The Shrine of St Patrick's Bell

[Milesian]

The shrine is highly decorative. It was made in
about 1100 in Armagh, and features silver and gold
filigree, and openwork with snakes and birds,
and studs of crystal and glass.
The actual bell inside the highly decorated
shrine is a plain iron bell, shaped like a cowbell.
There is another bell, which is associated with
St.Patrick, and it plays a part in one of Ireland's
most famous legends. It is said that the sound
of this bell was what drove the snakes out of
Ireland, it also broke the spell, which had turned
the Children of Lir into swans. It symbolizes
the coming of Christianity to Ireland, and the
bell itself is blackened it is said, by the fires
of hell when St. Patrick had to battle with the
pagan gods on Croagh Patrick.
Both bells are on display in the National
Museum, Dublin.