Shrine fasteners

These two gilt bronze fasteners were found in a Viking grave at Carn nan Bharraich on Oronsay in Argyll. They were originally hinge plates on an Irish or Scottish shrine which held Christian relics. Both were converted into brooches at a later date.

The mounts have interlace decoration surrounding rectangular settings, now empty, but perhaps once filled with enamel or stones. The ends are in the shapes of animals' heads, with settings originally with amber, though only two are preserved.

Complete and fragmentary portable shrines are one of the most common objects to survive from the early Irish church and its related foundations in western Scotland. They were looted by the Vikings, and the elaborate mounts often adapted to other objects.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-036-341-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.FC 184
• Date: Between 700 and 1000
  
• Material: Panels of Celtic interlace
  Panels of Celtic interlace
  Brooch / mount
  Brooch / mount
  
• Dimensions: 3.00" L
  3.00" L
  
• What: Brooch / mount
  Brooch / mount
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Argyll, Oronsay, Carn a Bhorich
  Scotland, Argyll, Oronsay, Carn a Bhorich
  
• Event:
• Description: Rectangular mount with panels of Celtic interlace later converted into a brooch, from Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll
  Rectangular mount with panels of Celtic interlace later converted into a brooch, from Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll
  
• References:
  • Grieg, Sigurd. Viking Antiquities in Scotland (=Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Part II, ed. by Haakon Shetelig). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1940, pp 44-5. 
• Translations:
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