Acta Archaeologica vol.

79, 2008, pp 282-295

Printed in Denmark All rights reserved

Copyright 2008
ACTA ARCHAEOLOGICA
ISSN 0065-101X

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

John Sheehan

Introduction

There are several bodies of archaeological evidence that

may be used, alongside historical, literary and other sources, to elucidate and interpret the nature of the Scandinavian and Hiberno-Scandinavian impact and settlement
in Ireland during the ninth and tenth centuries.1 These
comprise, first and foremost, the results of the excavations of the Hiberno-Scandinavian towns, most notably
those at Dublin and Waterford,2 as well as the evidence
of associated rural settlements in the hinterlands of these
and other towns.3 The large number of silver hoards on
record represents the second body of evidence,4 and this
is of primary importance in understanding both the nature
of Scandinavian activity in Ireland and the economic and
social relationships that existed between the Irish and the
Scandinavians. The information that can be inferred from
the grave-finds, on the other hand, though limited due
to the fact that most of them were unearthed during the
nineteenth century, has been enhanced by current work
on the antiquarian sources relevant to them5 as well as
by several recent discoveries of burials.6 Much the same
limitation applies to the single-finds of weapons and other
objects of Scandinavian workmanship.7 The only focus of
research to have taken place on a major new aspect of
the archaeology of the Scandinavians in Ireland over recent years, apart from various artefact and related studies,
is that on the longphuirt (sing. longphort). The aim of this
paper is to summarise and evaluate this work particularly
in the context of the relationship between the longphort
phenomenon and silver in Viking-age Ireland.

Longphuirt

The initial phase of seasonal Scandinavian raiding in Ireland, commencing according to the annals in 795, gave
way to the establishment of the first winter-camps in Ire-

John Sheehan

land during the 830s, and of the historically documented

longphuirt of the 840s and their successors. The annalistic sources record the establishment of such permanent
bases at two locations in 841, at Duiblinn (Dublin) and
Linn Dachaill (Louth) the latter location generally being identified as Annagassen, on the south side of Dundalk Bay. Their foundation, and the recording of other
bases at Lough Neagh, Lough Ree, Cork, Limerick, and
elsewhere, during the 840s, is associated with the second
phase of Scandinavian activity in Ireland, as identified by
Byrne and Doherty.8 This phase, dating to between 837
and 876 and recently referred to as The Time of the Longphort by Mytum,9 was initiated by the arrival of large
Viking fleets at the mouths of the Liffey and Boyne and
was characterised by heavy raiding and over-wintering in
the longphuirt. Duiblinn and Linn Dachaill became permanent and enduring bases. The construction and use of
longphuirt should not be confined to this phase, however,
as a second series of foundations is recorded in the 920s
and 930s.10
The term longphort, according to Doherty, was a new
compound based upon two Latin loanwords that were
borrowed into Irish at an earlier period, long from L.
(navis) longa ship and port from L. portus port, landing place, shore, and he suggested that the term was
originally coined by the annalists to describe a new and
specific phenomenon, that is an earthen bank thrown up
on the landward side to protect ships that had been drawn
up on a beach or river-bank.11 The word dnad is also
used in the annalistic sources to refer to Viking (and Irish)
bases of the ninth century and later, though it may well be
synonymous with longphort. Doherty has proposed that
the two words, longphort and dnad, may distinguish,
respectively, between coastal and riverine encampments
enclosing ships and encampments made while the army

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

was on the march in the interior, and suggested that from
the contemporary Irish perspective there may have been
little apparent difference in these phenomena.12 By the
late tenth century longphort had become a broader term,
usually used to describe a military encampment, Irish
or Scandinavian, and need not necessarily have had any
association with ships; later its meaning was broadened
further and it came to signify other things, such as dwelling.
The longevity and varied uses of the term longphort has led to interpretative and contextual difficulties
amongst scholars in recent decades. In this paper, however, the term is used, along with those sites sometimes
referred to as dnad, to refer only to Scandinavian or Hiberno-Scandinavian bases located in coastal, lacustrine or
riverine contexts from the period encompassing the midninth to the mid-tenth centuries; these were initially established for offensive or raiding purposes, though some
developed trading and other economic functions.
From an archaeological perspective, it is difficult to
assess the precise physical nature of these sites. Part of
the problem is that many of them are referred to only
once in the historical sources, usually in reference either
to their establishment or destruction, and consequently it
is difficult to ascertain how enduring individual examples
actually were. A short-lived longphort, perhaps established simply as a winter base, is likely to be different
in form to one that endured and developed over decades,
such as the Duiblinn and Linn Dachaill examples. Another difficulty lies in actually identifying these sites in
the field, as the historical sources that refer to them often
do not assign them anything more than a broad location;
for instance, the encampment [dnad] of the foreigners
in Lough Ree in 844-45, from where the Viking leader
Turgesius plundered Connacht and Mide, and burned
Cluain Moccu Nis with its oratories, and Cluain Ferta
Brnainn, and Tr d Glas and Lothra and other monasteries,13 is not given even a general location along the
shoreline or islands of this very large Shannon lake. The
likelihood that some longphuirt were not referred to at all
in the historical sources should also be borne in mind.
Another problem concerns whether longphuirt were
generally purpose-built monuments, or whether pre-existing monuments or even islands were used. Floinn
has suggested that an existing complex of buildings, surrounded by an earthen bank on a riverside location such
as that afforded by an early monastic site, would have

