26-Oct-2024
The Vikings have made quite a significant appearance in our trip this year. Of course, you're always aware of the Norsement on the Isle of Man. All those crosses, for example, and Tynwald, and my memories of the Viking Festival, held each summer in Peel when I was growing up there. But this time, they're suddenly everywhere.
After a gap of many centuries, they succeeded the Iron Age folks at Close ny Chollagh. (In fact, some think the name Scarlett derives from the Old Norse SkarfrKlyft, which means Cormorant's Rock.)
And very close to that location is the richly atmospheric site of Chapel Hill, Balladoole. This is the location of a famous Viking boat grave dating back to the 9th or 10th century. Today, its position is marked out by stones:
The boat would have been about 11 metres long. The grave was found to contain the body of an adult man, which was accompanied by objects such as a shield, riding equipment, and a cauldron. Given that they came from Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe, they imply considerable wealth and status.
Here's the reconstruction in the Manx Museum
And this is how he might have looked
No boat left, but loads of boat nails
The museum holds lots of treasure from the Viking era. People would bury their valuables, but sometimes not be able to return for them. In fact, the Island has more Viking silver per square kilometre than England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland...
This piece of Viking jewellery was found during a dig on St Patrick's Isle in Peel. It is made up of 51 glass, jet, and amber beads. The woman who wore it may have been a "pagan sorceress... who would have told fortunes and been very involved in rituals and religion". The grave where it was found dates back to 950, but some of the beads might be 400 years older still
That Balladoole site is amazing. Also located there are the rampart of a Celtic Iron Age hill fort, the remains of Keeill Vael (an early Christian chapel from the 10th/11th century, probably situated on the site of an even earlier keeill), and a Bronze Age grave...
It's also an exceptionally picturesque place in its own right:
The day before our trip to Balladoole, we'd visited the Viking site at The Braaid. Here you can see the remains of two Viking longhouses, dating back to the first millennium, which had been built alongside a Celtic roundhouse (we're not sure whether the Celts were still living there when the Vikings arrived...). The views from here are fabulous, so you can understand the attraction:
A sense of place comes over loud and clear on these sites.
And here's a modern-day Viking looking very sharp on the corner of a building in Douglas