Wirral Vikings - Invasion & Settlement

The Vikings' homeland was Scandinavia: modern Norway, Sweden and Denmark and what we call the Viking Age and their relationship with England, lasted from approximately 800 to 1150 AD. In Old Norse the word Viking means a pirate raid, capturing their essence as fast-moving sailors who used the water as their highway. For 300 years the Norsemen dominated the Irish Sea with the Isle of Man becoming a Viking kingdom, and their coastal trade centered on their strongholds in the cities they founded, Dublin, Cork and Limerick also becoming strongholds and bases for their raiding and slave trading. King Alfred ruled England from 871-899 and he defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington in 878, after which the Viking leader Guthrum converted to Christianity. In 886 Alfred took London from the Vikings and fortified it and signed a treaty with Guthrum. The treaty partitioned England between the Vikings and English. The Viking territory, comprising the North-West, the North-East and East of England, became known as the Danelaw and here, people would be subject to Danish laws with Alfred the king of the rest of the country.
Ingimund was a tenth century Viking warlord residing in Dublin in 902 but, weakened from infighting in the later part of the century, and following a devastating defeat  by the Irish King Caerbhall from the united force of the kingdoms of Brega and Leinster, they were finally driven from Dublin in AD902.    It is almost certainly in the context of this exodus that Ingimund appears to have had an abortive settlement of Norsemen on Anglesey before being driven out from there as well. Although the expulsion of 902 may have led to a brief abatement of violent Viking activity in Ireland, within two decades there was a remarkable resurgence of such activity, and Dublin itself was retaken and restored in 917.

Wirral is the only place in mainland Britain with documented evidence of Norwegian Viking settlers but, because there are no contemporary documents from the period, it makes the history of Wirral's Vikings subject to much speculation. The expulsion of the Vikings from Ireland prompted their subsequent arrival and settlement on the peninsula as well as other middle-ranking Viking lords settling their followers along the Irish Sea region, in places such as Cumbria, Galloway, Lancashire and Mann. Reports claim that following repeated failed raids on Chester Ingimund turned his sights on the Wirral peninsula and made an approach to Ethelfleda, Lady of Mercia and daughter of King Alfred the Great, in exchange for safeguarding the surrounding region from unwelcome Viking activity they were prepared to settle there.  Seeing that the Norse settlers had become a threat, she had strengthened Chester and increased the garrison to protect her lands but the approach was granted as maybe she saw Ingimund's band as a set of war-weary Vikings who were now ready to settle peacefully and, once established, could act as a buffer against more unfriendly groups. They began to settle along the River Dee side of the peninsula and along the sea coast, with experts believing they would have landed their boats along the north Wirral coastline probably between what is now the lighthouse at Lingham - 'lyng-holmr', West Kirby - 'vestri Kirkjubyr', Thurstaston - 'Thorsteinn's tun' and Hoylake/Meols - 'Melr'. Irby means 'settlement of the Irish', reflecting the Viking colonists' journey from Ireland to Wirral and there is evidence of two Viking houses at Irby and Lingham/Moreton in Wirral. Once settled they were later joined by fellow Scandinavians from the Isle of Man, the Isles of Scotland and the Viking homelands of Norway and Denmark. In fact the Vikings' seaport is thought to have been in Meols from 'Melr', meaning sandbank. The Viking settlement was most probably here on the sandbank that gave it its name; a promontory that later disappeared under the waves as the coastline altered. In the 19th century, a succession of low tides exposed the remains of the settlement as well as a an ancient forest. Local people searching the beach uncovered major finds of coins and metalwork such as Hiberno-Norse pins, brooches, part of a drinking horn and what appear to be weapons from a possible pagan burial. Remains of an elliptically shaped Viking house with an amber bead and other finds have been found at Irby. Viking cross fragments have been found at Hilbre Island, West Kirby, Woodchurch and Bromborough. These dated back to the tenth and eleventh centuries to show regular trading contacts with the rest of England, the Irish Sea and beyond. While Chester was an official port and mint for the English kingdom of Mercia, Meols seems to have operated as a trading centre for the politically separate Norse enclave on the peninsula, serving its own local Anglo-Scandinavian community. It has even been suggested that a mint, producing 'Viking-style' imitations of official English coins, operated there in the 1010s and early 1020s.