283

been perfect as a base,14 and proposed that such was the

case at the documented bases at Linn Dachaill, Clain
Andobair, Co. Kildare, and Clondalkin, Co. Dublin.15
This is a plausible theory, bolstered by the fact that Scandinavian bases in England were sometimes located at or
near monasteries, as at Thanet and Sheppey, both in Kent,
in the 850s, and at Repton, Derbyshire, in 873-74. Both
Thanet and Sheppey, furthermore, were on islands, and it
is interesting to note Clarkes suggestion that while the
original Duiblinn longphort was located around the tidal
pool of the River Poddle, it was shortly afterwards relocated to the nearby river crossing of th Cliath, possibly
on the island subsequently called Ushers Island.16
The characteristics of the longphort that are inherent in the term itself suggest that they took the form of
ship-bases situated in coastal, lacustrine or riverine locations. There are no associated descriptions of landward
defences in the annalistic sources, but it is evident from
some references concerning the use of these sites that
they were designed to be raiding bases, whether permanent or semi-permanent; therefore, these examples, at
least, must have had both defensive and settlement elements to them. The concept of the longphort as a settlement, with associated agricultural interests, is supported
by an annalistic entry that records how, in 866, ed Finnliath, king of the Northern U Nill, plundered all the
strongholds of the foreigners [longportu Gall] both in
Cenl Egain and Dl Araidi, and took away their heads,
their flocks, and their herds from camp [longport] by battle.17 The defences of a longphort could have been, as
Floinn suggests, pre-existing, or, in the case of islands,
natural, and he warns against the notion of the longphort
acquiring the status of a monument in some minds.18
Nevertheless, a not inconsiderable body of evidence has
now accumulated to suggest that several longphuirt did,
in fact, conform to a novel and fairly standardised sitetype. Kelly and Maas, who have identified and discussed
several possible examples, such as the enclosure on the
River Barrow at Dunrally, Co. Laois, have pioneered this
proposal.19
The Dunrally site is a large D-shaped enclosure, 360m
long and 150m in maximum width, defined by a bank and
external ditch, within which is a sub-circular enclosure,
52m x 41m in diameter, also defined by a bank and ditch
(Fig. 1). It is not known if this latter enclosure is contemporary with the larger D-shaped one. The site is situated at
the confluence of a minor stream and a bend of the River

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1: Site location of the D-shaped enclosure, identified as the Longphort

Rothlaibh of the annals, at Dunrally (townland: Vicarstown), Co. Laois
(based on 1908 Ordnance Survey mapping).

Barrow, at which point there was formerly a pool, and has

a marshy area on its landward side. Kelly and Maas proposed that it be identified as the Scandinavian longphort
specifically named as Longphort Rothlaibh in the annals,
the destruction of which is recorded by the combined
forces of the kings of Logis and Osraige in 862. One of
the relevant annalistic entries for this event records the
defeat of Rodolbs fleet, which had come from Lochlann
shortly before that20, confirming the association of ships
with the base. The essential components of this site, a Dshaped enclosure, open to the water, located at the confluence of a river and tributary, adjacent to a pool, close to
a fording point, and protected on the landward side by
marshy ground, along with other factors, sometimes including place-name evidence, has led to the identification
of several potential longphuirt elsewhere in Ireland.
These include the D-shaped, cliff-edge enclosure,
measuring 73m by 34m, known as Lisnarann, at Annagassan, which, along with an adjacent river island, has
been suggested as the location of the Linn Dachaill
longphort,21 as well as an apparently historically undocumented D-shaped enclosure, measuring 75m by 30m, located on a bend of the River Shannon at Fairyhill, Co.

Clare, near Athlunkard (th Longphuirt the Ford of the

Longphort), and protected on its landward side by marshy
ground and flanked on one side by a stream.22 Neither of
these sites has been excavated, but it may be significant
that Scandinavian-type objects, comprising two conical
silver weights, have been found in the immediate vicinity
of the Athlunkard site.23 Viking-age weights in silver are
practically unique, and it is interesting to note that the
only other example on record from Ireland, an unusual
example of ninth-century Scandinavian type, also derives
from a longphort, that at Woodstown, Co. Waterford (see
below). The interior of the Athlunkard site also produced
a rare example of a long-tanged coulter, a type that Brady
has associated with the large plough-shares known from
tenth-century Hiberno-Scandinavian Dublin,24 as well as
a spear-butt, spearhead and a hooped iron band which
were found in close proximity and may well have belonged to the same spear; the spear-butt is of a type that is
also represented amongst the finds from the Scandinavian
cemetery at Kilmainham/Islandbridge, in Dublin. The
evidence clearly indicates that the most likely cultural
context for these Athlunkard objects is a Scandinavian
one.25
A potential longphort site, first identified as such by
the late Thomas Fanning in the 1970s, is located at Ballaghkeeran Little, Co. Westmeath, on the southern side
of Killinure Lough, a large inlet on the eastern shore of
Lough Ree, on the River Shannon (Fig. 2). It consists
of a triangular promontory of land, c.200m by c.100m,
bounded on its southern side by the Breensford River, and
defined on its landward side by two banks and an intervening ditch, beyond which lies a low-lying, marshy area;
a gap in the banks and ditch may represent an original
entrance. On the southern side of the enclosure, alongside the small river, is a large, embanked, hollow feature
that Fanning interpreted as a possible Scandinavian-type
naust, while the remains of an apparently ancient oakplank jetty projected into the lake on its north-western
side.26 Considering that the site was possibly a longphort
associated with the historically attested Scandinavian occupation of Lough Ree in 845 and/or the 920s and 930s,27
he conducted minor trial excavations there in 1981.28 Cuttings within the enclosure revealed two shallow parallel
trenches, but no evidence of occupation, while a cutting
through one of the landward banks showed this to have
been substantial. A cutting within the naust-like feature
produced iron slag and fragments of fired clay. Fanning

