Besides the fragments that occurred in the Cuerdale hoard, two entire brooches of this type have been found in England—one near Kirby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, 5½ inches diameter; and one near Penrith, in Cumberland, which is the largest on record, the ring being 8¼ inches in diameter, the pin 21 inches long, and the weight of the whole brooch 25 ounces avoirdupois. Footnote 54: One of these brooches occurred in the remarkable hoard of silver objects found in the Rath of Reerasta, Ardagh, in Limerick, in 1868. The hoard consisted of a silver chalice of exquisite beauty, one other vessel of bronze, three brooches of pure Celtic type, decorated like the chalice with interlaced designs in panels, in the best style of the art, and a fourth brooch of the bulbous or “thistle-headed” form.—_Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_, vol. xxiv. p. 433. ----- In passing finally from the examination of these brooches, it may be desirable to refer briefly to the materials composing the dress in which such gigantic ornaments were worn. The perishable nature of these materials precludes the possibility of obtaining such specimens of them as would suffice to show the form and appearance of the garments themselves. But there are occasional instances in which the natural circumstances of the deposit have been more than usually favourable to their preservation, and there may be cases in which exceptional carefulness in the examination of these circumstances may preserve not only the texture but even the form and appearance of the garment. I have already alluded to the fact that small portions of the dress from a grave of the Viking time in the island of Eigg exhibit distinctly the texture of the woollen fabric, and retain portions of its mountings of fur. Similar discoveries in Denmark and Norway have established the truth of the Saga narratives, which testify to the excessive richness of the ornamentation, and the costly nature of the materials of the dress of this period. [Illustration: Fig. 82.—Hood found in a Moss in St. Andrew’s Parish, Orkney. (27 inches in length.) ]