pilgrim mount

derry dirtfisher

my 'tecting buddyfound this while searching on the outskirts of derry
we took it to the museum and the lady there was quite astonished.
she thinks it may be a pilgrim mount from the monastic period which would make it considerably older than the walled city itself.
its in york now for verification but if shes right it could be a very significan find indeed

Neutronale

Cool.

What is it made of, metal or stone, its difficult to tell from the photo?

What exactly is a "pilgrim mount"?

Peregrinus

A pilgrim mount is a badge worn on clothing or bag to identify a travelling pilgrim, in the hope that this would (a) be of assistance if he needed support or help on the journey, or (b) provide some protection from robbers who might be slower to attack a pilgrim than a merchant, or (d) help him meet up with other pilgrims on the same journey for mutual support and protection, or (d) help him chat up the girls. Think of the national flag badges that backpackers sometimes sew to their backpacks for a modern equivalent.

They're usually made of metal, and you can usually tell them from the remains of a clasp, bracket or pin on the back, which served to fasten them to clothing, etc.

Different designs can tell you which pilgrimage specifically the mount relates to. A cockleshell mount, for example, was (and indeed still is) worn by pilgrims to the shrine of St. James at Compostela.

In the medieval period, they were produced in vast quantities, and in the nature of things they ended up all over the place, so they're not especially rare. But it's an interesting find, all the same.

Simon.d

Visiting Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Erne was all the rage back then, could well have belonged to a pilgrim on his way there.. Here's an account from c1400 by Viscount Ramon de Perellós: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100079A/