Public Meeting on Woodstown Viking Site

waterford | environment | event notice Saturday September 11, 2004 18:17 by Save Woodstown Viking Site 051-378405

To Launch Campaign

A public meeting has been called to launch a campaign to save the Woodstown Viking Site, recently discovered just outside Waterford City. The meeting will take place in the Granville Hotel on Thursday 16th September at 8.00pm. Speakers include the well known local historian and writer, Jack O’Neill, of the Waterford Historical and Literary Society, and a Dublin based archaeologist, Paula Geragthy. Further speakers will be confirmed in the following week.

PRESS RELEASE

PUBLIC MEETING CALLED TO LAUNCH CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THE WOODSTOWN VIKING SITE

A public meeting has been called to launch a campaign to save the Woodstown Viking Site, recently discovered just outside Waterford City. The meeting will take place in the Granville Hotel on Thursday 16th September at 8.00pm. Speakers include the well known local historian and writer, Jack O’Neill, of the Waterford Historical and Literary Society, and a Dublin based archaeologist, Paula Geragthy. Further speakers will be confirmed in the following week.

A video of the Roskilde Viking Centre is to be shown at the public meeting also. The town of Roskilde in Denmark has become a major tourist destination since the discovery of Viking longships, similar to those discovered at Woodstown, in the 1960’s. The Viking museum in Roskilde has recently completed an exact replica of an 11th century Irish built longship which will soon set sail to Ireland. The construction of the museum in Roskilde and the subsequent boom in tourism is an example of what can be achieved if the Woodstown Viking Site is properly handled and excavated fully. The video will be narrated by WIT lecturer, Noel Kelly.

The Woodstown Viking Site, discovered during preparations for the Waterford bypass has been described as: “The most significant new find in Viking studies in perhaps a century” by Professor Donnchadh O’Corrain, medieval historian at UCC, and “Ireland’s equivalent of Pompeii” by archaeologist John Maas.

Despite the extraordinary significance of the find, the National Roads Authority and Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen waited an incredible nine months before they made it public. Cullen has said he would make a decision on whether or not he would order a full excavation when he receives a combined report from the NRA, National Museum and Dept. of the Environment in September. Fears are increasing that he will only order a “rescue” excavation, a partial digging which will fail to unearth the full wonders of Woodstown.

In just two years as minister for the environment, Cullen has earned himself the reputation as a destroyer of Ireland’s heritage. The National Monuments Act 2004 which gives Cullen unlimited discretion and reduces the number of parties involved in deciding the fate of national monuments, has already seen the demolition of Carrickmines castle, threats to the Tara complex and now the Woodstown site.

Although the excavation has now halted because the license to carry out work has expired, already over 3,000 artefacts have been successfully excavated. It is believed the original town from the early to mid ninth century, could have been home to up to 4,000 inhabitants. The town remains virtually intact with streets and dwellings believed to be just underneath the soil surface.

Aerial photographs and evidence uncovered have convinced archaeologists that up to 120 Viking ships once occupied the town, which is located on the banks of the river Suir. The site began as a longport and was a base for shipbuilding. No other longport discovery in Europe comes close to matching the scale and significance of the Woodstown find.

Archaeologists, historians, medievalists and conservationists from around the world have welcomed the find and it has been predicted that the site could be worth up to €200 million annually to the local economy in increased tourism revenue. A Viking site of significantly less importance in York, England is worth approximately half a billion euros per annum with up to four million visitors each year.

Although Waterford needs the bypass, it should not be constructed at the expense of this extraordinary site. The road needs to be re-routed to facilitate the full excavation of the Woodstown site and surrounding areas. Anything else will result in a huge loss to our heritage. All members of the public who would like to get involved in the campaign or just find out more about Woodstown are invited to the meeting.


Jack O’Neill 051-378405