1. A Yetholm-type Late Bronze Age shield, one of only 25 known from Britain and Ireland (see Uckelmann 2011) and one of only 2 from Wales (the other being from Moel Siabod (NPRN 512940)). Currently on display at the British Museum.

2. 'Votive offerings of just three glorious Late Bronze Age shields are known from Wales, two from Snowdonia and one from the coastal belt of Cardigan Bay. Largely forgotten today, the Rhos-rydd or Glan-rhos shield was discovered in 1804 in a bog near Blaenplwyf, between Aberystwyth and Llanrhystud. It is considered to be one of the finest Late Bronze Age shields yet recovered from Wales. Dating to 1100-900 BC, not long before the earliest Iron Age forts began to be erected in Ceredigion, this glorious and finely-made shield was too thin to have provided any practical protection in battle. It was probably reserved for ceremonial use before being cast into the bog as a votive offering.

True war-shields would have had a backing of wood or leather. The Rhos-rydd shield measures 66 centimetres in diameter, is perfectly preserved and was beaten out from a single disc of bronze. It is flat with twenty concentric ribs decorated with 3700 singly punched bosses. The shield currently resides in the British Museum, where its exceptionally thin and delicate form can be admired `edge-on?, as can the breath-taking perfection of its concentric ribs and punched bosses. One wonders who last held the metal grip on the rear of the shield before it was confined to its watery grave in prehistory? A life-size photograph of the shield can be seen in the Ceredigion Museum.

Rhos-rydd bog (SN 573 740) is a half-concealed location set back slightly from the coastal plain. It is unlikely that such a fine and valuable shield was a casual or accidental loss and it is entirely possible that the bog was a focus for ritual deposition of high status metalwork in the late Bronze Age. It may be significant that the bog is `tucked away? in an area virtually devoid of recorded prehistoric settlements save for a single cropmarked enclosure at Banc y Gaer, overlooking the bog from the west. One can only guess whether Rhos-rydd continued to be of sacred importance during the Iron Age.'

Extract from Chapter 5, Driver, T. 2016. The Hillforts of Cardigan Bay', Logaston Press.

3. 'A circular shield 665m diameter of sheet bronze decorated with twenty concentric rings of repousse bosses with raised ribs between. The metal is bent over at the edges to form a rim 7mm wide, of oval section and 4mm thick. The hand grip is a separate piece, 145mm long and almost 40mm wide, folder over and riveted on with three rivets, the heads of which are about 8mm diameter (behind) and 5mm (front).

The handle is protected by a hollow conical boss protruding about 45mm at the front of the shield. On the back there is a small pointed tongue rivet, 28mm long, halfway in from the edge, and a second rivet but no tongue in a corresponding position on the other side of the shield. The shield is in an excellent state of preservation. There is a considerable body of literature on it, some of which incorrectly suggests that it was found in Borth Bog.'

C. S. Briggs, 1994, in: Cardiganshire County History p.216, and Figure 35.

4. Large sheet-bronze shield, perfectly preserved; beaten out from a single disc of bronze, quite flat; pronounced conical boss with stepped edge, 110mm in Dm., 49mm high; twenty concentric ribs alternating with rows of bosses, rib width 5-6mm, boss Dm. 5mm, altogether over 3700 singly punched bosses; rim turned to front; handle of tubular sheet-bronze riveted to back, 144mm long; two tabs riveted to back, only one remains, 32mm long and a small hole for a strap; conical rivet heads; hammer-marks visible in boss and handle; Yetholm type. Later Bronze Age, 12thC BC - 10thC BC.

British Museum catalogue entry, number 1873, 0210.2 Donated by Sir Augustus Wollaton Franks, and acquired by BM in 1873.

5. The shield is on permanent display in the British Museum, Room 51 Ancient Europe 4000-800 BC.

Coles, PPS, 28, 1962, 188 no. 16.
Driver, T. 2016. The Hillforts of Cardigan Bay', Logaston Press.
Evans, Ancient Bronze Implements (1881), 251
Grimes, Prehist. of. Wales. 184 (no. 521 copy)
Meyrick, Hist. and Antiq., 338-9 (pl. 20, Fig 2)
Savory, Guide Catalogue, 114 (Pl. IIIa).
Uckelmann, M. 2011. The function of Bronze Age Shields. In: Uckelmann, M. and Modlinger, M. 2011. Bronze Age Warfare: Manufacture and Use of Weaponry. BAR International Series 2255. 187-200.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 2014. Updated June 2018