Viking Heritage Day at Woodstown

This “fierce viking face” is here for reference only. No photographer was harmed in the making of this picture.

In fact, the day in Woodstown was very pleasant and fun.

Waterford city was established by Vikings in 914, but a separate party of Norsemen settled 9 km upstream and built a longphoirt – Irish word for a ship harbour –  in the middle of the 9th century. During the testing related to the construction of the N 25 bypass in 2003, two lead weights were discovered which was the beginning of archaeological excavations at Woodstown that uncovered an early Viking settlement on the bank of River Suir. The bypass was amended and re-routed following the discovery. Woodstown Viking settlement was declared a national monument.

You can admire the archaeological discoveries from the dig on display in the Reginald Tower in Waterford city.

Take these steps to the second floor that is dedicated to the Woodstown Viking settlement finds.

Among many other finds, over 200 weights were found in Woodstown, which indicates that it was a trade centre where merchants and craftsmen could trade for goods or slaves. They used coins too, but by their weight in silver rather than their denomination. There were many centres like this established by Vikings. Some of them made new cities – Dublin, York, Novgorod. Woodstown Viking settlement didn’t continue into a bigger city and lasted not more than 100 years.

When I arrived in Woodstown, I met James Eogan, Senior archaeologist at Transport Infrastructure Ireland, executive editor of the book Woodstown: A Viking Age Settlement in County Waterford. I joined his guided walk which was a great success.

Mr. Eogan took us to the site – or rather to the part of the Greenway where the site is situated behind the fencing. The site has only been partially excavated (5%), but digging will continue if funded. From archaeological evidence it is clear that Woodstown settlement was a Viking trading centre and a home to craftsmen and their families, but its location was not practical for Viking needs. We learned about the site map, defense trenches, discovery of the stand alone burial site, and many more interesting facts and theories about this unique place.

The site is not accessible to the public yet, but hopefully some information boards will be installed along the Greenway.

The Woodstown book has a fantastic free audio guide that can be found on this page or, hopefully, accessed through this embedded link:

Today I am sharing some Viking pictures of our own very talented Vikings from Déise Medieval and their friends from other countries. From my previous Viking  post you already know about the Vikings and their legacy. Let’s see them in action 🙂

I was fascinated with the work of this beautiful weaver. We used to make a very simplified form of bookmark in Primary, and I still remember the joy 🙂

A charming Viking lady has a terracotta horseman that catches my eye.

A Byzantine physician (my guess) is offering potions and spices.

Another fascinating stand – Viking cutlery and all sorts of knives (The Catfire Forge)

Endless choice of pendants and a beautiful merchant – alone and deep in thoughts.

This lovely lady has a collection of Viking weaponry for sale.

She explains the great qualities of the battleaxe to her customer, and even shows where to aim 🙂 The other Vikings are hanging around, just in case. Safety first.

Day to day life in a Viking camp looks relaxing and wholesome.

And this is no doubt my favorite picture 🙂

Speaking about love. John of Wallingford, a Benedictine monk, complained about the Vikings and their ways to lure the local ladies from the straight and narrow. It came out that the invaders were a big hit with the local women because ‘they combed their hair every day, bathed every Saturday and had many frivolous devices about their person’.

Walking around the camp I take a few candid pictures of the Viking warriors. There is a battle between two Viking clans scheduled today.

Let’s the fight begin.

I am rooting for the redhead Viking lady.

No luck this time.

“Call upon the dead to rise! ”

And another fight begins. Then another.

The winners cannot hide their excitement.

Finally the war is over.

Thank you for reading about Irish history and camping with Vikings. Check your DNA – you might be surprised.

Have a wonderful weekend!

124 comments

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  3. It’s very interesting to see how people lived back in the olden days. I wonder if, in a thousand years, there will be similar festivals where people are showing what life was like back in 2019 🙂

    1. Oh I love your idea 🙂 That will be fun. Good they won’t have to do much digging since we will leave them wealth of information on Facebook 🙂

  4. Fascinated by the history of Vikings. It was a simple life without computers and cell phones. Unfortuantely, war was there historically as it is today. Another interesting post Ineses as always.

    1. You are so right about war, Joseph. Humans cannot enjoy what they already have. Norse folks were smart though. They knew when to stop raiding and start trading 🙂

  5. Loved the history lesson and the great photos – I do not know much about the Vikings. The photos reminded me of a cross between our Native American Festivals and our Civil War enactments. Would love to see it!