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

285

2: Aerial view of the possible longphort at Ballaghkeeran Little, Lough Ree, Co. Westmeath (Photo: Thomas Fanning: inset, bottom left, depicts site
location on the River Shannon; inset, top right, depicts site location based on 1913 Ordnance Survey mapping).

obtained two radiocarbon dates from the site, and these

yielded 4th/5th century AD determinations; both, however,
were from wood charcoal that was apparently derived
from the old ground surface beneath the enclosing bank
and consequently merely provide terminus post quem
dates for the construction of the enclosure. It is apparent,
nonetheless, that the orientation of the site was towards
the lake rather than the land, and the occurrence of the
possible naust and jetty appear to confirm its association
with ships. Fannings hypothesis that it is a longphort
may well be supported by the fact that significant finds of
Viking-age silver and gold are provenanced to within its
immediate environs (see below).
Connolly and Coyne have recently tentatively identified another potential longphort, at Rathmore, near Castlemaine, Co. Kerry (Fig. 3).29 It is located on the southern bank of the River Maine, upstream from Dingle Bay,
at the point where it changes from being tidal. It consists
of a large D-shaped enclosure, c. 250m by c.170m, open
to the river and defined on its landward side by two massive banks and an intervening ditch. This may well be
the Scandinavian site that is referred to as Dn Mainne

in Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh, where its destruction

around the year 867 is recorded. Another account of this
event, as identified by Corrin,30 is recorded in the
Fragmentary Annals, where it is noted: At this time the
Ciarraige besieged the followers of that Tomrar Old
Congal, king of the Ciarraige, took the victory in this conflict. A few of the Norwegians [Lochlannaibh] escaped,
naked and wounded; great quantities of gold and silver
and beautiful women were left behind. Evidently Dn
Mainne was considered a major threat to the area, as the
force that destroyed it comprised the kings of Ciarraige
Luachra, Eganacht Locha Lin and U Fidgeinte, the
leading kings of west Munster. This is in keeping with the
identification of the Rathmore enclosure as this dn, given its size and the strength of its defences. The record of
the taking of women prisoners and the capture of precious
booty, including gold and silver, implies that Dn Mainne
was probably a strong, enduring, defended settlement
rather than simply a short-term fortified raiding base.
In overall terms, therefore, there is evidence to suggest that both the location and morphology of several
potential longphuirt do, in fact, conform in a rather strik-

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3: Aerial view of the potential longphort, possibly to be identified with

the historically attested site of Dn Mainne, at Rathmore, Co. Kerry
(Photo: Ordnance Survey Ireland)

ing manner to one another, and it is not, consequently,

unreasonable to describe the longphort as a monumenttype. Floinn has objected to such a conclusion on the
grounds that it implies some form of pre-existing model
of a defended settlement, for which there is no real evidence either in Ireland or elsewhere in the Viking world
in the ninth century.31 It could be argued, however, that
the D-shaped or semi-circular enclosures, open to the water, that characterise the early settlements at Birka and
Hedeby are of relevance in this regard, and it should also
be noted that later Scandinavians did, in fact, develop
highly-standardized fortifications for which there were no
obvious pre-existing models, the Trelleborg-type forts of
tenth-century Denmark being conspicuous cases in point.
Given, however, the recorded degree of Irish hostility to
the Scandinavian attacks from the 830s onwards, which
had not been matched elsewhere in the west by this time,
it would not be entirely surprising if the Scandinavians
were forced to devise a novel form of fortification to
provide both security for their fleets and a land base for
themselves. In other words, it is possible that Ireland in
the 840s was the first place and time that fortifications

