Press Releases

February 2006

WORLD FAMOUS VIKING SCHOLAR VISITS WATERFORD

One of the worlds leading Viking scholar, Professor Richard Hall, came to Waterford on Wednesday 8th February to present a paper as part of WIT’s ongoing Adult Education lecture series. His paper highlighted the possibility of a new explanation for the Woodstown site – that it had functioned not as a town or as a defended Viking ship base but rather as a market centre, where craftsmen traded with visiting merchants.

Professor Hall’s international reputation is based on his excavations of the medieval city of York in the 1970s and his establishment of the phenomenally successful tourist centre of Jorvik. He is currently Academic Director for one of the biggest archaeological contract companies in Britain, the York Archaeological Trust.

In his paper, Professor Hall described how, prior to his excavations in Coppergate, little or no attention had been paid to York’s Scandinavian past although the city had been ruled by independent Viking kings for over a hundred years. For approximately fifty of those years, from 919 to 945, the York kings were part of the same ruling dynasty as those who ruled in Dublin and Waterford. “In those days, Vikings were dismissed as simply invaders who plundered and killed; what we were able to show for the first time was that they were city-dwellers and craftsmen who created a massive industrial complex on the ruins of the old Roman and Anglian city.”

The Waterford lecture was the first public presentation of ongoing work on the site of Ainsbrook camp outside York which will be the subject of a special Time Team programme later in the spring. This camp (at roughly the same distance from the city as Woodstown is from Waterford) has produced a range of artefacts similar to those found at Woodstown including large quantities of hack silver, weights, Arabic coins, metal-working waste, clench nails and sword pommels. As at Woodstown, the geophysical examination of the English camp showed extensive activity had taken place within the boundaries of the large rectangular enclosure. His current interpretation of the York evidence is that this camp functioned as a trading centre for visiting craftsmen and merchants.

Discussion after the paper was lively and many questions were put to Professor Hall about the creation of the Jorvik Centre as a tourist and educational resource. A teacher in the audience spoke of the huge enthusiasm expressed by children she had brought to the centre and how much they appreciated the real “smells” of their Viking past. In reply, Professor Hall stressed how their replicas were based on the real evidence provided by the fragmentary remains which had been interpreted by scholars to make a living experience for visitors. A new development, allowing people to experience the reality of an archaeological dig, was also proving extremely popular.

On future possibilities for Woodstown, Professor Hall said that, in an ideal world, he, like all Viking scholars, would favour a major excavation campaign. Like his colleagues across the world, he was enthusiastically looking forward to learning more as new information on the 2004 finds came on-stream.

January 2006

Decision to exhibit objects discovered in the 2003 and 2004 digs welcomed

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group warmly welcomes the decision to mount an exhibition of the objects discovered in the 2003 and 2004 digs at Woodstown in Waterford’s Museum of Treasures in 2006. They are also delighted that the Minister for the Environment’s Working Group is currently canvassing the opinions of both professionals and local archaeological societies as to the best options for the future of Woodstown. In addition, they would like to celebrate the invitation proffered by the WIT to Dr Richard Hall, founder of Jorvik and the York Archaeological Trust, to visit Waterford in February and to speak on his experiences in developing heritage tourism.

“These are wonderful developments not just for Woodstown and Waterford but for Irish archaeology as a whole” said SVWAG spokesperson, Dr Catherine Swift. “Crucially important principles are being established. For the first time ever, it has been acknowledged that the Irish people should be involved in the discussion about the future development and exploitation of an Irish National Monument. When the Viking site at Woodstown was discovered, the people of Waterford insisted that they wanted the implications of the site to be investigated; they wanted to be informed about what was being found and they wanted to explore its potential as an asset to both heritage tourism and academic research in the south-east. They campaigned on those principles and now we can see the results of that enthusiasm.”

