Preamble
To celebrate Midsummer and the summer solstice, people in Sweden retire to their cabins out in the country as they revel in all-night natural light. They say that walking barefoot in the dew as the Midsummer night turns to dawn helps you stay healthy; and that wearing a wreath of flowers in your hair is an old symbol of rebirth and fertility. Now you know.
This year's solstice falls on 24 June coinciding with the feast of St John the Baptist. Festivities continue for several days.
Norway Denmark and Finland likewise celebrate Midsummer with their own traditions.
What better time to turn our attention to the Norwegians and Danes who visited our shores a millennium and more ago.
Beautiful as their artefacts like golden jewellery and ornate swords are, no other Nordic archaeological object can surpass the modus operandi of the Vikings, their longships. A successful quest to find one would represent the ultimate testimony to the engineering and sailing prowess of Scandinavian visitors to Ireland twelve centuries back in time. It would constitute a eureka moment.
Archaeologists have discovered Viking ships in Norway, in Denmark, in Poland’s Gdansk Bay, and boats on a couple of Britain's islands - but not definitively in Ireland, at least yet. Where are the Viking ships that came to Ireland docking originally at Rathlin Island in 795 AD with potential follow-up trips to (and possibly also from and between) other locations in a 300 year time-span?
Resources
As an interested amateur, I have a suggestion. A new hunt for Viking ships in Ireland is needed. Sources like Ireland's geography and toponyms, together with reference to Old Norse (ON) and twenty-first century Norwegian and Danish records could well, given a fair wind, combine to unearth evidential clues. The tools of modern technology might assist in the effort.
Norway
In 2008 my wife and I visited the country's most popular (and currently-closed) museum the Vikingskiphuset in Oslo. Apart from its housing of the Gokstad (23 metres long, built from oak at the end of the 9th century and excavated in 1880) and another called the Tune, the museum’s star attraction was the Oseberg Viking ship (pictured below). It was excavated in 1904 from a site 100 km south of Oslo at Tønsberg.
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Tønsberg is regarded as the oldest city in Norway, founded by Vikings in the 9th century which, if true, post-dates their arrival on Rathlin. Science Norway says that the Oseberg’s excavation also unearthed “numerous wooden and metal artefacts, textiles and even sacrificed animals used as offerings to the two buried women.”
And all three ships “ended their sailing careers in burial rituals” (1).
What a tantalising prospect it would be to find something similar (or smaller boats, even remnants, any evidence of Viking boat yards) in Ireland.
A worrying report this month from Science Norway (1) reveals that work on the proposed new museum has been "paused to cut costs."
Denmark
In 2014 we visited the British Museum in London to see the blockbuster exhibition “Vikings; Life and Legend.” It included a dazzling array of artefacts including the 37 metre long Roskilde 6 dragon ship. It was built after 1025, discovered as recently as 1997 along with other 1000 year old ships in Denmark’s Roskilde bay.
Exhibits included rope-like chains of silver and gold; outsized buckles and brooches that became status symbols from Stockholm to Shetland. It included amulets and bracelets some of which doubled as currency. Many jewellery and armour exhibits, as well as the whalebone artefacts, were decorated with riverine and wave designs.
The show’s message, I suspect, was that the Vikings weren’t so much or even solely raiders as much as they were artistic and engineering wizards - the dragon ship (dreki in ON) being the exhibition's showpiece.
I’d been persuaded to attend by the infectious enthusiasm of the Observer’s reviewer (2). His rapturous account had begun with the etymology of the operative noun:-
“Viking” was originally shorthand for setting oars to water, deriving from "vik," which was the Old Norse name for the mouth of a river or fjord. Later, in the Icelandic sagas, it became something like "fara í viking", "go on a viking" which came to mean to set out on a voyage and to take part in anything that might follow – trade, commerce, raiding, piracy or worse.”
"Viking"
A recent report in the Times (3) quotes an article from June’s “History Today” by St Andrews history lecturer Alex Woolf who advocates the cancellation of the term “Viking.”
It is, he argues, "a 19th century mistake that borders on racist." The Times adds an editorial elucidating both sides of the case. I’ll leave that spat to the experts.
Nordic Placenames
The Nordic linguistic legacy has survived for a millennium or more, reflected in various Irish coastal place names (and also in several of our surnames e.g. ON sumarliði meaning summer sailor). What is the possibility of finding, say, a Viking place in Ireland which signals the site of a buried ship?
Names provide an extra resource in the archaeological search for ocean-going artefacts and other clues. Vik is one example of ON which occurs as a suffix or prefix in towns across Britain and Ireland for example, Lerwick in Shetland, Wigstown (4) in Leicestershire, and Wicklow here.