which met both of these needs were actually required by

the Scandinavians. This is not to say that all longphuirt
were of this form, or that islands, monasteries or various
forms of pre-existing fortifications could not have been
used as longphuirt, but it does appear that there was a formal longphort concept in existence which was developed
and regularly adhered to by the Scandinavians in Ireland,
and was somewhat later transferred to Britain.
A final point that links together the potential longphuirt sites noted above, and others, concerns the fact
that they tend to be located on Early Medieval political
boundaries: Linn Dachaill, for instance, was located on
the borders of Conaille and Cannachta;32 Dunrally was
positioned at the point of convergence of three kingdoms,
those of Logis, U Failge and U Muiredaig;33 Ballaghkeeran Little, being located on the Shannon, was at
the boundary of Clann Cholmain of Mide and Connachta,
and close to their boundaries with Tethba; Rathmore, is
located on the River Maine which formed the boundary
between Ciarraige Luachra and Eganacht Locha Lin;
Duiblinn lay between Brega and Laigin; while Woodstown was positioned on the border of the Disi Muman
and Osraige. This trend is hardly coincidental and suggests that the Scandinavians, as Kelly and Maas have
proposed, may have had a considered strategy of taking
advantage of the rivalries that existed between bordering
territories.34 This is certainly what seems to be suggested,
for instance, by a mid-ninth-century entry in the Annals
of the Four Masters which recounts how Maelseachlainn,
King of Ireland, marched into Munster and, upon arrival
at Indeoin na nDisi, enforced hostages and submission
from them for they had given him opposition at the instigation of the foreigners.35 It is also entirely likely that
the establishment of longphuirt in such boundary zones
may occasionally have had the support of local rulers,
who hoped to benefit from trading opportunities as well
as the local availability of mercenaries.

Woodstown, Co. Waterford

The Woodstown site, discovered and subjected to limited

archaeological investigations in advance of a planned
road-building scheme in 2003-04,36 features most of the
diagnostic longphort characteristics outlined by Kelly
and Maas who, incidentally, had earlier suggested the existence of a Scandinavian base in the Waterford harbour
area on the evidence of ninth-century annalistic references

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

to fleets operating from there.37 Located on the southern
bank of the River Suir, near a bend and about five kilometers upstream from the location of later Viking-age and
Medieval Waterford, the Woodstown site appears to have
comprised a large, shallow D-shaped area, c.450m long
by up to 160m wide, enclosed by a bank and a external
ditch, now ploughed out; it was open to the water, located
at the confluence of the river and a small tributary, and
protected along portion of its landward side by a wetland
area (Fig. 4). The excavated portion of the enclosing bank
was topped with a palisade. Within the enclosure testing
resulted in the discovery of a large number of features,
including post-holes, hearths and cobbled surfaces, which
may represent structures and houses of both rectangular
and oval/circular plan.38 A Viking burial, complete with
sword, shield-boss, spearhead, axe-head, and other items,
was excavated just outside the enclosure.39
An extensive number of artifacts, numbering over
5000, were recovered from the investigations, most of
which, however, were not excavated archaeologically.
Many of those finds that are culturally diagnostic are
indubitably of Scandinavian or Hiberno-Scandinavian
character, including hack-silver, lead pan-weights, a fragment of a Kufic coin, ringed pins, ships roves, sword fittings, rotary whet-stones and some hones.40 Among the
remainder of the culturally affiliated material is a small
collection of Irish ecclesiastical metalwork items,41 of the
type that also forms part of the find assemblages from
the ninth-century Scandinavian cemeteries in Dublin and
from Viking burials of similar date in Norway.
The evidence, as it currently stands, indicates that the
cultural context of the Woodstown site is Scandinavian
or Hiberno-Scandinavian. In terms of its locational and
physical characteristics it is in keeping with the essentials
of the other proposed longphort sites, as noted above.
Apart from the aforementioned grave-finds, the artefacts
from the site include weaponry,42 which conforms to
what one would expect from a longphort given that it is
evident from the historical sources that they functioned as
raiding bases. The linguistic evidence implies that these
sites also had an inherent association with ships, and it is
instructive to note in this regard that the Woodstown find
assemblage includes over two hundred roves and clench
nails of the type used in the construction of boats hulls.
In fact, when staples, spikes and other forms of nails are
taken into account, the total number of examples of this
category of material from Woodstown exceeds 1500. 43

287

4: Site location of the longphort at Woodstown, Co. Waterford, showing

the approximate extent of the defences as revealed by geophysical
survey and excavation (after OBrien and Russell 2005, Fig. , based on
1907 Ordnance Survey mapping)..

It has, however, been argued by OBrien, Quinney and

Russell, each of whom was involved in the investigations
at the site, that the Woodstown enclosure was built in the
fifth century, possibly as a monastic settlement, otherwise unevidenced in the historical and archaeological
sources, and was later, from the ninth century onwards,
reoccupied by Scandinavians44. If this interpretation could
be sustained it would clearly qualify the notion of the development of the longphort as a distinct type-site, given
that Woodstown is the only potential longphort - apart
from the small-scale work carried out at Ballaghkeeran
- to have been subjected to any archaeological investigation. On the basis of the published evidence, however,
it is difficult to support the arguments of OBrien et al
concerning the date of origin of the site. Firstly, there is a
complete absence of the sort of features and artefacts that
one would expect to find in an early ecclesiastical site
of this date in Munster, such as imported Mediterranean
and continental pottery, cross-inscribed stones, etc. More
importantly, however, it is evident that the early dating of
the site is based solely on three radiocarbon determinations, all of which derive from the fills of its enclosing

