Between 1987 and 1990 about 20% of the Viking area of Waterford was excavated. The evidence from these excavations indicate that during the Late Viking Age the town was denselt populated, well defended, Christianised and prosperous.
Defences
The town had been surrounded by a defensive ditch up to 8m wide and a bank. A
stone wall had been built against the outside of the bank and these defences may
have been 4m high. A date of 1088 AD was obtained from wood found under the
defensive bank.
Churches
Waterford Vikings had become Christian by the eleventh century and two
churches, St. Olaf's and St. Peter's, were in existence early in the following
century. Some architectural features of St. Peter's, including its semi-circular
stone apse and two charcoal filled burials in its church yard, indicate close
connections between Waterford and England during the eleventh and twelfth
centuries.
Finds
Comparatively few finds of the Viking Age were recovered. Most were pieces of
pottery or plain bronze dress pins. A spectacular kite-shaped eleventh century
brooch was found in a pit. Sawn pieces of red deer antler were recovered from
the ditch fill representing waste from comb-makers workshops. Ham Green pottery
from Bristol showed trading contacts with Britain.
Houses
The majority of the Waterford houses were recangular, wattle-walled,
three-aisled buildings similar to those found in Viking Dublin. Sequences of up
to seven superimposed houses were found.
Six semi-underground houses were found at Waterford. These were dug into the
gravel to a depth of over 1m. They each had impressive stone-built entrances
with corridors leading into a chamber. No hearths were found on these floors and
it is probable that they were cellars. There was probably an upper storey to
these houses which formed the living area entered from the street while the
stone lined entrance to the cellar was from the back yard. Similar building are
common in England including York but few are recorded from Ireland.
Sources
M.F.Hurley and O.B.M. Scully with S.J. McCutcheon, Late Viking Age and Medieval
Waterford Excavations 1986-1992.
Howard B. Clarke, Proto-towns and Towns in Ireland and Britain in the Ninth
and Tenth Centuries in H.B. Clarke, M. Ní Mhaonaigh and R. Ó Floinn (eds), Ireland
and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age (Dublin, 1998).
Maurice F. Hurley, The Vikings in Munster - Evidence from Waterford and Cork
in Archaeology Ireland, Vol 9 No 3, Autumn 1995 (The Viking Issue).
Maurice Hurley with Claire Walsh & Orla Scully `Waterford in the Late Viking
Age' in Michael Ryan (ed), The illustrated archaeology of Ireland (Dublin
1991).
