# Hunterston Brooch

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Celtic brooch found in North Ayrshire, Scotland

The brooch is cast in silver, mounted with gold, silver and amber decoration. c. 700 AD

The **Hunterston Brooch** is a highly important [Celtic brooch](/source/Celtic_brooch) of "pseudo-penannular" type found near [Hunterston](/source/Hunterston), [North Ayrshire](/source/North_Ayrshire), Scotland, in either, according to one account, 1826 by two men from [West Kilbride](/source/West_Kilbride), who were digging drains at the foot of Goldenberry Hill,[1] or in 1830.[2]

The Hunterston Brooch is clearly an object of very high status, indicating its owner's power and prestige. With the [Tara Brooch](/source/Tara_Brooch) in the [National Museum of Ireland](/source/National_Museum_of_Ireland_%E2%80%93_Archaeology) and the [Londesborough Brooch](/source/Londesborough_Brooch) in the [British Museum](/source/British_Museum), it is considered one of the finest of over 50 highly elaborate surviving Irish Celtic brooches,[3] and "arguably the earliest of the ornate penannular brooches from Britain and Ireland".[4]

It is in the collection of the [National Museum of Scotland](/source/National_Museum_of_Scotland) in [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh).

## Description

Detail of pin-head

Made within a few decades of 700 AD,[5] the Hunterston Brooch is cast in silver and [gilt](/source/Gilding). It is set with pieces of [amber](/source/Amber) (most now missing) and decorated with [interlaced](/source/Interlace_(art)) animal bodies in gold [filigree](/source/Filigree).[5] The diameter of the ring is 12.2 cm, and in its centre there is a cross and a golden [glory](/source/Halo_(religious_iconography)) representing the risen [Christ](/source/Christ), surrounded by tiny bird heads. The pin, which is broken, can travel freely around the ring as far as the terminals—necessary for fastening; it is now 13.1 cm long, but was probably originally 15 cm or more.[6]

Rear view

The brooch has a complex construction typical of the most elaborate Irish brooches. Panels of filigree work were created separately on gold trays, which were then fitted into the main silver-gilt body. On the reverse, four panels of silver-gilt were also inserted; as in other examples like the [Tara Brooch](/source/Tara_Brooch) the decoration on the reverse uses older curvilinear "Celtic" motifs looking back to [La Tène style](/source/La_T%C3%A8ne_style) Insular Celtic decoration, though on the Hunterston Brooch such motifs also appear on the front.[6]

The back of the brooch has a scratched inscription in [runes](/source/Rune) in the [Old Norse](/source/Old_Norse) language, probably 10th century, "Melbrigda owns this brooch"; Maél Brigda, "devotee of [Bridgit](/source/Saint_Bridgit)" is a common Gaelic female name, though seen as male by other sources.[7][8] Much later ownership inscriptions are not uncommon on elaborate Celtic brooches, often from [Norse-Gael](/source/Norse-Gael) contexts.

## Possible origin

Such brooches were worn by rulers or gifted by the ruler to people of importance. The Hunterston brooch evidences power and wealth shortly before the [Viking Age](/source/Viking_Age) impacted Britain.

The Hunterston brooch may have been made at a royal site, such as [Dunadd](/source/Dunadd) in [Argyll](/source/Argyll),[5] though is more likely to have been made in Ireland, especially as its [pseudo-penannular](/source/Pseudo-penannular) form is typical of Irish brooches, whereas the truly [penannular](/source/Penannular_brooch) form remained usual in Pictish brooches.[6] On the other hand, its style is closely comparable to a terminal fragment of a [penannular brooch](/source/Penannular_brooch) found in [Dunbeath](/source/Dunbeath) in 1860 which probably was made in Scotland; craftsmen may have travelled across the area using the locally popular forms.[9] Lloyd and Jennifer Laing feel it was probably made in [Dalriada](/source/Dalriada), and the Museum of Scotland say "The style of the brooch has Irish parallels, while the filigree resembles metalwork from England. The brooch was probably made in western Scotland where the two traditions were joined, or perhaps in Ireland by a craftsman trained in foreign techniques."[10]

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-lamb92_1-0)** Lamb, page 92

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Youngs, 92

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Youngs, 90

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Laings, 148

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-ReferenceA_5-2) NMS

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Youngs,_91_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Youngs,_91_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Youngs,_91_6-2) Youngs, 91

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Whitfield, Tara Brooch, 215; Youngs, 91-92, "an Irishman Melbrigda"

1. **[^](#cite_ref-m414_8-0)** Moss (2014), p. 414

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Youngs, 57

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Laings, 148; [NMS database](http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-100-036-198-C&scache=1cnl3113a1&searchdb=scran)

## References

- Henderson, George; Henderson, Isabel. *The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland*. Thames and Hudson, 2004. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-5002-8963-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-5002-8963-1)

- Lamb, Rev. John, BD. *Annals of an Ayrshire Parish - West Kilbride*. Glasgow: John J. Rae, 1896

