Torrs Pony-cap and Horns facts for kids
The Torrs Horns and Torrs Pony-cap are amazing bronze objects from the Iron Age. They are now kept at the National Museum of Scotland. These pieces were found together in Scotland, but experts still debate how they were used. Most believe the horns were added to the pony-cap later. They are decorated in a special ancient style called La Tène style, which is a type of Celtic art. These objects were likely made around 200 BC. They show the incredible skill of artists from that time. They were probably made for important people in ancient Britain and Ireland.
How They Were Found
The Torrs Horns and Pony-cap were discovered around 1820. They were found in a peat bog at Torrs Loch, near Castle Douglas in Scotland. Finding them in a bog suggests they might have been a votive deposit. This means they were placed there as an offering to gods or spirits.
At first, people thought the horns were separate from the cap when found. However, a newspaper report from that time says they were actually attached. The local historian Joseph Train gave these treasures to the famous writer Sir Walter Scott. For many years, they were displayed at Scott's home, Abbotsford House, with the horns connected to the cap.
Today, the horns are still shown attached to the cap, pointing backwards. But they were originally mounted pointing forwards. Sometimes, they have even been displayed separately. A copy of the objects is now on display at Abbotsford House.
What They Look Like
The pony-cap is decorated with beautiful patterns. These include plant shapes, spiral designs, and bird heads. These patterns were made using a technique called repoussé, where the metal is hammered from the back to create a raised design.
The horns have different kinds of decoration. They have "boldly asymmetric" engraved patterns. One horn even has a tiny human face carved into it. The complete horn ends with a sculpted bird head. Some experts think this might be the head of a northern shoveller duck. This bird head probably had eyes made of red coral once. The other horn is missing its tip.
The cap has holes for the pony's ears. The way the cap is displayed in museums today shows off its decoration. When a horse wore it, the cap would have been angled differently, with its sides roughly parallel to the ground.
The complete horn is about 16.5 inches (42 cm) long along its curve. The cap is about 10.5 inches (27 cm) long. Because of their size, the horse wearing the cap would have had to be quite small. The cap also has a large missing piece at the back. It has three old repairs, made with small decorated metal plates.
Artistic Style
The Torrs Horns and Cap are important examples of a late stage of La Tène style art in Britain and Ireland. This style is sometimes called "Style IV." Other similar objects include the Battersea Shield and the Witham Shield. Another very similar piece is a bronze shield boss found in the River Thames in London. These objects are all in the British Museum.
Some experts believe the Torrs Cap shows a unique "Galloway style" of La Tène art. This style is closely related to art found in northern Ireland, which is just a short distance across the Irish Sea. However, other scholars think these pieces might have been brought to Scotland from "east-central England."
What Were They Used For?
The pony-cap is usually thought of as a type of horse armour called a champron or chamfrein. These were used to protect a horse's head. However, some people believe it was meant to be worn by a human during special ceremonies. When it was first found, local historians thought it was a "mummer's head-mask," meaning a mask for someone performing.
The cap would have been held on with leather straps. It might have had a plume, like a feather decoration, rising from the top. No other metal horse armour from ancient times has been found. But there are examples made from materials like boiled leather, including one from a Roman fort in Scotland called Newstead Fort. Another idea is that the cap was made for a wooden statue of a horse used in religious rituals. This would help explain its small size.
For a while, some experts thought the horns were actually mounts for drinking-horns. They believed the horns were never attached to the cap in ancient times. This idea was popular for about 30 years. It led to the horns being displayed separately from the cap. The bird's head on the horn is similar to decorations on much later drinking-horns found in Anglo-Saxon and Irish burials.
However, later research showed that the holes and rivets used to attach the horns to the cap were not all from the 19th century. This means the horns were likely attached to the cap a very long time ago. So, the idea that they were drinking-horn mounts became less popular. Some experts then suggested the horns might have been "yoke-terminals" for chariots. It's still possible that the horns were made for a different purpose but were later attached to the cap before it was placed in the bog.
While no exact matches have been found, some ancient images show similar caps. For example, a mythical horse called Pegasus on an ancient coin seems to wear a cap with two knobbed horns. Also, in Siberia, ancient horses from the Iron Age Pazyryk culture were found with masks shaped like stag heads or horns. In 2015, an Iron Age burial in England was found with a horse's skull that had a cow's horn on its forehead.
