more (at source): The barrel is also split along the middle, which is common with utensils filled with butter found in the bogs. A conservator at the National Museum, Carol Smith, told that the butter expands over time, causing the split.

The barrel is about three feet long and almost a foot wide, and weighs almost 35kgs, (77lbs).

The butter has changed to white and is now adipocere, which is essentially animal fat, the same sort of substance that is found on well-preserved bodies of people or animals found in the bog.

The two men put the barrel in the cab of their tractor and brought it back to their base.

"We put it in a black plastic bag," Mr Fitzharris explained.

And last Tuesday in the Conservation Department of the National Museum of Ireland in Collins Barracks, the two men were reunited with the barrel in the company of Monasterevin man and one of the museum's keepers, Pádraig Clancy and conservator Carol Smith.

Mr Clancy was contacted by Bord na Móna's archaeo

biscuits anyone?

I think I'll pass, thanks

A unique find but I don't think I'd try eating it either.