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Press Releases November 200426th Nov 2004 - Save Viking Waterford to Take Part in Field Trip to Woodstown Viking Site Save Viking Waterford to Take Part in Field Trip to Woodstown Viking Site The Save Viking Waterford Action Group is to take part in a field trip to the Woodstown Viking Site on Saturday next. The field trip, which is being facilitated by representatives of the National Roads Authority, is a result of a series of requests by the SVWAG to the NRA, Waterford City Council, Department of the Environment and Department of Transport. Although there is currently no excavation going on at Woodstown due to the expiration of the licence, the site still holds great fascination for all those interested in archaeology, history and finding out more about Waterford's past. An abundance of artefacts were uncovered during the test excavation. Findings included a broken sword, one spearhead, a battle axe, objects of iron, copper alloy, lead, gold, silver, and stone. 170 lead weights were also unearthed, which represent the largest rural assemblage of such objects in Ireland. Only 8% of the site has been examined in even a cursory fashion but if the richness exposed in these preliminary excavations is a guide, it is possible that up to 4000 people lived there. Some scholars have also suggested that Woodstown may have been the base for the 120 Viking ships. A recent inspection of the site by esteemed Viking expert Dagfinn Skre of Oslo University confirmed the international importance of the site. Dr. Skre reported that: "The discoveries at Woodstown are of major importance for the earliest Viking History in Ireland and the British Isles. A virtually undisturbed large Viking settlement of the mid and late 9 th century has never been excavated in these parts of the world. The finds from the preliminary investigations have shown that a full excavation will contribute considerably to our knowledge of the early history of the Vikings”. Dr. Catherine Swift, Chairperson of the Save Viking Waterford Action Group: "It is gratifying that when a group of Waterford citizens ask to visit the site, we can eventually manage to persuade the authorities to let us see it. Since Woodstown was discovered, there has been a dearth of information emerging from those responsible for the site. Given the amount of money which has already been paid to dig the site, it is vital that the NRA gets full value for this by putting an equal effort into informing the public of the results. Otherwise tax-payers have wasted their money." “The south-east and Waterford need the new bridge and by-pass but they also have a right to know just what the excavators have found and what's its potential is. Our Viking heritage belongs to us, not to the government and certainly not to the private company who will eventually build the road. This field trip is part of SVWAG's ongoing efforts to overcome official disinterest in our right to learn about our Deise and Scandinavian ancestors and the adventurous warriors, craftsmen, merchants and sailors who settled this region”. Action Group Calls for Meeting with Waterford City Council The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has publicly called on Waterford City Council to meet with the group to discuss the future of the Woodstown Viking Site. The call follows comments by councillors' Pat Hayes and Tom Cunningham in recent weeks suggesting that the Waterford bypass is under threat due to the discovery of Woodstown. Both also suggested that the road should proceed without first fully excavating the site. The call also comes in light of the fact that the city council has met with both the National Roads Authority and the Minister for transport, Martin Cullen in recent weeks. No report on the outcome of either of these meetings has been made public. Both Martin Cullen and the Minister for the Environment have yet to respond to a request for the SVWAG for a meeting despite repeated attempts to contact the ministers personally and their offices. SVWAG chairperson, Dr. Catherine Swift: "We are calling for a meeting with the council to try and ascertain what they have been told by Martin Cullen and the NRA. There seems to be an awful lot of secret meetings happening behind closed doors with very few details being made public afterwards. The dearth of information from all parties involved since the discovery of this site has been worrying. Into this vacuum arrives conjecture, innuendo and confusion". "The Save Viking Waterford Action Group are the only body which has attempted to publicise what we believe is happening in relation to the site. We have held public lectures, attended by hundreds of people; we have given out thousands of fact-sheets which included whatever information we could cull from the media, the NRA and the Department of the Environment; we maintain a website, www.vikingwaterford.com, on which all out information is made freely available to the public; and we have been on the streets of Waterford with a petition answering questions from the public about Woodstown". "In comparison the NRA have only held one public lecture in Waterford on the issue in the eighteen months since the site was discovered, and this only came about because of the pressure they were put under by our campaign. The only statement we have heard from the Department of the Environment is a quote from Dick Roche telling us that he will arrive at a decision on Woodstown at some unspecified time in the future. Comments from two local councillors recently called for the destruction of the site. We do not know if they are speaking for themselves or for the council as a whole". "From the response we have received on the streets with our petition, we believe that the SVWAG has the support of the majority of people in Waterford with our call for a full excavation of Woodstown before the bypass is built. To this end we believe the council has a duty to extend the same courtesy to us as they have to other parties in this situation, by meeting with us for a mutual exchange of ideas and information". For further information on the SVWAG please contact save@vikingwaterford.com. Updates are available on the information web site www.vikingwaterford.com The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has called on the government to take control of the Woodstown Viking Site by ordering a publicly funded, full excavation of the site immediately. The government has known about the existence of the site for eighteen months and an announcement about the future of the site has been delayed several times. It was expected that the new Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche would make a decision on whether or not to order a full excavation of Woodstown last month. However, despite the fact that he has received the long-awaited National Roads Authority report on Woodstown, the minister still refuses to announce his decision. The SVWAG welcomes the recent statements from the NRA that it has no objection to re-routing the Waterford by-pass in order to facilitate the excavation of Woodstown, but want to clarify that the state will still bear responsibility for the cost of the excavation and the project will not be handed over to a private company SVWAG chairperson, Dr. Catherine Swift: "At a chance meeting with Martin Cullen in the street recently, he said that the only way the Woodstown excavation will go ahead is if it is privately funded. This is absolutely unacceptable. A road contractor will only be concerned with rushing the excavation and investing the least amount of money necessary. The international importance of the site demands that best practise is done and seen to be done at all times. This means a team of national and international experts need to be on site and given the time and the resources required to discover the secrets behind this extraordinary site". "Recent public statements have shown that Woodstown may be more important than originally thought. Professor Dagfinn Skre of Oslo University who visited the site at the request of the National Museum of Ireland has said that Woodstown is absolutely crucial in understanding Viking history in Ireland and Viking expansion in a larger sense. Professor Skre's comments show the international interest in Woodstown and the potential this site holds in learning about our past, and also the possible tourist boom this would create for the south-east". "It would be absolutely criminal if we fail to protect this site now by handing the responsibility to a private road contractor. The government will be doing a grave disservice to the people of Ireland if it divests itself of it's duty to oversee and protect Woodstown. We are calling on Dick Roche to order the full excavation NOW and to ensure that this excavation is funded by the state. We cannot tolerate these delaying tactics any longer".
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