:51:01 > 0:51:07A relic from one of the largest battles ever waged on Irish soil -
0:51:07 > 0:51:11the Battle of the Boyne, fought in 1690.
0:51:12 > 0:51:16They've suffered the ravages of use and time,
0:51:16 > 0:51:19but these doe-skin gauntlets,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23so beautifully made, were actually worn by William, Prince of Orange.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29It's very, very tempting to imagine
0:51:29 > 0:51:31King William wearing these very gauntlets
0:51:31 > 0:51:36as he rode out to battle that hot summer's day in July 1690.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41King William is heralded for his victory at the Boyne
0:51:41 > 0:51:45where he crushed King James and his Catholic army.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50For some, these symbols of his leadership have become sacred.
0:51:52 > 0:51:55Whether or not these are actually battlefield artefacts
0:51:55 > 0:51:57is almost irrelevant.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00These are intensely personal items
0:52:00 > 0:52:04and they still bear the physical impression
0:52:04 > 0:52:06of King William's own hands.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12His well-used gauntlets are important artefacts,
0:52:12 > 0:52:17but it is the legend of Protestant King Billy that has become folklore.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22King William's myth has grown over the centuries.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25His victory over James at the Boyne
0:52:25 > 0:52:29has been heralded as a largely Protestant triumph.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36Today the mythology surrounding William of Orange
0:52:36 > 0:52:38is one celebrated every year.
0:52:40 > 0:52:46But, in actual fact, this story is not simply bound up in a religious divide.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52The Battle of the Boyne was a European battle
0:52:52 > 0:52:54and the soldiers who fought in it
0:52:54 > 0:52:58were united by a complex set of political and military alliances,
0:52:58 > 0:53:02often not based on religion at all.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05King William had the support and backing of the Vatican
0:53:05 > 0:53:09whilst German Protestants fought on the side of King James II.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14So this battle is anything but clear cut, or black and white.
0:53:16 > 0:53:20Even the story of how this treasure ended up in Dublin is unexpected.
0:53:20 > 0:53:24Two days after the battle, William gave his gauntlet
0:53:24 > 0:53:28to a friend near the battle site in County Meath.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31He had stayed the night at Lismullin House,
0:53:31 > 0:53:34the home of Sir John Dillon, a very trusted officer,
0:53:34 > 0:53:36to whom he gave these gauntlets.
0:53:36 > 0:53:40And it would have been a very significant gesture.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44They stayed with the Dillons for over 200 years,
0:53:44 > 0:53:46a treasured gift from a king.
0:53:47 > 0:53:53But in 1923, they were rushed to safety during the Irish Civil War.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56Lismullin House was an obvious target.
0:53:57 > 0:53:59The Dillons were traditional landowners
0:53:59 > 0:54:03with close and established ties with the English aristocracy.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05But the thing was,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09the current Sir John Dillon was very well liked in County Meath.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12So when the burning party came to Lismullin House
0:54:12 > 0:54:15they allowed him and his family to remove
0:54:15 > 0:54:17their most treasured possessions,
0:54:17 > 0:54:20and that included King William's gauntlets.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26This personal gift has become a cherished artefact
0:54:26 > 0:54:28from a symbolic battle.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33But like so many treasures in Ireland's history,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36their story has taken on its own mythology.
0:54:37 > 0:54:39Now, these gloves are quite beautiful
0:54:39 > 0:54:43but obviously they connect us back to that key battle.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46The Boyne becomes such an important pivotal battle
0:54:46 > 0:54:47because of its European context.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50William is supported by the Pope.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53- Hang on a minute. William is a Protestant.- That's right.
0:54:53 > 0:54:59And his arch enemy is Louis XIV, the Catholic King of France.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04The Pope wants an army to defeat Louis XIV
0:55:04 > 0:55:08because he begins to feel that Louis XIV's version of Catholicism
0:55:08 > 0:55:11is actually stymieing the powers of the Vatican.
0:55:11 > 0:55:16So we have a Protestant King William fighting a Catholic King James
0:55:16 > 0:55:18but it's not that black and white, is it?
0:55:18 > 0:55:21It's not and that's the whole problem
0:55:21 > 0:55:23of subsequent interpretation
0:55:23 > 0:55:26and mythology, if you like, about the Boyne,
0:55:26 > 0:55:29is it becomes a clear-cut issue when it was anything but.
0:55:29 > 0:55:34The legacy from a battle that still divides Ireland,
0:55:34 > 0:55:38but one with surprising European roots.
0:55:42 > 0:55:47We've revealed treasures that helped create Ireland's Celtic identity...
0:55:49 > 0:55:53..seen how manuscripts have saved ancient legends...
0:55:55 > 0:55:57..and been used as propaganda.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02We finish with two artefacts from the 20th century -
0:56:02 > 0:56:07declarations at the heart of modern Ireland, north and south.
0:56:11 > 0:56:15- And almost bringing us up to date, well, not quite...- Yes.
0:56:15 > 0:56:19..still a century ago now, you've brought these two documents
0:56:19 > 0:56:22to show me and these are incredibly important political documents.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26These are really, you could say, a legacy of the Boyne
0:56:26 > 0:56:27in a roundabout fashion.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31We have on the left the Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34signed in 1912 by nearly half a million men and women.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37And on the right we have Poblacht na hEireann,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic's Proclamation of Independence.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45Both of these documents have been inspirational
0:56:45 > 0:56:48to two divergent communities on the island.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52So Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant then, they're saying that,
0:56:52 > 0:56:55"Home Rule would be disastrous to the material wellbeing of Ulster
0:56:55 > 0:56:57"as well as the whole of Ireland."
0:56:57 > 0:56:58That's it.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01- Which is completely the opposite... - Completely the opposite.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04You couldn't get two parallel opposites if you tried, Alice.
0:57:04 > 0:57:06This one says, we are Irish
0:57:06 > 0:57:09and we will fight anybody who tells us any different.
0:57:09 > 0:57:12And we can see the ironies in the way that, for example,
0:57:12 > 0:57:15the Broighter Hoard was handled by Edward Carson,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18who is the very first signature on this,
0:57:18 > 0:57:21actually allying with a nationalist party
0:57:21 > 0:57:24to bring the Broighter Hoard back to Dublin.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28And of course, 1922, there is partition on the island
0:57:28 > 0:57:30and that Hoard ends up,
0:57:30 > 0:57:35not in Belfast where he signs this covenant,
0:57:35 > 0:57:39but in Dublin where they have posted this up on the GPO.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41But I think it's fascinating, all the way through,
0:57:41 > 0:57:43looking at all the different treasures we've seen,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45actually including these,
0:57:45 > 0:57:48I think these are part of Ireland's treasures, aren't they,
0:57:48 > 0:57:50are interesting in the context of their own time,
0:57:50 > 0:57:53but they also remain incredibly significant
0:57:53 > 0:57:55- and relevant to us today.- That's it.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02We've witnessed this island's most iconic artefacts,
0:58:02 > 0:58:06treasures that tell the epic story of Ireland...
0:58:07 > 0:58:10..from past to present.