Reports

JULIAN BLATCHLEY ‘’Remaining Norse Culture in Cumbria’’ 29th April

Our talk this week was by Julian Blatchley, a retired sea captain who is fascinated by the link between Norway and Cumbria and how the Norse invasion affected our history. He reminded us of many familiar place names and explained their origins, the Old English Ham, Hurst, Ford, Ton, the Norman Coln, Chester, Caster and took us through the long list of foreign visitors in our history. The Celts from 800 bc, the Romans between 67 - 410, the Angles between 600 - 875, the Anglo Saxons and Normans between 875 - 1066 but only in South Cumbria as the Vikings held onto the Lakes, as evidenced by the lack of Norman castles and place names. The Domesday book splits Cumbria in half, only taxing the bottom half.

Apparently less than 6% of Norway could be farmed and the Norse ‘invaders’ were really economic refugees with most being farmers, seamen, artists, tradesmen and shipbuilders. The Sheep farmers in Norway found the lakes perfect to carry on their lifestyle while the Cattle farmers of Denmark preferred Yorkshire. In a DNA survey over 25% of Cumbrians had a Norse heritage. The density of Norse place names gives credence to this history too - beck, mere, tarn, hold, fell, holm, side, force, lyth, dale, thwaite, etc.

Julian rounded up his talk by mentioning some archaeological digs now going on in the area and answered the many questions posed by the audience as he talked to them later over coffee.