Press Releases

June 2005

3rd June 2005 - Action Group Welcomes New Information on Woodstown

3rd June 2005

Action Group Welcomes New Information on Woodstown

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group have welcomed the new information on Woodstown released by the Dolmen History Group. The group have published new photographs of artefacts from the archaeological site of Woodstown in their new book, "Some Traditions and History of the Déise". The book was part sponsored by Waterford County Council, the Tramore House Regional Design Office and the National Roads Authority. Copies are available to the public from the Book Centre in John Roberts Square.

Dr Catherine Swift, as spokesperson for the Save Viking Waterford Action Group, warmly welcomed the new publication. "2004 saw some very exciting research at Woodstown by a variety of different companies and individuals and it is great to see the information thus gained beginning to be made available to the general public. The work done was paid for by Irish taxpayers and it is vitally important that the public get the opportunity to view the work that they have paid for. Of course, in some instances, post-excavation research will take time to complete but the Dolmen History Group have shown that this is no reason not to provide preliminary accounts of the work in progress. We hope that other groups involved in the preliminary excavation take the lead from the Dolmen History Group and publish their findings as soon as possible".

"On the 26th May, Professor Peter Coxon of the Department of Geography, TCD gave a paper in UCD on work done over a three-month period on the wetland area beside Woodstown by himself and his colleague, Alison Farrell. Two bore-holes were drilled into boggy ground down to the glacial till beneath and pollen analysis was done on the core samples that this drilling produced. The most exciting find mentioned was the discovery of hemp seeds at a level thought to be contemporary with the Viking site. Professor Coxon suggested that these might indicate that pools in this area were used for ‘retting’."

"This process, which is also used of linen flax, involves leaving the hemp stalks to rot in water for around 10 days so that bacteria and fungi could release the fibres which can then be used to create twine which can be made into cloth or rope. Hemp pollen is known from eastern England from around 800 AD and from Fife in Scotland from around 1045. There are also a number of Scottish placenames which incorporate the word ‘hemp’ but only two such placenames exist in Ireland: Hempstown near Baltinglass in Co. Wicklow and Hempstown Commons from north Kildare."

"It is possible therefore, that the Vikings who settled at Woodstown were cultivating hemp for either rope making or cloth making. The large Viking warship from south-eastern Ireland, which was scuttled in Roskilde Fjord in Denmark, however, produced rope made not from hemp but from thin twigs of twisted willow. Even at this preliminary stage of investigation, therefore, Woodstown is providing us with unique information about early life in Ireland and has provided us with our first recorded instance of hemp cultivation from this island."

For further information on the Save Viking Waterford Action Group, please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the website www.vikingwaterford.com