This web site is intended as a source of information on the

9th Century Settlement found at Woodstown

on the south bank of the River Suir near Waterford City.
The site was first excavated by archaeologists in April 2003 in preparation for the N25 Waterford ByPass Project.

Migrants Mariners Merchants

Archaeological Discoveries on the N25 Waterford Bypass

Waterford Museum of Treasures is running a series of lunchtime talks in conjunction with the free exhibition in the ist floor gallery.

Free Lunchtime talks - Tuesdays in November 1.15 – 1.45 pm

Please bring your lunch (carefully!) upstairs to the tables & enjoy! All welcome

Programme

7 Nov – Meriel McClachey: Food in the Bronze Age
14 Nov – Richard O’Brien: Archaeology & Aerial Photography
21 Nov – Claudia Koehler: The Conservation of the Viking Sword from Woodstown
28 Nov – John Sheehan: The Viking Silver from Woodstown

Articles

Newspaper Articles on Woodstown
Other Published Articles -
Links to Web Sites of Interest
Information on the Déise ...
Viking Congress visits Woodstown site

Facts About Woodstown

Woodstown ­ the basic facts

The site is located on the southern bank of the River Suir, approximately 5 miles west of Waterford City.
Less than 10% of the site has been uncovered, much of it by JCB machinery rather than by hand. In this relatively small area, over 600 features such as house-gullies, pits and fireplaces have been found and over 5000 objects, including silver ingots, ships nails, coins from Byzantium and Viking weaponry.
This enormous wealth of material shows the site was densely settled and extremely rich.
Much of the metal-work seems to belong to the period, 840s to 880s. This was a time when the king of Ossory (roughly modern Kilkenny) suddenly appears in the Irish annals as a figure of national importance who rose to power through his strategic alliances with various groups of Vikings.
Radiocarbon dates from the ditch surrounding Woodstown may imply that the site was originally founded by the local Déise at the time of St Patrick, long before the Vikings appeared in Ireland.
Already by that stage, the Déise were established as an outward-looking people, with a strong maritime tradition who had set up colonies for themselves in south-west Wales.

Woodstown ­ the historical questions

Apart from Woodstown, we have no evidence of a large ninth-century Viking settlement from anywhere in western Europe ­ so European scholars seek answers here to many questions which have long puzzled them.
How many Vikings lived at Woodstown?
Did they live there all year around or go home in the winter?
How much wealth did they bring with them? Or did they grow rich simply by raiding the Irish?
Did the Vikings chose to settle at Woodstown because it was already occupied by a Déise lord?
If so, what sort of houses were the Déise living in at that time?
Did the lords live surrounded by their tenants and servants or did everyone live in 'one-off' housing scattered through the countryside?
Alternatively, did the Vikings set up camp in the middle of a church?
Did the Church run the local economy?