I became interested in the Carrigallen Shoe from information I received from Thomas Lockhart Jnr, so I wrote to Raghnall O'Floinn, the assistant keeper of the Irish antiquities division of the National Museum. He informed me that the shoe came into the possession of the National Museum in 1841, as part of the collection of Henry Dawson, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. According to records, it was found in Carrigallen Bog, now owned by Anne and Francie Murray, near the then Rectory, now the residence of Joan and Robert Patterson, Druminchin.

In Wilde's Catalogue of the Antiquities of Animal Materials and Bronze in the Museum of the Royal Academy published in 1861, it is stated that the shoe was given to Dean Dawson, who was Rector of Carrigallen from November 4th 1809 until he died on September 6th 1866, aged 85. He is buried in Christchurch Cathedral.

The shoe is on permanent display in the exhibition entitled Viking Age, Ireland, which opened in June 1995. It is one of the finest examples of its type. The decoration on the shoe enabled it to be dated to the early Christian period, perhaps the ninth or tenth century.

Mon. John A. Young