" The Jet Necklace "

by

Frances Hood


In 1970 some former farm land on the right hand side of the old avenue into Stronvaar House was being prepared for building. This land was owned by the McGrory family of the former Kintyre Nurseries. and, while bulldozing the land, Mr T. McGrory discovered a Bronze Age Cist. His bulldozer had badly damaged the Cist, but fortunately Mr McGrory realised the value of his discovery, stopped work, and contacted the late Father Webb, and Mr Duncan Colville, Kintyre's most able historians, who photographed the remains of the Cist, and made all possible notes on the discovery.

Father Webb contacted Dr. E. J. Peltenburg, the extra-mural tutor for Argyll, whose archaeology class was just starting for the winter. On his first visit, Dr. Peltenburg found over one hundred Jet Beads, the skeleton which had been wearing them having crumbled to dust. Later, when he and his extra-mural class visited the site with sieves and riddles, several more beads were found, and also a flint knife. After treatment with preservatives in Glasgow,the necklace was reconstructed and proved to be the longest ever found in Argyll, and constructed of 134 beads. The necklace was to have remained in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Antiquities, as it was one of the finest examples of a Jet necklace the authorities there had seen. Those who had shared in the work of discovery felt that their find should remain in Campbeltown, and, due to the tireless efforts of Mrs Cissy McGrory, the necklace and the flint knife were returned to the Campbeltown Museum, where they are displayed in a burglarproof case.

The necklace belongs to the Bronze Age Period, roughly 1800 - 1500 B.C., and the Jet is believed to have been imported from Whitby, although a more local source may yet be found. So far, ten necklaces of this type have been found in Argyll, but this is the only one on display in the place where it was found. Others are in Museums in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and one, found in Campbeltown years ago, is in Inveraray Castle.



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