Finglas Viking find 'extremely significant'

The discovery of the body of a Viking woman buried 1,100 years ago with a collection of artefacts is extremely significant, the National Museum of Ireland said today. The find was made last Thursday at a site in Finglas in north Dublin where builders were constructing 48 apartments.

National Museum Director Dr Patrick Wallace said an oval brooch that was found with the woman's body was of great historical importance. "It's priceless academically, architecturally and scientifically. It's the first time a brooch of this kind has been found on the island," he said.

The brooch is believed to have come from Scandinavia. Archaeologists also discovered an unusually long bone comb and other copper alloy ornaments. Dr Wallace said the presence of the brooch indicated the woman may have come from the upper echelon of Viking society. "Is she a pure Scandinavian woman - a Viking who came home? Or an Irish woman who mattered a lot to a wealthy Viking?" Her skeleton was found almost completely intact but the bones from the knees down were missing due to previous pipe laying. "She didn't feel any of the pain. She was 1,000 years old," Dr Wallace said.

Archaeologists are continuing the excavations at the site in Finglas - which is close to an area called St Patrick's Wells. Guards are maintaining 24-hour security around the 70-by-40-metre site to prevent vandals interfering with it.

St. Canice's Church and Graveyard in Finglas

St. Canice's Church and Graveyard in Finglas is a nationally important ecclesiastical site in continuous use since its foundation as a Celtic abbey by St. Cainnech, or Canice, the patron of Kilkenny, in 560 as a wooden structure with a thatched roof. A stone church is recorded as on the site since at least the 10th Century, constructed in response to Viking raids during the 8th and 9th Centuries, and there is evidence of a burial dating back to 1512. The first record of a Viking raid was here in 795AD. During construction of apartments adjacent to St. Canice's in 2004, a Viking burial of a high-ranking female with a fine brooch of national importance was discovered and the remains are housed in the National Museum. Alongside the skeletal remains of a woman - believed to be aged between 25 and 35 when she died - were found a rare oval - shaped Scandinavian brooch, an unusually long bone comb and other copper alloy ornaments. It is believed that the woman was the wife of a wealthy Viking, but not known if she was of Irish or Scandinavian origin. The remains had been undisturbed for 1,000 years.

Discovery of Type 1 Viking House at Hammond Lane Dublin 7

Archaeologists excavating a site at Hammond Lane, Church Street on Dublin’s north side have discovered the remains of a classic Viking House. The house is the first complete plan of this type of house to have been discovered on the north side of the River Liffey and dates to the late Viking Age, immediately prior to the Anglo Norman invasion.

The house is of a type well known from excavations at Wood Quay. The house is set within a regular plot that fronted onto Church Street. These dwellings are rectangular in plan and substantial in size measuring approximately 40m2 with post and wattle side walls covered in mud for insulation. The roofs are thought to have been straw thatch and/or sod supported by four large posts around a central hearth. The houses were divided into small rooms or compartments and was described by Maragert Gowen as the Viking Age equivalent to a ‘3 bed semi-D’.

The house lay in the suburb of Oxmanstown which was served by nearby St Michan’s parish church (founded 1095) and was linked to the walled settlement on the south side of the river by the ford known as Áth Cliath and later by a bridge that aligned with Church Street.

The Dublin City Archaeologist, Ruth Johnson said

"I am very excited to see this house and the features associated with it that survive at Church Street. This find will undoubtedly attract great interest from international Viking scholars and it raises many new questions about the settlement here. There is a popular myth that all the important archaeology of Dublin has been dug, but this find illustrates the importance of careful planning and development in the city".

The archaeological excavation is being conducted by Colm Moriarty of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. and is informed by a citywide archaeological research framework commissioned by DCC and co funded by INSTAR in 2008 This document is the first of its kind to be prepared in Ireland and underlines the strategic importance of Dublin as a Viking emporium.