“With the planned exhibition, we’re seeing a concrete acknowledgment of the fact that it is the public, through their taxes and their tolls, who are paying for archaeological excavation on the road schemes. They deserve to see the results: both in forms of the artefacts themselves and in reports, both scientific and popular. Woodstown is setting the national standard for the provision of public information and the fact that both the NRA and the Heritage Council are sponsoring the Woodstown exhibition is a recognition of this. Hopefully, we will now see other exhibitions of the same kind being organised on the results from road schemes in other parts of the country.

“In terms of the exploitation of Woodstown as an educational and tourist resource, we can learn much from the experience of the people of York whose Viking kingdom was originally founded as a colony of Waterford. It is a sign of WIT’s far-sighted commitment to future development that they have invited Richard Hall to the city. His lecture will be held in WIT on Wednesday the 8th of February at 8 pm and we hope that as many as possible will be able to attend

17th Sept 05 - New Season of Woodstown Lectures to Focus on Opportunities for Waterford Communities
05th Sept 05 - SVWAG Welcome Release of New Information on Woodstown

19th Aug 05 - Action Group Announces New Courses on Waterford History & Archaeology at WIT
05th Aug 05 - Save Viking Waterford calls for more Accountability with Public Money

25th July 05 - Action Group Welcome Cullen Comments that Woodstown Excavation is to Proceed
18th July 05 - Action Group Propose Viking Ship Festival for Waterford
08th July 05 - Save Viking Waterford Welcome Appointment of Granary Director to Woodstown Advisory Group

3rd June 05 - Action Group Welcomes New Information on Woodstown

27 May 05 - Action Group Call for Local Jobs to be included in Plans for Strategic Management of Woodstown
13 May 05 - Action Group Welcome Minister's Announcement
01 May 05 - Action Group announces Lecture on Archaeology & Institutes of Technology

29 Apr 05 - Action Group Fact Finding Mission to Roskilde a Huge Success
22 Apr 05 - Action Group Call on Minister to State his Intentions Now
15 Apr 05 - Explorer Author, Historian, Tim Severin to Speak at Save Viking Waterford Lecture
07 Apr 05 - Action Group Shows Solidarity with Tara Campaign

21 Mar 05 - Professor Howard Clarke of UCD lecture "Was Woodstown a Town?"
14 Mar 05 - Action Group Welcome Minister Roche's Commitmant to Excavate Woodstown
01 Mar 05 - SVWAG look at Options for Excavations at Woodstown

22 Feb 05 - SVWAG Welcome Minister's Announcement
18 Feb 05 - SVWAG Begin 2005 Series of Lectures with Professor Donnchadh O’Corrain
11 Feb 05 - SVWAG Launches Quarterly Newsletter

11 Jan 05 - Save Viking Waterford Launch On-Line Petition
02 Jan 05 - SVWAG Make New Year Resolutions

17 Dec 04 - Action Group Writes Christmas Wish List To Santa
13 Dec 04 - Action Group Surprised at Ministers Negligence
06 Dec 04 - Save Viking Waterford Action Group Celebrates Site Visit To Woodstown
03 Dec 04 - SVWAG Condemns Contradictions In Government Statements On Woodstown

26 Nov 04 - SVWAG to take part in Field Trip to Woodstown Viking Site
19 Nov 04 - SVWAG calls for meeting with Waterford City Council
08 Nov 04 - SVWAG calls on the government to fund a full excavation of the site

31 Oct 04 - SVWAG Call for Meeting with Ministers Cullen and Roche
25 Oct 04 - SVWAG Welcomes Announcement on Second River Crossing for Waterford
08 Oct 04 - SVWAG To Organise Field-Trip To Woodstown Viking Site
03 Oct 04 - SVWAG Begins Series Of Lectures On Woodtown

30 Sept 04 - SVWAG Calls on New Minister To Protect Woodstown Site
20 Sept 04 - SVWAG Formed To Protect Woodstown Viking Site

For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com.