- "Laings", Lloyd Laing and Jennifer Laing. *Art of the Celts: From 700 BC to the Celtic Revival*, 1992, Thames & Hudson (World of Art), [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-500-20256-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-500-20256-7)

- [Moss, Rachel](/source/Rachel_Moss_(art_historian)). *[Medieval c. 400—c. 1600](/source/Medieval_c._400%E2%80%94c._1600)*. "[Art and Architecture of Ireland](/source/Art_and_Architecture_of_Ireland)" series. London: Yale University Press, 2014. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-3001-7919-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-3001-7919-4)

- "NMS"; [Hunterston Brooch](https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/hunterston-brooch/) [National Museums of Scotland](/source/National_Museums_of_Scotland)

- Whitfield, Niamh. *The "Tara" Brooch:an Irish emblem of status in its European context*, in Hourihane, Colum (ed), *From Ireland coming: Irish art from the early Christian to the late Gothic period and its European context*. Princeton University Press, 2001. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-691-08825-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-691-08825-X), 9780691088259

- Whitfield, Niamh. "[The Filigree of the Hunterston and 'Tara' Brooches](https://www.academia.edu/254858/The_Filigree_of_the_Hunterston_and_Tara_brooches)". In: *The Age of Migrating Ideas. Early Medieval Art in Northern Britain and Ireland*. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Insular Art, 1993

- Youngs, Susan (ed). *"The Work of Angels", Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th centuries AD*. London: British Museum Press, 1989. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-7141-0554-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-7141-0554-6)

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Hunterston Brooch](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hunterston_Brooch).

- [Hunterston Brooch](http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/hunterston-brooch/), National Museums of Scotland

- [Detailed photos of and information on the Brooch](http://virtual.hunterston.eu/brooch/brooch.htm)

v t e Celtic brooches Extant Ballinderry Brooch (late 6th or early 7th c) Tara Brooch (c. 710 to 750) Rogart Brooch (8th c) Londesborough Brooch (late 8th or early 9th c) Hunterston Brooch (8th c) Kilmainham Brooch (late 8th or early 9th c) Breadalbane Brooch (8th & 9th c) Ardagh Hoard (8th & 9th c) St Ninian's Isle Treasure (8th & 9th c) Roscrea Brooch (9th c) Penrith Hoard (10th c) Styles Celtic brooch Insular art Irish art Pictish art Scottish art Collections British Museum National Museum of Ireland National Museum of Scotland Ulster Museum

v t e Insular art Types Bell shrine Celtic brooch Crucifixion plaque Cumdach Illuminated manuscript Inscribed stone Stone cross Insular crozier High cross House-shaped shrine Ogham inscription Pictish stone Processional cross Techniques Carpet page Celtic knot Insular illumination Interlace Triple spiral Examples Ballinderry Brooch (late C6/early C7) Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque (late C7/early C8) Hunterston Brooch (c. 700) Book of Durrow (c. 700) Tara Brooch (c. 710–750) Lichfield Gospels (c. 730) Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 730) Ardagh Chalice (c. 750) Rogart Brooch (C8) Moylough Belt-Shrine (C8) St. Fillan's Crozier (C8) Book of Dimma (C8) Ruthwell Cross (C8) Breadalbane Brooch (C8) Monymusk Reliquary (C8) Stowe Missal (after 792) Tully Lough Cross (C8/C9) Londesborough Brooch (C8/C9) Derrynaflan Chalice (C8/C9) Domnach Airgid (C8/C9 and C14) Kilmainham Brooch (late C8/early C9) Book of Kells (C9) Book of Armagh (C9) Prosperous Crozier (late C9/early C10) Muiredach's High Cross (C9/C10) Kells Crozier (c. C9–C11) Ardboe High Cross (C10) Corp Naomh (C10 and C15) Soiscél Molaisse (c. 1001–1011) Clonmacnoise Crucifixion Plaque (late C10/early C11) Bell Shrine of St. Mura (C11) Breac Maodhóg (11) Shrine of Miosach (C11) Cathach of St. Columba (late C11) Clonmacnoise Crozier (late C11) River Laune Crozier (late C11) Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell (c. 1094–1105) Lismore Crozier (c. 1100) Tynan Crucifixion Plaque (c. 1100) Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm (c. 1120) Bell Shrine of St. Cuileáin (late C11) Cross of Cong (early C12) Shrine of St Patrick's Tooth (C12 and late C14) Collections British Museum Library of Trinity College Dublin National Museum of Ireland National Museum of Scotland Notable art historians George Petrie (d. 1866) Margaret Stokes (d. 1900) Máire de Paor (d. 1994) Peter Harbison (d. 2023) Raghnall Ó Floinn (d. 2024) Cormac Bourke Rachel Moss Griffin Murray Related Abbey of Kells Anglo-Saxon art Celtic art Celtic Christianity Clonmacnoise English art Iona Irish art Pictish art Scottish art Viking art

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Hunterston Brooch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunterston_Brooch) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunterston_Brooch?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.