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Acta Archaeologica

ditch.45 These dates, when calibrated at 2-sigma level, fall

within the fifth to seventh centuries AD, but in each case
they derive from oak charcoal; clearly, this charcoal could
be derived from old wood, as oak is a long-lived species.
That this was almost certainly the case is inferred when
the artefacts from this ditch are considered, for these include amber and ivory as well as a silver ingot. These are
materials that one would not normally expect to find in
Ireland during the fifth to seventh centuries, though they
are familiar from Scandinavian and Hiberno-Scandinavian contexts of the Viking Age. Indeed, the ingot is an
example of somewhat unusual form that is closely paralleled in the Viking-age hoard from the Scottish island of
Tiree, the deposition of which is coin-dated to the later
tenth century.46
Given that the seven other radiocarbon dates from
elsewhere within the site, when calibrated, yield dateranges that either fall within, or overlap with, the period
of the Viking Age, it seems that there is little evidence
to support the claim that Woodstown does not represent
a Viking-only settlement.47 It appears that the ethnic
and cultural monomorphic aspects of the post-processual
revisionist paradigm have overly influenced OBrien et
al,48 but the problem is that their consequent theorising
is inconsistent with the archaeological evidence from the
site itself. An alternative model, that deserves testing, is
simply that the enclosure at Woodstown was built as a
Scandinavian longphort.
In this regard it is interesting to note Cobhins
proposed identification of the placename Cammus Hua
Fathaid Tire - which is recorded as a base with a fleet
of 120 Viking ships in 821 in Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh - with the bend of the River Suir just upstream from
Woodstown.49 It is also possible that the Woodstown site
dates to the 860s, during which Downham notes a radical increase in the recording of Scandinavian attacks that
emanate from Waterford Harbour50 - and that it may have
endured to become a Hiberno-Scandinavian settlement,
probably with broader functions, into the tenth and possibly even the early eleventh centuries. Whether it was the
focus of unbroken settlement is debatable on present evidence. It may appear curious that such a large and strategically located site is not directly referred to in the historical sources. In this regard, however, Etchinghams point
about demonstrable geographical bias in the reporting of
the annals, and the fact that the south-east of Ireland lay
outside the areas of bias, should be borne in mind. 51

It is, of course, also possible that the Woodstown enclosure dates to the second decade of the tenth century,
during which the annals record, for 914, A great new
fleet of foreigners came to Loch d Chaech, and placed
a stronghold [longphort] there,52 and, for the following
year, A great and frequent increase in the number of heathens arriving at Loch d Chaech, and the laity and clergy
of Mumu were plundered by them.53 The name Loch d
Chaech refers generally to the Waterford Harbour area,
though Downham has recently drawn attention to the fact
that from 914 to 918 it is exclusively used in the annalistic sources to refer to a Scandinavian settlement at Waterford; both before and after this period the name Port
Lirge is used.54 The final entry for the Loch d Chaech
base, The foreigners of Loch d Chaech, i.e. Ragnall,
king of the Dubgaill [Dark Foreigners], and the two jarls,
Oitir and Gragabai, forsook Ireland,55 implies its abandonment. The name-change from Port Lirge to Loch d
Chaech might indicate, as Downham has suggested, that
a new Scandinavian base was established in the area in
914. Is Loch d Chaech to be identified with the Woodstown site? It seems possible that this is the case, and this
question should become a focus of further research. Some
of the information contained in the annalistic references
to Loch d Chaech, such as the mentions of a great new
fleet,56 the arrivals of great and frequent reinforcements
of foreigners57 and the plundering of Munster and Leinster from it,58 as well as the use of the term longphort to
describe it,59 serve to create the impression that it was a
very large defended base with, of course, access to water,
and this is entirely consistent with the broad picture that
has emerged from the archaeology of the Woodstown site
to date.

Duiblinn/th Cliath

The most important historically attested longphort in Ireland was established at Duiblinn (Dublin) in 841, though
Clarke has proposed that shortly afterwards it may have
been relocated upstream to the nearby river crossing of
th Cliath, by which name it is referred to after 845.60
According to the historical sources it was occupied until
902, when it was apparently destroyed and abandoned following an attack by the combined forces of Brega and Laigin.61 During this period there are many references to its
use as a raiding base, and it seems to have become strong
enough to establish other bases further inland at Clain