    1. Thank you Syd! Our Vikings are active all the year round. There is another similar ‘society’ – the Knights. Similar I mean both keep our history alive.

      1. I am a major history nut. You are lucky to be near an area where the people are actively trying to preserve their heritage.

  6. Oooo, I wonder if I’ve any Viking ancestry! Such awesome photos. I love the expressions on these faces–they transport me back in time more than anything else. x

  7. Loved reading and virtually travelling through Ireland from your posts. Ireland is a long way from here and I’d like to visit someday. Until then, your pictures and stories will transport into another world. I would have saved the eel (earlier post) too. 🙂 In the animal documentaries, I wondered why the filmmakers didn’t save the prey from the predator. 🙂

    1. Thank you so much for joining my simple adventures 🙂 I have been thinking of the filmmakers too, but decided that it is probably ethical towards the Nature, but sure it is distressing and frustrating for the viewer. If the heron was around, I wouldn’t take away his prey. The thing is that I was not sure he even remembered where exactly he dropped his eel. It took me some 5 minutes to get to the crannagh, and the eel was still alive by that time, and the heron was nowhere to be found. To leave the eel to die would be a waste of life 🙂

      1. I know what you mean. Life and nature can be tough. You did the right thing. I would have done the same. xoxo

  8. Ah – you’ve done it again! Taken me away from my everyday humdrum to a magical place – but this time I’ve been transported back in time. Thank you so much!

  9. Wow that looks like fun! I couldn’t help laughing out loud at the fight. Beautiful crafts and beautiful people. You captured it all for me to see.Thanks for taking me along, Inese.

    1. Thank you for camping with the Vikings, Diana! 🙂 They fought very skillfully. It was the most well-organized fight I have ever witnessed. The dead didn’t protest or fight back 🙂

  10. This is the first time I’ve ever heard that the Viking combed their hair and took a weekly bath! One generally hears more about their raping and pillaging!

  12. You certainly have the gift, Inese. You never…not even just the once…deliver up anything other than a post worth opening and in the certain knowledge that I will be learning something new and a guarantee that I shall enjoy immensely.

  14. What a fun and wonderful post, Inese! Just love your photos, you’ve captured such beautiful portraits and the fighting scenes are awsome too! I’ve been on quite a lot of medieval festivals, even took part in one selling bread, but never a Viking festival. Would really love to visit one of these. 😊
    I had to laugh when I read about that Benedictine monk complaining – honestly, what did he care? Shouldn’t he look away when women are in sight ? They might tempt him with their devilish ways of seduction. 😉😉
    Have a lovely weekend! xxxxxxxxxxx

    1. Thank you Sarah! I have never taken part in such a festival. I would love it!
      Instead of complaining, the monk should have started an education campaign to teach the local men about the importance of hygiene 🙂

  15. Hmm, I am curious about this “It came out that the invaders were a big hit with the local women because ‘they combed their hair every day, bathed every Saturday”.. What were the local did not do that was less desirable by the local ladies ? 🙂

    Lovely post.. there is a tiny bit of romantic scene and exciting fighting scenes. The ladies were so brave and fought along too.

    1. Thank you for your comment! 🙂 Yeah, the history tells the truth – Europe was quite a dirty place in the middle ages – it is why the Black Death had spread like a wildfire. A tidy guy still looks more attractive than the opposite, even these days. Nothing changed 🙂

      1. I guess that was because of somewhat cold climate too. Viking guys were a bit smart about this whether this is their real purpose or not.

  16. There are some seriously great photographs. You’ve captured the mood and the action in one hit on each shot. The lady Viking wearing glasses made me laugh. I had to think why then realized it was that she wore glasses dressed as a Viking ~ George

    1. Aren’t they all beautiful? I enjoyed the day just walking around the camp and watching these people. Beauty comes from within indeed. They are amazing.

    1. There is a real forest in Killarney. Really real 🙂 Then there are wooden areas around the country, some of them quite massive. You can check the google map. Some woods have trails. In County Waterford it would be Colligan, Glenshelane, Crough Woods. They are beautiful.

      1. Thank You for your kind reply, after I sent this post I felt quite stupid, but although I’m British I have always thought of Ireland as being fields, which is also cool, but I do love woodlands.

  20. What a wonderful post. Great photography too. I’ve been thinking about checking my DNA as there are some interesting facts to find from it. I’d love to think there were Vikings involved too. 🙂

          1. Thank you, Rosaliene. It was up and running. I wonder if you need to refresh your browser? Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it and will check it out again.

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