Secrets of Scotland’s Viking Age Hoard

In Scotland’s Galloway region, a Viking Age hoard of metalwork was recently discovered by a metal detectorist. The hoard includes silver arm bands, brooches, and a silver ingot, as well as a unique silver-gilt Christian cross. The artifacts date back to the 9th or 10th century and provide insight into the cultural exchange between the Vikings and the local population during the Viking Age. The cross, in particular, suggests that the person who buried the hoard may have been of mixed Norse and Christian beliefs.

This discovery adds to the growing body of evidence that the Vikings were more than just raiders and plunderers. They were skilled craftsmen and traders who had a significant impact on the cultures and economies of the places they settled. The Viking Age was a time of great change and cultural exchange in Europe, and the Galloway hoard provides a glimpse into the complex interactions between the Vikings and the people they encountered.

Overall, the discovery of the Viking Age hoard in Galloway is a fascinating glimpse into the past and adds to our understanding of the Vikings and their impact on the world.

https://www.archaeology.org/issues/465-2205/features/10483-scotland-galloway-viking-age-hoard

Battle of Brunanburh

For centuries, historians have puzzled over the location of the battle of Brunanburh – the clash between a West Saxon army and its Viking-led enemies that helped secure the future of England. It was a fight between Anlaf Guthfrithsson, the viking king of Dublin and overlord of much of Ireland, and King Athelstan. Athelstan led what is believed to have been the first unified English army. The Battle of Brunanburh was fought in late 937AD. An Anglo Saxon army led by King Athelstan (the grandson of Alfred the Great) defeated and destroyed an invading army of Vikings, Scots; an alliance of Olaf Guthfrithson, King of Dublin; Constantine II, King of Scotland and Owain, King of Strathclyde.

After researching medieval manuscripts, records and carrying out land surveys, they are confident that the battle took place on Merseyside – somewhere on The Wirral.

Some historians have said that his battle is arguably one of the most significant battles in the long history not just of England, but of the whole of the British Isles

And here you can get some general background information from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brunanburh

And here is a more indepth article from the every wonderful Michael Wood:

https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/where-did-brunanburh-battle-take-place-location-england-michael-wood/

And this is the news article announcing the fact that after years of pondering and suggestion there is finally the evidence to back it all up

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/ancient-battle-created-england-wirral-17130613

And the fact that it all happened about 20 miles away (as the raven files (obviously) makes it all the more exciting….

Kirkmadrine

This weekend we went away, through the Debatable Lands, then headed west deep into the ancient kingdom of Dumfries and Galloway – and what a beautiful part of the world it is. We were heading to the light house at the Mull of Galloway, the most southerly tip of Scotland with promises of cliffs, sea birds, dolphins and seals when we stopped at Kirkmadrine.

It’s an ancient site, with an abandonded chapel surrounded by some crooked gravestones. A glass-fronted porch at the west end of Kirkmadrine Church is home to a collection of the oldest known Christian monuments in Scotland outside Whithorn. There are stones here that date back to the 400’s and some stone cross fragments dated from 700 to 1100.

The site itself reminded me of Wayland Smithy, it had the same, eerie calm about it.  It was quite a breezy day, with a wind whipping across the landscape from the Irish Sea but once you stepped off the road into the tree lined avenue that led to the site, the wind just disappeared.  Someone had mown a path through the vegitation up towards the mound on which the chapel sits. It looks all the world like a Barrow, even to the point of having low hills on the horizon when you look north and east and to the south west of the site was a natural spring. The spring had been covered with stones, as if to wall it in, but the water found a way out and fed a pond in the field, home to a family of ducks. It was one of those sites that made you stop, listen and look – no bad thing.

If you’re ever on the Rhins of Galloway it is defintely worth a visit.

 

 

Thomas Williams: How Viking raiders became Scotland’s bloody midwives

When the first Viking ships arrived in northern Britain in the 790s, those who rode the unforgiving whale-road from Scandinavia and the shores of the Baltic encountered a land splintered by geography and ethnic identity…..

https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/thomas-williams-how-viking-raiders-became-scotland-s-bloody-midwives-1-4835595