Press Releases

February 2005

22nd Feb 2005 - SVWAG Welcome Minister's Announcement
18th Feb 2005 - SVWAG Begin 2005 Series of Lectures with Professor Donnchadh O’Corrain
11th Feb 2005 - SVWAG Launches Quarterly Newsletter

23 February 2005

Save Viking Waterford Action Group Welcome Minister's Announcement

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group have welcomed the fact that Minister Roche has finally clarified his vision for the future of the magnificent Woodstown Viking site. The Minister announced the re-routing of the Waterford bypass without delay during a visit to the ancient site on Monday.

Chairman Dr Catherine Swift said in reaction to Mr. Roche’s statement: "When 130 local people came together in September 2004 to form the Save Viking Waterford Action Group, our primary aim was to ensure the safety and integrity of the Woodstown site and lobby for the full excavation of the Viking settlement. With this announcement we have now achieved the first of those aims".

"Despite the interminable delay, we are pleased that Minister Roche has acknowledged the huge importance of Woodstown and decided to follow the suggestions of the National Roads Authority in re-routing the road. This means that the site will not now be dug to a schedule imposed by road-builders, which can only improve the quality and reliability of the information which we can obtain. This is a victory for all those who have supported the Save Viking Waterford Action Group since our inception including the thousands who have signed out petition on the streets of Waterford and thousands more internationally who signed our on-line petition".

"However, the disadvantage of re-routing the road is that the NRA are not now responsible for bearing the cost of future excavations and even the excavations of 2004 may never be published properly. The minister talks grandly of 'preserving the site'. What this means, in effect, is that Waterford City Council now own a large area of land which, unless it is excavated, tells us nothing of our past and cannot be used in the future except for grazing. The protection of the site is also of concern. There has been a huge amount of publicity concerning Woodstown, if the site is left un-excavated and unprotected, what is there to stop treasure hunters with metal detectors invading the site seeking ancient artefacts and destroying the integrity of Woodstown?"

"While we welcome the Minister's decision to safeguard the site, the question now arises, who is going to pay for the excavation of this unique fort, first occupied by the Deise in the days of St Patrick and subsequently the site of the earliest Viking town in western Europe? We call on the government to immediately clarify this issue and start the process which will lead to the full excavation of Woodstown and the discovery of our past".

For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the website www.vikingwaterford.com

Dr. Catherine Swift

18 February 2005

SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP BEGIN 2005 SERIES OF LECTURES WITH PROFESSOR DONNCHADH O’CORRAIN

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group is to begin its 2005 series of lectures with world-renowned expert on Vikings in Ireland, Professor Donnchadh Ó Corráin of University College Cork, the man who first brought Woodstown to national attention in May 2004. Professor O’Corrain will speak in the Tower Hotel on Thursday 24th February at 8.00 p.m. The lecture is open to all members of the public.

Past speakers in the Save Viking Waterford lecture series have included Dr. Colman Etchingham of NUI Maynooth, Dr. Catherine Swift of NUI Galway and Emer Purcell of UCC. Future invitees include Howard Clarke of UCD, independent scholar Betty O’Brien and internationally renowned author Tim Severin.

Professor Ó Corráin’s paper is entitled "Waterford Vikings and Some Annals". Traditionally, the history of Waterford has been based on the relatively few annal entries from the south-east. Recent work, however, has highlighted descriptions of early ninth-century activity in the Suir valley, embedded in a twelfth-century account of Brian Boru. This early date is contemporary with the ninth-century dates for the metalwork discovered at Woodstown from the limited excavations which have taken place; the pagan style of the warrior burial outside the fort’s gate-way at Woodstown; and the carbon 14 dates from the fortified ditch which protected the settlement.

Knowledge of this period is limited, making the full excavation of Woodstown crucial. Professor O’Corrain has long advocated the excavation of Woodstown, calling the site: "the most significant new find in Viking studies in perhaps a century", he also said Woodstown was "of international importance". Prof. O’Corrain has also courted controversy with his criticism of the National Roads Authority and the private archaeological company assigned the task of preliminary excavations of Woodstown calling their efforts: "coarse and unscientific".

Professor Ó Corráin’s publications stretch back to the early 1970s when he wrote the key textbook, ‘Ireland Before the Normans’. In more recent years, he has published histories of the Vikings in the ‘New Cambridge Medieval History’ (1995) and the ‘Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings’ (1997) as well as publishing major articles in ‘Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age’ (1998) and the Roskilde Museum guide, ‘Vikings in Ireland – a special Exhibition’. In August 2005 he will be hosting the World Viking Congress in Cork where papers will be given on the international significance of the Woodstown discoveries.

For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the website www.vikingwaterford.com

Dr. Catherine Swift

SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP LAUNCHES QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

11th February 2005

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has, this week, published its first quarterly newsletter. The purpose of the newsletter is to outline events since the discovery of the Woodstown Viking site and the campaign to lobby for full excavation and publication of the original Déise fort and subsequent Viking settlement.

The newsletter contains a synopsis of the campaign which was initiated in September last; an overview of the political wrangling which has occurred since the discovery of the site; information on the route and the proposed funding of the Waterford bypass; future events for the campaign including more information evenings and a fact finding mission to Denmark; and articles and photos of the SVWAG field trip and public lectures. The newsletter is a companion piece to the SVWAG fact-sheet which was published before Christmas and which detailed our knowledge of the history of the Woodstown site.

Save Viking Waterford have already begun distributing the newsletter to local schools, hotels, libraries and supporters of the campaign (to receive a copy please contact 086-0679708 / save@vikingwaterford.com.

Chair of SVWAG, Dr Catherine Swift commented: "This newsletter is only part of our ongoing efforts to publicise the magnificent site of Woodstown. We have also produced a fact-sheet, which provides the public with information on the most important finds discovered in the preliminary excavations. Our website www.vikingwaterford.com gives more information as well as copies of lectures given in the Woodstown lecture series; a forum for interested parties to pose questions and an electronic copy of our petition".

"Waterford people's enthusiasm for Woodstown is visible in our preliminary analysis of those who've signed our petition, based on the first 2700 signatures. Over 1500 are from Waterford while international interest in the Viking site is shown by the 240 academics, 300+ Europeans and 150 Americans who've signed our electronic petition since Christmas".

"The SVWAG has worked hard to fill the information vacuum which was left by the government and the National Roads Authority who have both failed the local community by failing to inform people sufficiently of the importance and extent of Woodstown".

Dr. Swift concluded: "All archaeological work on the site has ceased since last September and will not resume until Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, makes a decision on the fate of the site. He originally promised a decision in the New Year but in mid February we are still waiting. We are also still waiting for a meeting with the Minister despite repeated requests. While this government is engaged in inconclusive dithering, the volunteers of SVWAG are continuing in our attempts to make the public fully informed. Local people want to learn more about the significance of the magnificent discovery made in April 2003 and they are anxious to investigate ways in which it can be utilised for the benefit of the south-east".

For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the website www.vikingwaterford.com

Dr. Catherine Swift