Viking connections

Listen to Moira talking about Vikings in Scotland.

The first raid on Britain by the Vikings that we know about was in 793 AD. They were pretty ruthless. They killed the local people, destroyed the monasteries and grabbed anything valuable they could find. This happened at Iona, a small island northwest of Glasgow and on Skye, a larger island a little further north, for instance. The Vikings did eventually settle in some places. We’re not quite sure when this first started, but there is plenty of archeological evidence. There are also thousands of Norse place names. Take the Orkney islands, just a few miles north of mainland Scotland. Here you’ll find many names ending in – ey, which means island.

About 60 miles north of the Orkneys, at about the same latitude as the Norwegian city of Bergen, you’ll find the Shetland Islands. The Shetlands are actually closer to Bergen than to Edinburgh. The Vikings started emigrating here at the beginning of the 9^th century. If the weather was good, you could sail here in about 24 hours from Norway. We’ve found at least 30 Viking houses here. I’m working on a dig here at the moment. It’s really exciting.

Now the Vikings were excellent sailors and navigators. Very early on they realised they could use the Shetlands as a kind of signpost on their way to Greenland. If they could see the Shetlands on one side and the Faroe islands, which are even closer to Iceland, on the other, they knew they were going the right way.

By the way, did you know that the Shetlands and the Orkneys used to be part of Norway? Maybe you’ve heard of the Up Helly Aa festival when Shetlanders celebrate their Viking heritage in a big way. Some people would like to take things even further. They want Scotland to give the Shetlands and Okneys back to Norway!

Viking connections

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Crossroads

Viking connections