Viking shores

We picture Vikings marauding coastal settlements, looting and raiding. But what was life really like in the Viking Age? Historian Eleanor Barraclough reveals what the ancient artefacts found on Britain's shores tell us about our formidable forebears

- Eleanor Barraclough

Every January in Lerwick, Shetland, a replica Viking ship is set ablaze as the culmination of the festival of Up Helly Aa. Although a relatively modern event, forged in the 1870s, the fiery celebration reveals the impact that the Viking era had on our coastal culture and psyche.

The popular narrative of Vikings is one of marauding raids and violent battles. But how accurate is this? What sort of life did Vikings lead beyond looting and pillaging? And how did locals fare, following the arrival of these fierce maritime warriors?

The answers may lie on our shores. Around our coasts, we find evidence of the ordinary people of the Viking Age, whose stories come down to us today through the bits and pieces that survive, from jewellery to board games. Here we explore six coastal artefacts that tell tales of those wild times.

COASTAL RAIDERS ARRIVE

The tidal island of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, lies two miles off the wild Northumbrian coastline. It was here, in the summer of 793 CE, that Scandinavian raiders attacked the monastery, slaughtered or kidnapped its inhabitants, and plundered their holy treasures. No eyewitness accounts survive of the bloody strike, although there are plenty of texts written by Anglo-Saxons reacting to the shocking events. The only testimony from the monastery itself is a memorial stone made in the following century, known as the Domesday Stone. On one side, seven warriors stand ready to attack, swords and axes raised. On the other side, figures kneel before a cross, the sun and moon hang in the sky, and two hands reach out to encircle the world: Judgement Day has arrived.

ISLAND KIDNAPS

The island of Inchmarnock, off the western coast of Scotland, is just over three kilometres long; its present inhabitants include herring gulls, greylag geese, red deer and grey seals. Once, it was also home to an early medieval monastery.