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

Andobair and Clondalkin.62 Slave raiding from the base
is recorded,63 with the most significant reference to its
role in slaving occurring in the Annals of Ulster under the
year 871, where it is recorded: Amlab and mar returned
to th Cliath from Alba with two hundred ships, bringing away with them in captivity to Ireland a great prey of
Angles and Britons and Picts.64 This international aspect
of raiding from th Cliath may also be attested by the
hoard from Coughlanstown West (Mullaghboden), Co.
Kildare, deposited c.847, possibly in a Viking grave,65 for
this was composed of Carolingian coins that, according
to Dolley, probably represent loot from the documented
Viking raids on Aquitaine in the mid-840s.66
There is considerable archaeological evidence, however, that the th Cliath longphort developed beyond being a mere raiding base to become an important trading
and market settlement during the second half of the ninth
century. Clarke has noted that this stage of economic activity paralleled that in Norway, where Kaupang came to
function as an international emporium, and suggested in
Ireland th Cliath became its equivalent.67 Floinn has
observed that evidence for the paraphernalia of trade, such
as balance scales, weights and purse mounts, is well represented among the grave-finds of the Dublin cemeteries,
and suggested that these finds were those of a military
elite engaged in commerce.68 It is also evident that considerable amounts of silver, the common currency of the
Scandinavians, had already been amassed in Ireland before the establishment of the Hiberno-Scandinavian towns
during the opening decades of the tenth century, and this
can only have come about through the involvement of
the longphuirt, particularly th Cliath.69 Downham has
recently made the suggestion that some of the Scandinavian raids on ecclesiastical sites may also have served as
strikes against rival trading-centres, as Vikings sought to
develop their bases as permanent trading-sites.70
The location of the Duiblinn/th Cliath longphort has
been debated at length over recent decades,71 while the
current state of knowledge arising from several important
recent excavations in ninth-century Dublin has been discussed by Simpson.72 She notes that early Scandinavian
occupation has been unearthed along both the northern
and southern sides of the Black Pool (Duiblinn) that gave
the longphort its original name. This pool is on the Poddle, a tributary of the River Liffey, close to their point
of confluence, a location that reflects the topographical
trends noted above in relation to other potential longphort

289

sites. It should be noted, however, that there was probably an early ecclesiastical settlement located close to the
pool, and its enclosure may have been adapted for use as
a longphort by the Scandinavians, as has been suggested
for this and other sites by Floinn.73 Along the southern
side of the pool early settlement evidence, represented
by post-holes, refuse pits, hearths and large quantities
of butchered animal bone, was revealed. The pool itself
produced a collection of ship-rivets, suggesting that boats
were docked there, and along its southern rim five furnished graves were excavated. Osteological examination
revealed that these burials were all of young men, each
radiocarbon dated to between the late seventh and the late
ninth century; their grave-goods included shield-bosses
and weapons. On the northern side of the pool the ninthcentury settlement, which was apparently established
somewhat later than the one on its southern shore, included examples of Wallaces Type 1 houses, flood banks,
property boundaries, animal pens and a stone roadway. In
Temple Bar West, a part of the site on which portion of the
tenth-century town was later superimposed, no evidence
was found to suggest a break in occupancy following 902
when, according to the documentary sources, the longphort was abandoned. In the light of the currently available evidence, Simpson has proposed that the longphort
may have been located on the eastern side of the Poddle,
within an area subsumed by later settlement.74
The date-range of the burials from the southern side
of the Black Pool, several of which have pre-841 intercept dates, prompted Simpson to suggest that there may
have been a Scandinavian encampment in this area before
the 841 establishment of the annalistically recorded longphort.75 This may well have been the case, even though
there are no direct records of such, and it should not be
assumed that all Scandinavian activity in Ireland was recorded in the historical sources. Indeed, Downham has
recently suggested that a short-term Viking base may
have been set-up in the Dublin area in the late 790s, partly
on the basis that the Annals of Ulster record that the heathens took the cattle-tribute of the territories following their raid on Inis Ptraic (perhaps Holmpatrick, north
county Dublin) in 798.76 As she points out, cattle-tribute
was not a practical way of transferring wealth overseas,
and the implication is that it represented supplies for a
Scandinavian base in the locality.
To date, the excavated mid- to late ninth-century
levels of Scandinavian Dublin conform to what might

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be predicted of an important longphort, particularly the

focus around the confluence of a river and its tributary,
the presence of a pool that offers protection for boats,
and the occurrence of settlement evidence and warrior
burials. There is as yet, however, no clear evidence for
the presence of an early defensive bank in an appropriate location. The existence of an apparently undefended
settlement on the north side of the Black Pool implies that
the longphort and its associated settlements had a large
population that manifestly did not perceive itself as being
under constant danger. It may well be that there was a
considerable amount of associated settlement strung out
along both sides of the Liffey estuary, as may be indicated
by the distribution of early cemeteries and single burials
along a two kilometre long stretch, 77 and that the longphort came to function as the military and administrative
nucleus of this early Scandinavian settlement zone. Indeed, this zone, protected by the outlying bases at Clain
Andobair and Clondalkin, probably formed the original
core of the broader settlements agricultural hinterlands,
which were later to be called Fine Gall/Crch Gall and
Dyflinarskiri in native Irish and Icelandic sources respectively.