Ó’Mainnín (5) says that the Vikings coined roughly 60 place-names in Ireland, including (importantly in ON) Ueða-Fjörðr (Waterford), Ueigs-Fjörðr (Wexford), and Uikingrló (Wicklow)(6). Smyth (7) adds the ON Hlýmrek (Limerick) on the west coast arguing that Nordic influence on Ireland’s place-names was more widespread than is currently held.
Archaeologists tell us that most of their evidence of places settled by the Vikings in Ireland lies on the south-east and south coasts. Let’s take that as a cue to examine the lesser excavated Ulster and its relative lack of evidence of Viking settlement. One source, Sophie Vanherpen, opines that only two place-names in Ulster derive from Old Norse (8): Larne, in ON, Ulfreks Fjörðr – fjord of Ulfrek - and Strangford. The most interesting point made in her research says that
“in the 10th and 11th centuries Ulfreksfjordr was the centre of Viking activity. This is seen from Viking burial sites and artefacts found in this area..... Snorri Sturluson (9) (1178-1241, Norwegian poet, historian and politician in the Althing) mentions Ulfreksfjordr in his Heimskringla as the place where Connor the King of Ireland defeated the Orkney Vikings under the leadership of Einar in battle in 1018.”
Unlike other Norse-derived place-names in Ireland, Ulfreksford has disappeared. Strangford endures, deriving from the ON Strangr Fjörðr which means strong sea-inlet. Could either of these “fjords'' (Larne and Strangford’s sea loughs) be home to long-lost ships from Western Norway?
Allow me to submit that there are at least three other Ulster place-names which derive from the Viking age. Rathlin Island derives from the ON Rechru. Its prefix echoes in my ears with that of Iceland’s capital city (10) and with the Limerick suffix (ON Hlýmrek). The Annals of Ulster use the ON Rechru when describing the 795 Viking raid as Rathlin’s “burning by the heathens (11).”
Carlingford is derived from the ON Kerlingfjorðr (12) meaning narrow sea-inlet of the hag. It translates into Irish as Loch Cairlinn. This suffix linn translates as lake/pool. Coincidentally, Dublin’s original Gaelic name is DubhLinn, literally deep/dark pool. The Annals of Ulster recorded that in 841AD the Vikings had a stronghold (longfort in Irish) there and built the first town (13) at WoodQuay (14). Despite Dublin’s position as being Ireland’s “power centre” and best excavated Viking settlement, I'm unaware of evidence discovered of ship remnants.
The Provincial name, Ulster, is an ON derivative. Historian Jonathon Bardon explains that Ulster’s rulers were called the Ulaidh. This was a tribal name, he says, recorded as Voluntii about 150AD by Ptolemy of Alexandria in his geography of Ireland. The Vikings named the land of the Ulaidh Uladzstir, mixing their pronunciation with the Irish word tír, meaning land or country. When the Normans and English invaded Ireland in the twelfth century, they adopted the Viking version. As Bardon explains (15), Uladztir became anglicised to Ulster. The place-names expert Patrick McKay (16) corroborates that the form Uladztir originates in Norse.
Allow me to add two additional settlements to the above three places. Arising from our knowledge of the Vikings’ establishing longforts in Dublin as fording points for their ships (long in Irish Gaelic), this pair of prospective Viking settlements contain the Irish noun long.
One is Ballylumford, (in Irish) Baile an Longfoirt. It occupies a strategic site on County Antrim’s Islandmagee peninsula - opposite Ulfreks Fjörðr, aka Larne. Ballylumford's English meaning (17) is stated as the town of the fortress, stronghold, or camp. The compound word's prefix Long, isn’t specified definitionally, lost in translation perhaps? If I may think aloud, could the original Irish Gaelic form, long phort, translatable as ship of the landing place/harbour be more appropriate than longfort meaning fortress? Perhaps one for linguists and archaeologists to consider, given our quest for ship burial sites.
Placenameni’s descriptive of Ballylumford makes conjectural observations about temporary camps of 9th century Viking raiders, the position of the peninsula exposed to attacks by Danes and Scots – alas with nothing to shed light on my thesis, like buried or sunken ships (18). One wonders what, if any archaeological work has been carried out in Ballylumford.
The other similar prospective candidate which might have a claim to the Vikings’ sailing vessels is Annalong, Áth na Long in Irish meaning ford of the ships (19). Could it provide the elusive answer to the big question posed above? Annalong, in common with places established as Viking settlements in Ireland, sits on the eastern coast of Ireland, this one in southern County Down. Perhaps again, no archaeological excavation has taken place here.
