talk report - july 2006
26 July: Mr Kevin Taylor - Viking Settlement in West Lancashire
Mr Taylor's talk about the Viking was in two parts. Firstly he talked about the origin of the Viking invasions - how they began as hit and run raids, then as trading voyages (with Viking traders reaching Byzantium), and then as settlers in a few coastal sites.
The reasons for leaving their homeland included:
1) Population growth across Europe resulting in there not being enough farmland in Norway.
2) The first (eldest) son got the farm and the younger sons got nothing so therefore had to look elsewhere.
3) The second and third sons joined in raiding and trading parties to get enough money to buy their own farms. They became violent so that the opposition would be terrified and surrender without a fight next time they called.
The settlement expansion took place in the 8th and 9th Centuries with bigger and more extensive raids into Russia. They founded Kiev -and sailed up the Neiper and the Danube leaving largescale settlements. In 870-880 Harold Finehair unified Norway and with people on the move Vikings settled in Dublin, Orkney, the Isle of Man and Iceland. The Kings of Ireland expelled them in c902 AD and they then attempted to settle on Anglesey. They were expelled from there and moved along the North Wales coast and settled on the Wirral with permission from Aethelflaed, Queen of Mercia and from there moved into West Lancashire. This area offered an easy one day's sail from Dublin or the Isle of Man and was sparsely populated. The Viking diet depended on meat and fish and they could make use of the marshy land.
In 934AD Olaf Guthfrithsson was leader of the Wirral Vikings. They had raided Chester in 906, which had subsequently been refortified. By 934 the population had grown and Olaf had made alliances with Owain the Bold and Constantan II of Scotland. The Battle of Bruanburgh crushed the Norse and their incursion into the Wirral and West Lancashire. The later expansion of Danish settlements seems to have missed West Lancashire although some Danish place names exist on the Wirral and the Isle of Man. The final major influx into West Lancashire was following the eviction of the Vikings from Ireland in 1014.
Mr Taylor then gave us an illustrated talk about Viking houses one of which he had built in his garden. A very enjoyable evening.