Munster in 30 Artworks, No 17: The Ardagh Chalice, found in Co Limerick in 1858

The man who found it may have been buried in a pauper's grave, but his co-discovery led to the most impressive example of metal work in Ireland

The Ardagh Chalice. Pictures courtesy of National Museum of Ireland

The Ardagh Chalice is one of the great treasures of the National Museum of Ireland. According to an account written by the Earl of Dunraven in 1869, it was discovered by two young men at a ringfort called Reerasta near Ardagh, Co Limerick, in September 1858. The pair, Jim Quinn and Paddy Flanagan, were digging potatoes when Quinn’s spade struck metal. He reached down and unearthed the chalice, along with a plain bronze cup, four silver brooches and a wooden cross, beneath a slab of stone.

Quinn came from a poor farming family, for whom Flanagan worked as a labourer, and the hoard must have seemed like treasure beyond their wildest dreams. However, the land the Quinns were farming was not their own, but was merely rented, from an estate owned by the Sisters of Mercy.