What is recorded here

Under the grass of Phoenix Park, a woman lay buried with a pair of Scandinavian brooches, perhaps marking a Viking visitor or a local woman who married across the sea. The brooches survived to Copenhagen and London, but the grave itself vanished, leaving only a hole in the memory of the park.

In the 19th century a grave which contained the burial of a woman accompanied by grave goods was discovered in the Phoenix Park. The finds included a pair of bronze oval brooches of Scandinavian origin which have been dated to the 9th or 10th centuries (Hall 1974, 39-43). The brooches (National Museum Copenhagen 10515 and British Museum 54.3-7.1) are oval brooches of type R.647, variety D (Petersen 1928, 6). The Copenhagen brooch was donated to the National Museum by the Irish antiquary, J. Huband Smith, in 1848. The date of discovery is not known. The Museum's register states that it came from a grave in The Phoenix Park, Dublin: this is the only record that any of the objects under discussion was found in a grave, but there is little reason to question its veracity especially if the suggestion made here that the brooches formed a pair is accepted, since neither hoarding nor casual loss is likely. In 1854 the British Museum purchased from Smith the twin of the Copenhagen brooch. In this case, the Museum's register gives the provenance of the object as The Phoenix Park, Dublin, but makes no mention of a grave. How ever, the register shows that the brooch was only one object in a group of four bought from Smith at this time. These include an earlier Iron Age brooch from Clogher, Co. Tyrone, and an unprovenanced knop from a crozier, but 1854.3-7.3, a gilt bronze mounting, is also registered as coming from The Phoenix Park, Dublin. This coincidence of provenance and vendor prompts speculation as to whether two separate finds were made, both of which passed to Smith, or whether only one deposit is involved. The exact location of this monument within the Phoenix Park is unknown. Hall, R. A. 1974, A Viking Grave in the Phoenix Park, Co. Dublin. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 104, 39-43. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload date: 26 January 2023

Early medieval Christian burial, 9th–11th century AD. The presence of Scandinavian-style bronze brooches indicates Viking influence in the region and highlights the cultural exchange during the Norse presence in Dublin.

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