“The Hoard and the Sword: Echoes of the Vikings in Mayo”, is a new exhibition on display in the National Museum of Country Life in Turlough, Castlebar until June 2017.

It explores the discovery of a hoard of silver arm rings from Cushalogurt, Kilmeena, and a Viking sword found in the River Moy at Coolcronaun.

The hoard of arm rings were discovered by Patrick Barrett in 1939. He found eleven silver arm-rings and fragments of fourteen others buried in his land on the shore of Clew Bay at Cushalogurt. Archaeologists think they were made in Dublin (and perhaps elsewhere in Ireland) by descendants of Viking settlers in the period c.880-950 AD.

The Viking sword was dredged from the River Moy at Coolcronaun, near Foxford in 1963 and was made in Scandinavia around c.925-975 AD. It was brought to Ireland by a Viking warrior. Its final owner could have been a wealthy and important Viking or Irish warrior.

These objects give clear evidence of Mayo’s Viking Heritage. Vikings sailed along the west coast of Ireland throughout the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries and did battles with the Fir Umaill, who lived on the north side of Clew Bay. Recently it has been discovered that Vikings had small settlements on the Mullet peninsula and on the Inishkea islands nearby.