A gold signet-ring, curious and interesting in several respects, the
property of Mr. James Neish, of the Laws, Dundee, was exhibited at a
meeting of the Archæological Institute in May 1864, when the following
particulars were given:--It was found about 1790, in digging the
foundations of Heathfield House, on the Hawkhill, Dundee, formerly called
the Sparrow Muir. The device (of which a representation is given in the
‘Archæological Journal,’ No. 82, 1864, p. 186) is a head, apparently
regal, bearded, with the hair long at the sides; on the breast there is a
mullet or star of five points introduced in scrolled ornament; around the
edge is a corded bordure with knots at intervals like a _cordelière_,
instead of the pearled margin usually found on seals. This knotted
cincture is well known as worn by the Franciscans, thence designated as
_Cordeliers_; as accessory to heraldic or personal ornaments, its use
seems to have been first adopted by Anne of Brittany, after the death of
Charles VIII., in 1498, as we are informed by Palliot and other writers.
It has, however, sometimes been assigned to a rather earlier period. The
hoop of Mr. Neish’s ring is plain and massive, the weight being 199
grains. The device is engraved with skill. It is difficult to tell whether
the object worn on the head is intended for a crown or a helmet, with
lateral projections resembling horns. Examples of helmets with cornute
appendages, especially found in classical art, are not wanting in mediæval
times. It has been suggested that the mullet on the breast may indicate
some allusion to the heraldic bearing of the Douglas family, especially as
the ring was discovered in the district of Angus, of which the earldom was
conferred in 1377 on a branch of that noble race. Mr. Neish--to whom both
this remarkable ring and also Heathfield House where it was found,
belong--stated that he had been informed by two persons that they
remembered the discovery; one, moreover, said that Mr. Webster, of
Heathfield House, to whom it formerly belonged, told him that the late Mr.
Constable, of Wallace Craigie (the Monkbarns of the ‘Antiquary),’ had
taken interest in the discovery, and having carried the ring to Edinburgh,
he had found there in some depository a proclamation regarding the loss of
a gold ring on Sparrow Muir, by a certain Allan Dorward, who had been
employed by David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, in
building a church founded by the Earl at Dundee, and completed in 1198.
The King, according to tradition, was so pleased with the builder’s work
that he presented to him a ring, which Allan, being afterwards at a
boar-hunt on the Sparrow Muir, had there lost, and he had offered a reward
for its recovery, as made known in the proclamation before mentioned. This
tradition has been related by Mr. Andrew Jervise, in his ‘Memorials of
Angus and the Mearns,’ p. 178. According to another version the ring was
asserted to have been given by David II. (A.D.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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