Another Norse word survives in a couple of place-names. Between Hilltown and Kilkeel County Down sits the townland of Stang (An Stang in Irish Gaelic). Stang derives from the ON word stöng meaning (20) a measure of land such as a rood or an acre. My ON dictionary, however, defines stöng as a pole/staff (21). A Tyrone place-name uses the same prefix Stang as a noun with a Gaelic adjective suffixed. Stangmore (An Stang mór, a big piece of land - alternatively a big pole) lies outside Dungannon. Given the inland siting of these Stangs, my initial reaction is to exclude them as potential sites for ship burials.
Ship shape
That said, a Northern Ireland Environment Agency book (22) reminds us that a Viking longphort named Ruib Mena was located inland at Lough Neagh south of Randalstown. Its authors Forsythe and McConkey state that the Vikings' success was largely due to "their maritime prowess and many of their activities took place within range of longphuirt (Irish plural) where fleets could be easily deployed." My impression is that these "fleets" will have needed maintenance bases.
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| Loughan island Viking site - Extract from "Rathlin Island an Archaeological Survey" (22) |
Among a range of potential longphuirt sites on the north coast, the book presents images of Loughan (Irish lochán, small lake/pool) Island on the River Bann south of Coleraine (see pictures above). These would, they say, have been suitable as a longphort base (its lower portion looking, to me, akin to a boat shape); the book also refers to the discovery in 1813 of a buried ship in Ballywillin (in Irish Baile an Mhuilinn ‘townland of the mill’) bog, a mile from Portrush; and it discusses a “boat-shaped mound” on Rathlin Island (picture below) known as “The Danes Burial.” In contrast to the viking ships excavated in Norway and Denmark, the evidence in Ireland, unfortunately, appears to be inconclusive (22).
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| The Dane's Burial boat-shaped mound - extract from "Rathlin Island an Archaeological Survey" (22) |
Forsythe and McConkey refer in passing to boat burial excavations on Sanday, one of the Orkney islands and another at Balladoole, Isle of Man. Tellingly they add that only a few of the British examples have been systematically excavated. That argument might apply to Ireland.
The Ulster Museum is a key resource containing an array of Viking artefacts. A comprehensive article by its curator of archaeology Dr Greer Ramsey summarises the impressive collection (23). These include gold and silver rings and ingots, a County Antrim silver hoard, iron axes found in the River Blackwater, and an 1840 Larne burial find of a sword, parts of a spearhead and a comb.
Stinking henbane
On the subject of Viking artefacts and returning to Science Norway (see footnote 1, ship excavations), another of its articles raises a topic examined by the ethnobotanist Karsten Fatur about the role of a performance enhancing herb, the plant Hyoscyamus Niger (24). The journalist Ulla Schjølberg describes it and additional research by Annelene Kool, a senior lecturer at the Natural History Museum in Oslo.
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| Image from 550-800 of Odin (left) with a berserker, a warrior who fought with bloodthirsty aggression on the battlefield (Source: Oscar Montelius,about life in Sweden in pagan times) |
Its anaesthetic effect may have allowed the warriors, known as Berserkrs (ON), to tolerate more pain than the average fighter. My alternative suggestion is that if such a substance was consumed by Vikings, it may have aided their ability to cope with rough seas and cold weather in navigating to the emerald isle and other destinations.
Otherwise known as stinking henbane, this “historic flower” was in use during the Viking era, evidence of which has often been found in excavations of Viking Age sites. Interestingly for our purposes, Science Norway states that “it has been found in several places in Denmark, York, Dublin and Staraja Ladoga in Russia.” As a clue of Viking life in Norway and apparently also in Ireland its availability and use here merits closer investigation.
Breaking news
Further teasing news from Norway reveals the recent finding of a previously unknown Viking ship grave in Kvinesdal in southern Norway (25). The discovery was made on a plain at Øyesletta. The boat is estimated to be 8-9 metres long and could serve as a grave for one or more people. It appears to have been cut into the ground, before a burial mound was built on top. Interestingly, the report adds that “recent advances in georadar technology have resulted in more of these rare boat graves being discovered in various parts of Norway."
Inspiration for us sons of summer sailors whose antecedents built family houses in Ireland. Given that Vikings lived here happily ever after, they must have needed death ceremonial sites.