Longphuirt and wealth

The annalistic reference, quoted above, which recorded

that great quantities of gold and silver fell into Irish
hands following the defeat of the Scandinavians at Dn
Mainne, c.867, serves as a reminder that the predominantly tenth-century range of deposition dates of Irelands Viking-age coin hoards does not actually reflect the
period during which the Scandinavians first introduced
silver into Ireland. Analysis of the hoards containing nonnumismatic material, and the recognition of the HibernoScandinavian and Irish silver-working traditions, indicate
that the period during which by far the greatest amounts
of silver was imported lies between c.850 and c.950.78
This is of particular interest for a number of reasons,
but in the present context the most important one is that
considerable silver resources had clearly been amassed
in Ireland well before the establishment of the formal
Hiberno-Scandinavian towns during the opening decades
of the tenth century. The fact that silver was in circulation
in large quantities in the later ninth century serves to focus attention back on the nature of Scandinavian activity
and settlement in Ireland at this time and, in particular,

it raises questions concerning the role and functions of

the longphuirt, suggesting that some of these, especially
Duiblinn/th Cliath, should be viewed primarily as important trading and market settlements rather than simply
as fortified raiding bases.
That ninth-century Dublin was a prosperous and
wealthy settlement has been elegantly demonstrated by
Graham-Campbell in his preliminary analysis of the massive silver hoard from Cuerdale, Lancashire, the greatest
known Viking-age treasure from both Scandinavia and
the West.79 Weighing over forty kilograms, it comprised
over a thousand individual pieces of bullion and over
seven thousand coins, the latter enabling its deposition to
be dated to c.905. The major part of the bullion is demonstrably of Hiberno-Scandinavian origin, as characterised
by its large quantity of broad-band arm-rings, and it has
been proposed that it comprised the capital of some of the
exiled leaders of Dublin following their expulsion in 902.
Other hoards, on both sides of the Irish Sea, may relate
to the same event and also testify to the wealth of the
Dublin longphort. Chief amongst these is the hoard found
at Drogheda, Co. Louth, in 1846, also deposited c.905,80
that reportedly contained almost two gallons of coins
of both Kufic and Viking York type.81 Downham has
suggested that this hoard may represent booty gathered
from Dublin by Mael Finnia, king of North Brega, who
played a prominent role in the dramatic events of 902.82
Equally important is the Dysart Island (no.4) hoard, from
Lough Ennell, Co. Westmeath, deposited c.907, which,
in addition to coins and ingots, contained a large quantity
of hack-silver derived from Hiberno-Scandinavian, Irish,
Norwegian and Baltic material. Both in terms of its date
and the wide variety of its components it is closely comparable to the Cuerdale hoard, and Ryan and Floinn
have suggested that it derives, at least in part, from the
902 sack of Dublin.83
The later ninth-century hoards are indicative of a
flourishing bullion economy, with Scandinavian, Baltic
and Islamic connections, and this economy was confident
enough to develop its own distinctive ornament forms.
Many of their components occur in hack-silver form, often displaying nicking, indicating that they formed part
of a pool of silver that circulated through economic transactions. It is evident that the economic outcomes of the
original activities associated with longphuirt, raiding,
ransoming and slaving, were sufficient to set up trading
undertakings, and thus trading became as much a part as

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

raiding in the economics of the Dublin longphort. What is
surprising, particularly in the light of the recent discovery
of significant amounts of hack-silver at Woodstown, is
that virtually no material of this kind has been found in the
excavation of Dublins ninth-century levels. It may well
be, however, that the excavated areas around the Black
Pool may be associated settlements, rather than the nucleus, of the longphort. However, as Simpson has recently
pointed out, the tenth-century Hiberno-Scandinavians of
the re-founded Dublin continued raiding activities, yet
little evidence of torn up metalwork or hack-silver has
emerged in its excavated levels. She notes that this should
serve as a warning against dismissing any potential longphort site in Dublin merely because it did not produce
this kind of material.84
Reference was made above to the fact that significant
finds of Viking-age silver and gold are on record from the
vicinity of the potential longphort site at Ballaghkeeran
Little, Co. Westmeath. These finds may relate to the occupation of this site and, if so, may testify to its importance
as a base with commercial functions. The two best known
of these finds comprise a pair of lost hoards, one gold
and one silver, which were discovered only a few metres
apart in the early nineteenth century on Hare Island,85
otherwise known as Inis Ainghin, a monastic centre with
Clonmacnoise connections. The silver find comprised an
unknown number of ingots and arm-rings, while the gold
hoard comprised ten massive arm-rings with a combined
weight of about five kilos, making it by far the largest gold
hoard on record from the Viking world (Fig. 5). Indeed, it
is possible that the Lough Ree longphort was located on
Hare Island itself, within the enclosure of Inis Ainghin,
though the evidence supporting the Ballaghkeeran Little
enclosure as the site of the longphort is difficult to dismiss. In fact, Hare Island is located close to the entrance
of Killinure Lough, within which Ballaghkeeran Little is
located. An important discovery of a hack-silver hoard,
consisting of fragments of arm-rings and ingots, together
with one complete ingot, was made in the 1980s on a
small natural island in Killinure Lough, at Creaghduff,
close to the Ballaghkeeran Little site.86 This could well
be contemporary with the Hare Island hoards, but it is
clearly different in character, relating more directly to the
type of silver that presumably circulated in the longphuirt
at Dublin and, as has recently emerged, at Woodstown.
To date, thirty-eight items of Viking-age silver derive
from the Woodstown site. These comprise complete in-

