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Shield Bronze shield

Object number

LDSAL80

Production date

Late Bronze Age

Material

bronze

Dimensions

Diameter (of shield): 680 mm
Diameter (of boss): 120 mm

Location

Burlington House -

Associated place

Giffen Castle
Giffen
Beith
North Ayrshire
Ayrshire
Scotland
United Kingdom
Europe

Object history note

The shield was found 1.8 - 2.1m (6-7 feet) below the surface in peat moss at Luggtonrigge Farm, near Giffin Castle, Beith, North Ayrshire, circa 1780. Five or six similar shields, which had been ranged regularly in a ring, were also found. Sir Samuel Meyrick designated it as 'the tarian'. It is very similiar to 'the tarian' in the Goodrich Court Armoury found near Aberystwith. A comparable shield, which was found near Capel Cerrig, Denbighshire, was exhibited to the Society on 9th December 1784 by Samuel More, Secretary of the Society of Arts.

References

Reference (free text)

Society of Antiquaries, Minutes, XXIV, 147.

Reference (free text)

Coles, J.M., Leach, P., Minnitt, S.C., Tabor, R. & Wilson, A.S., 1999, A Later Bronze Age shield from South Cadbury, Somerset, England, Antiquity, Vol. 73, No. 279, 33-48.

Reference (free text)

John Evans, The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland (London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1881), pp. 347-9. Illustrations (Engravings), pp. 347-9

Reference (free text)

Susan Pearce, ed., Visions of Antiquity: The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1707-2007 (London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 2007), p. 149, fig. 49.

Reference (free text)

David Gaimster, Sarah McCarthy, and Bernard Nurse, eds., Making History, Antiquaries in Britain, 1707-2007 (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2007), p. 112, no. 74. Illustrations, pp. 92, 112.
    Circular bronze shield with a central boss, surrounded by twenty-nine concentric rows of small studs separated by intervening ribs. Behind the boss is a handle attached by rivets.
    The shield was found 1.8 - 2.1m (6-7 feet) below the surface in peat moss at Luggtonrigge Farm, near Giffin Castle, Beith, North Ayrshire, circa 1780. Five or six similar shields, which had been ranged regularly in a ring, were also found.

    Sir Samuel Meyrick designated it as 'the tarian'. It is very similar to 'the tarian' in the Goodrich Court Armoury found near Aberystwith. A comparable shield, which was found near Capel Cerrig, Denbighshire, was exhibited to the Society on 9th December 1784 by Samuel More, Secretary of the Society of Arts.