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| Norwegian archaeologists with a georadar machine |
I experienced a huge sense of revelation in learning that one Viking ship discovered in Denmark was built in Ireland (26). Skuldelev 2 was found in 1957 during the first underwater archaeological investigations by divers in Roskilde Fjord’s Peberrenden. It was excavated together with the other Skuldelev ships in 1962. The record of Roskilde’s Viking Ship Museum says that
“...dendrochronological analysis reveals that the tree used to make the keelson was felled in May or June 1042. The trees used for the planks, felled at the same time, grew in the vicinity of Dublin and Waterford. Both towns were founded and inhabited by Vikings. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the shipbuilders who constructed Skuldelev 2 are to be found among their populations, most probably Dublin….it is interesting that the Scandinavians in Dublin in 1042 – which at that time had made strong contacts with the surrounding population – still built ships in a characteristically Scandinavian way. ”
Conclusion
Back in the Ulster Museum, Dr Ramsey concludes that “the Vikings did settle in Ulster … perhaps one day more evidence of where they lived will be discovered.” Whereas I see no mention in his account of ships, shipyards or even of plants, I take encouragement from his presumably evidence-based hunch of likely settling by Vikings in Ulster.
Taking his prognosis along with the sources of support listed above provides a prima facie rationale to consider - without going berserk - archaeological excavations in places that may not have been examined heretofore. The use of georadar technology could assist in the noble search for the palace of immortality reserved for heroes slain in battle. Valhalla.
It being Midsummer why not?
©Michael McSorley 2022
Acknowledgement:- This article is an edited version of my assignment for the Queens University Belfast School of Open Learning spring term course entitled "The Viking Age Archaeologhy of Ireland" under the tutelage of archaeologist Ruari O'Baoill.
Bibliography & References:-
8 Oct 2019 Ida Irene Bergstrom https://sciencenorway.no/archaeology-history-museums/government-finally-grants-money-for-new-viking-ship-museum-in-oslo/1574616
10 June 2022 Ida Irene Bergstrom https://sciencenorway.no/archaeology-science-policy-viking-age/new-report-budget-cuts-put-1200-year-old-viking-ships-at-risk-of-being-destroyed/2038328
Tim Adams The Observer New Review 9 March 2014
The Times 4 June 2022 p21 “Historian attempts to kill off the Vikings”
W G Hoskins “The Making of the English Landscape” 1970
Mícheál Ó’Mainnín 2017 “Annexing Irish Names to the English Tongue: language contact and the Anglicisation of Irish place-names” Paul Walsh Memorial Lecture Maynooth University
Ibid Ó’Mainnín 2017: p6 - meanings - Ueða-Fjörðr (ram or windy fjord), Ueigs-Fjörðr (fjord of the water-logged island or piece of land), Uikingrló (meadow of the Vikings).
Limerick William J Smyth History Ireland Mar/Apr 2020 “The Scandinavian Impact, A Geographical Exploration.” https://www.jstor.org/stable/26915175?seq=1
Sophie Vanherpen May 2016 ”Traces of Vikings in Northern Ireland” https://vanherpens.wordpress.com/2016/05/29/traces-of-vikings-in-northern-ireland/?fbclid=IwAR1a42ptQugDscY-2DgMZh8ST5_7JV0CDNW4_Zy9O2RzhT0RTaQo6tIIQm4
Ibid Vanherpen 2016 quoting Sturluson https://www.britannica.com/biography/Snorri-Sturluson
ON dictionary search reveals options: e.g. Rejk=bay, reykr=smoke, rekkr=warrior
The Annals of Ulster https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100001A/text365.html
Kerling ON= hag/old woman https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_N2E.shtm#s
Dublin https://www.logainm.ie/Eolas/Data/Brainse/baile-atha-cliath-dublin.pdf
Wood Quay Dublin https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/wood-quay-revealing-the-heart-of-viking-dublin.htm
Jonathon Bardon “Place names in the North of Ireland” p 2 NICLR.
Patrick McKay “A Dictionary of Ulster Place-Names 1999 p 144 ISI QUB.
Ballylumford http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=16796
Viking Ships http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/norse_ships.htm
Stang http://www.placenamesni.org/resultdetails.php?entry=14666
Stang https://www.vikingsofbjornstad.com/Old_Norse_Dictionary_N2E.shtm#s
“Rathlin Island An Archaeological Survey of a Maritime Landscape” Wes Forsythe & Rosemary McConkey 2012 NIEA
Dr Greer Ramsey The Vikings collection story https://www.nmni.com/story/the-vikings
Ulla Gjeset Schjølberg 2 October 2019 https://sciencenorway.no/drugs-history-plants/crazed-viking-warriors-may-have-been-high-on-henbane/1571431
David Nikel 8 April 2022 Life in Norway https://www.lifeinnorway.net/viking-ship-boat-grave-discovered-in-kvinesdal/
https://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/en/professions/education/the-longships/findings-of-longships-from-the-viking-age/skuldelev-2
