Offaly divers discover helmet which belonged to "Irish samurai"

Among the ancient artefacts discovered on the bed of the River Shannon over the last 18 months by Offaly Sub Aqua Club is the stunning find of a Gallowglass helmet.

This conical helmet is probably dated 13th to 16th Century and would have belonged to one of the famous Gallowglass warriors.

This warrior sect has been compared to the samurai of Japan, because of their high skill levels and the esteem in which they were held, but they are scarcely known nowadays. For some reason they have faded from our memories.
The helmet was one of many objects which the club's divers found in the dark silt of the murky river.
Noel Guerin of the club said the finds were made while the club was on search and recovery exercises in the river. The club takes part in searches for missing people in the Shannon and, in preparation for that, holds regular training sessions. "We are not looking for ancient artefacts at all," said Noel, "but we happen to come across them as we are going about our work.”
Noel, whose day job is a heating engineer, is originally from Coolderry and lives in Tullamore. He says a lot of divers don't like diving in the Shannon because it is dark and murky. “The area we cover is from Athlone down to Portumna.”
There's about ten divers in the club and among the ancient objects which they have discovered are spears, stone axes, swords, muskets, pistols, log boats and shields. All of the discoveries are handed over to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
The club's discoveries show that there is a treasure trove of fascinating historical material lying on the bottom of the Shannon for hundreds, if not thousands of years. If a proper archaeological excavation of the river was carried out it would probably discover an astonishing wealth of material.

Noel said that each artefact has a story of its own, a story that will never be known. Each artefact invites the question, who owned it? What happened to him or her? Were the items deposited in the river as part of rituals? Were they accidentally dropped in the river? Did their owners meet a bloody end in battle?
“We are all delighted when we make these discoveries,” said Noel, “and we know that the National Museum is the best home possible for them.
“We are very skilled at spotting things in the Shannon. We can spot things that many other divers would miss. The bed is a lot of silt and stones.
“We love diving. Some weeks we dive four or five times a week. 18 months ago we didn't know the river at all, but now we have got very familiar and skilled with it.” He said the currents in the river are sometimes dangerous. He added that they have been called out three times over the last 18 months to look for missing persons in the stretch of the Shannon between Athlone and Portumna.
Noel showed me the Gallowglass helmet. The Gallowglasses were a class of elite mercenary warriors who were principally members of the Norse-Gaelic clans of Scotland between the mid 13th century and late 16th century.

As Scots, they were Gaels and shared a common background and language with the Irish, but as they were descendants of 10th century Norse settlers who had intermarried with the local population in western Scotland, the Irish called them Gall Gaeil ("foreign Gaels").

The Gallowglass or ‘Galloglaigh’ is sometimes referred to as being an Irish equivalent of the Samurai warrior and their existence is an almost forgotten piece of Ireland’s history.

In medieval Ireland, Galloglaigh were indispensable. Every Norman war lord or Gaelic chieftain made sure to have his own well-trained, private Galloglaigh army.

They were a group of highly-skilled mercenaries, and settled all over Ireland after travelling from Scotland.

In addition to their double-sided axes, they used massive double-handed swords, about five feet in length, small bows, long spears and lethal throwing darts for close quarter fighting. They wore long chain-mail shirts and sometimes plate armour. They had their own distinctive dress code.

A gallowglass was usually accompanied into battle by two young assistants, one to carry his various weapons and the other to carry his food.