Wirral is thought to have been almost a Viking mini-state and became home to a thriving Scandinavian population with its own borders, customs, trading point and language, Old Norse, which is like modern Icelandic. They were not only raiders and traders, but also farmers, fishermen, and moneyers eager to forge a better life. More evidence of this Norse settlement can be seen from its place names, such as the suffix '-by' (meaning 'village' in Scandinavian languages), common in areas, such as Helsby -'hjalli-byr' means 'village at the ledge', Raby, from the Old Norse 'ra-byr' meaning 'boundary' or 'border settlement', Frankby - 'Franki's settlement' and Greasby - 'wooded stronghold'. Tranmere comes from 'trani melr' - meaning 'cranebirds or herons at a sandbank', with Tranmere Rovers the only English League team with a Norwegian Viking name. The settlement of Vestri Kirkjubaer in Iceland when translated from Icelandic has exactly the same name as West Kirby and Birkenhead, from 'birki-hofud' meaning 'headland growing with birches'.

They also had their own parliament at Thingwall which name derives from the Old Norse 'þing vollr', meaning 'assembly field', where they introduced their own local government system. The small 205 ft (63 m) high hill, now known as Cross Hill, was a major meeting place or parliament for Viking communities from the entire northern half of the Wirral peninsula and possibly also from outlying areas. The Thing Assembly at Thingwall, which would have met once or twice a year, would have been not only to discuss local issues of government and law, but also to meet old friends. Other Scandinavian groups are likely to have visited – from Ireland (after the Vikings had re-established themselves there), the Isle of Man and the North Wales coast, where there is evidence of some Viking settlement with place names like Talacre in Mostyn and Priestholm - now Puffin Island - in Anglesey. Many coming by boat/ship would have arrived via Dingesmere 'the waterway of wetland controlled or overlooked by the Thing', followed by a short horse ride to the Thing site.

There are also relics left to spark the imagination such as Thor's Stone at Thurstaston (Thorsteinn’s farmstead) which forms the epicentre of romantic legend on Wirral. Many believe the Vikings held religious ceremonies around the rock in honour of the thunder god Thor. Locals have believed for centuries that this impressive outcrop of red sandstone was Thor’s hammer Mjollnir. Thurstaston Common is the highest point on Wirral and the most prone to lightning strikes, befitting for such a monument. There is other Archaeology such as hogback tombstones at West Kirby and Bidston, amazing cross fragments at Neston – including the reconstruction of the beautiful 'Viking Lady' cross at Neston and further examples at Hilbre, Greasby, Woodchurch and Bromborough, together with substantial metalwork at Ness and Meols (including evidence of a Viking burial), and the possibility of a Viking Age boat under the Railway Inn pub at Meols, the subject of scientific investigation and, hopefully, archaeological and further scientific investigation. Another local fable centres around the exploits of King Canute, ruling leader of the North Sea Empire. According to mythology, Canute thought he was so powerful that he could sit in a chair near the sea and turn back the tide. One particular demonstration is believed to have taken place on Wirral, somewhere between Leasowe, Moreton and Meols. During the later Victorian period, a replica chair was erected on the peninsula, bearing the following inscription: 'Sea come not hither nor wet the sole of my foot'.

The great battle of Brunanburh, 937

Experts believe Wirral to have been the scene of one of the most important battles in the British Isles. The battle site covered a large area of Wirral but for 300 years historians had puzzled fruitlessly over the clues. More than 30 sites for the battle had been suggested, from the Solway to Northamptonshire, however, a consensus grew that the battle was indeed fought in the Wirral, at Bromborough, which has the same name, 'Bruna’s fort'. The Today programme on BBC Radio 4 announced, "the birthplace of Britishness has been found", and a 500-page casebook has been published to lay the controversy to rest.

Alfred The Great's grandson, Athelstan, the first true King of England, in 934 had invaded Scotland by land and sea as far as Moray and Caithness and was the most powerful British ruler since the Romans. However gathering in the harbours and bays of eastern Ireland was the biggest Viking fleet ever seen in British waters. Its object was the invasion of England and in the summer of 937, Anlaf and Constantine launched their truly massive invasion. But Athelstan stood firm and won a crushing victory at a place called Brunanburh. The Vikings were defeated after much bloodshed, and any threat to England's unity was dissolved with Athelstan's kingdom, for the first time included the Danelaw. In 954, Eirik Bloodaxe, the last Viking king of York, was killed and his kingdom was taken over by English earls. The Vikings were not permanently defeated as England was to have four Viking kings between 1013 and 1042. The greatest of these was King Cnut, who was king of Denmark as well as of England.      The final Viking invasion of England came in 1066, when Harald Hardrada sailed up the River Humber and marched to Stamford Bridge with his men. The English king, Harold Godwinson, marched north with his army and defeated Hardrada in a long and bloody battle. The English had repelled the last invasion from Scandinavia.
By the time their culture disappeared beneath the incoming wave of William the Conqueror's army, the Vikings had made an imprint in the geography and history of Merseyside both on the Wirral and in Liverpool. 

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2021/02/new-brighton-from-contraband-to-sun-and.html?q=New+Brighton