Recently I visited Derrynaflan with my son (5) and found it a wonderful site. The approach was challenging – we came from the Southern Route following a trip along roads with less and less room to turn and more and more grass in the middle. Then we had to climb various gates and pass through the eerie, desert-like (albeit very wet) bog landscape to Derrynaflan itself. We had a mighty time scrambling around and copying the designs on the Goban Saor’s purported grave. My son had absorbed that there was some kind of treasure story linked to the place, albeit the subtleties of the legal arguments passed him by. He did wonder if we found a euro coin would we have to give it to the government. Curious to know what came of the Derrynaflan trail proposed here?
Also curious to find out more about the Penal Law-era Franciscan friary which is mentioned briefly in various online resources.
These are the graveslabs in situ – the last picture gives a sense of surrounding terrain (didn’t take many photos):
Derrynaflan is best known for its medieval metal work, including a two-handled chalice known as the Derrynaflan chalice, on display in the National Museum of Ireland.
The Derrynaflan hoard (the chalice and associated ecclesiastical objects)
The chalice along with a paten, a liturgical strainer and basin were part of a hoard of treasure found by metal detectorist on land close to the monastery of Derrynaflan Co Tipperary. The complications, surrounding their discovery, helped to instigate Ireland’s current metal detecting laws which make it illegal for anyone to engage in metal detecting without a licence.
As a child I remember going on a school trip to the National Museum at Kildare St. After all these years I still remember this visit clearly, along with our teacher pointing out this treasure (Derrynaflan Chalice) found in my home county. I also purchased a small booklet in the museum shop on the chalice which…
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Séamus Sweeney 