The Broighter Gold or more correctly, the Broighter Hoard, is a hoard of gold artefacts from the Iron Age of the 1st century BC that were found in 1896 by Tom Nicholl and James Morrow on farmland near Limavady, Ireland.^[1] The hoard includes a 7-inch-long (18 cm) gold boat, a gold torc and bowl and some other jewellery.

The National Museum of Ireland, who now hold the hoard, describe the torc as the "finest example of Irish La Tène goldworking".^[2] Replicas of the collection are kept at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

A somewhat puzzling aspect of the hoard is that scientific analysis suggests the same source for the gold in all the pieces, but they show a great diversity in style, from Celtic to Roman.^[3]

A design from the hoard has been used as an image on the 1996 issue of the Northern Ireland British one-pound coins^[4] and the gold ship featured in a design on the last Irish commemorative one-pound coins.^[5] The Broighter Collar and Broighter Ship also featured on definitive postage stamps of Ireland from 1990 to 1995.

The hoard was found near Lough Foyle in a field in the townland of Broighter (Irish: Brú Íochtair, meaning "lower fort")^[7] 2 km northwest of Limavady in County Londonderry. It was discovered by Thomas Nicholl and James Morrow^[8] while working as ploughmen for Joseph L. Gibson in February 1896. They found the hoard whilst double ploughing. That means that one plough would follow the other to gain extra depth. It was estimated that the finds were buried 14 inches (36 cm) deep and were in close proximity to each other.

The find was taken to the farm where Maggie (later Mrs Nicholl) washed the items in a sink. At that time they did not realise they were made from gold.^[9] The hoard was eventually sold to the British Museum for six hundred pounds. It consisted of a miniature ship, complete with fittings and oars; two necklets, a bowl and a torc (or hollow collar).^[1] The find was described as a lump of mud when initially shown. Moreover, the boat had been so badly damaged by the plough that it took a goldsmith to later work out its structure.

Part of the boat, a thwart, was found a few days later and sold by Morrow's sister to a jeweller in Derry.^[10]

The hoard's gold shares metallurgical characteristics, despite the diverse styles of the pieces. Some appear to be imported, while others may be reworked or entirely remade. One possibility is that a group of pieces made in the Roman Rhineland reached Ireland, perhaps after a period in Britain, where some pieces were remade, and the necklaces left as they were.^[3]

The hoard was sold by the farmer, J.L.Gibson, to a jeweller in Derry who sold it to a local antiquarian, Robert Day. He sold it to the British Museum for £600. The museum had undisturbed ownership until the renowned Arthur Evans wrote a paper describing the find in 1897. The drawing of the torc design comes from this paper.^[9] The Royal Irish Academy disputed the British Museum's view that it was an ancient gift to the gods and launched a long running court case. The Academy wanted the finds to be declared treasure trove, that is, buried with the intention of recovery. Day, the antiquarian, was so aggrieved to have his sale disputed that he withdrew a gift he was going to make to the Irish Academy.

It was argued that the model of the boat and the "sea-horse image" on the torc when combined with the finding of nearby shells showed that the treasure had been placed in water deliberately as an offering to ancient gods. The map above shows how close the find was both to the sea and to reclaimed land where the railway then travelled. The British Museum's position was set out by Evans who had described the find as votive in his 1897 paper – ironically something the Academy's successor, the National Museum of Ireland, now consider likely, saying on their website: "The objects may have been buried as an offering to a Celtic god, presumably during the first Century BC".^[2]

The dispute was finally settled by a court in London in 1903 in an important case where the government was represented by Sir Edward Carson, who was a Unionist and Solicitor-General.^[9] A pivotal issue in the case was that the finds were all closely packed which was indicative of burial. It was held that the treasure was not a religious offering and was therefore forfeit to the crown.^[1] The treasure was taken to Dublin and placed in the museum there. Although some^[who?] have suggested that the gold should be transferred to nearer their find-spot in what is now Northern Ireland, the items remain in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

The hoard is considered an important find. The National Museum of Ireland believes that the collar is the "finest example of Irish La Tène goldworking". The eclecticism of the styles is comparable to that of the objects in the Stirling Hoard from Scotland, probably from a slightly earlier period. The torc was incorporated into a 1996 design for a British pound by Norman Sillman^[4] and the boat was used as a basis for the design for the last pound coin ever issued by the Irish Mint.^[5] This coin was issued to celebrate the millennium in 2000.

• List of hoards in Ireland
• The Caergwrle Bowl, a miniature boat in shale with tin and gold, found at Caergwrle in Wales, in 1823
• Ardagh Hoard