291

5: Gold arm-ring from the Hare Island hoard, Co. Westmeath

(Source:Vetusta Monumenta (1835))

gots, ingot and arm-ring fragments, a weight, a wire fragment and pieces of casting waste. Unfortunately, with
only one exception, all of these finds were retrieved from
topsoil contexts. In numerical terms the collection represents more non-numismatic silver than had been found
in over forty years of excavation in Viking-age Dublin.
On the basis of the dating evidence for its various components, it is clear that as an assemblage it contains elements from as early as the later ninth century to, potentially, as late as the mid-eleventh century. The bulk
of the material, however, as represented by ingots and
ingot-derived hack-silver, most likely dates to the period
encompassing the later ninth and tenth centuries. The collection also includes some casting waste and this should
probably be regarded as evidence for silver-working on
the site, along with the excavated evidence for a smithing
hearth.87 Given the nature of the overall assemblage it is
likely that the main product of such silver-working would
have been ingots.
Amongst the silver material from Woodstown is a
small silver scale-weight of polyhedral form (Fig. 6).
Weights of this form and size are of particularly common
occurrence in Scandinavia, especially in its Baltic region,
where they are usually made in copper alloys. The Woodstown example weighs 2.51 gm, and it is interesting to
note that this was one of the target weights identified by
Kyhlberg in his analysis of a series of such weights from
Birka.88 Weights of polygonal type are absent from the
large assemblage of Viking-age weights from Dublin,89
though a small number are on record from England. For
example, three copper-alloy polyhedral weights, with
ornamentation, were amongst the finds from the Viking
winter camp at Torskey, Linconshire, associated with the

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Acta Archaeologica

6. Scale-weight of polyhedral form, in silver, from Woodstown (Photo:

Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd)

872-873 campaign by the Danish Great Army during the

period 865 to 877. The Woodstown weight is the only diagnostically Scandinavian silver object from the site, and
most probably dates to the late ninth century.
Hack-silver deposits are relatively rare in Ireland,
where few such finds may be classified as true hacksilver hoards in the sense in which this phenomenon is
understood in Scandinavia. Hrdh, for instance, has defined hack-silver hoards as finds where half or more of
the objects are fragments, and where most of the objects
weigh less than five grams.90 The Woodstown collection,
however, is exceptional in that it does satisfy these criteria, and this adds to its importance. True hack-silver
hoards from Ireland date to the tenth century, though it is
clear that they must also have been a feature of the late
ninth century. The importance of the Woodstown assemblage is that, for the first time in Ireland, a large collection
of hack-silver has been found in a demonstrably Scandinavian or Hiberno-Scandinavian cultural context. It
exceeds the amount of such material from ninth-century
Dublin, and is best paralleled by the hack-silver material
from Kaupang. The presence of this material at Woodstown, alongside a large number of Viking scale-weights,
clearly indicates that this longphort site had important
and developed economic functions. It may well be, as has
been suggested in the case of the Kilmacomma hoard,91

that other finds of Viking-age silver from Munster derive

from this and other longphuirt.
Finally, it should be noted that the occurrence of Viking-age silver and hoards in the vicinity of longphuirt
need not necessarily imply that these were buried by Scandinavian hands. An interesting case in point concerns four
hoards from the Inishowen region of Co. Donegal, those
provenanced to north-west Inishowen, Carrowmore/
Glentogher, Roosky, and near Raphoe.92 This is a striking concentration of finds, especially given the rarity of
silver hoards from elsewhere in the north-west of Ireland,
and their general contemporanity is suggested by the fact
that all feature broad-band arm-rings in their composition. Graham-Campbell has interpreted them as relating
to the historically attested presence of a Scandinavian
fleet, led by one Acolb, in the Inishowen region during
the early 920s, and has suggested that they were deposited during this period.93 The annalistic records of Acolbs
presence in the region notes that he commanded a fleet
of thirty-two ship in Lough Foyle and that he occupied
a place named Cennrig.94 Although neither longphort
nor any other specific term was used in connection with
this place in the annalistic sources, it may be assumed that
even a short-lived land settlement associated with a fleet
of this size was likely to have been a defended one. One
of the annalistic entries recounts that it was quickly(?)
and completely abandoned by them, except for a few who
remained behind in it through sloth and that a local king
killed the crew of one of their ships and wrecked the
ship and took its booty.95 The equation of the Inishowen
hoards with Acolb and his ill-fated expedition is supported by Floinn, who presents additional literary evidence
relating to it, and suggests that the finds are representative of silver bullion that was acquired as loot by local
rulers during the campaign against Acolb.96 The fact that
at least two of the four hoards in question were buried in
ringforts, the dominant Irish settlement type of the Early
Medieval period, supports the idea that the hoards were
in Irish ownership. The implication of this case study is
that some of the silver wealth known from the vicinities
of longphuirt elsewhere may represent Irish loot, or Scandinavian tribute, rather than just the proceeds of trade.

Conclusion

On the basis of the evidence to date it may be concluded

that the longphort existed both as a specific concept and

The Longphort in Viking Age Ireland

as a monument type in Ireland during the Viking Age,
particularly during the mid- to late ninth and the opening decades of the tenth century. This does not exclude
the likelihood of pre-existing and naturally defended sites
also being used by the Scandinavians for the same purposes, but there is no reason why these would not also
be referred to as longphuirt in the contemporary historical
sources. Though it is certain that very few longphuirt, if
any, endured and developed to become permanent multifunctional settlements like Duiblinn/th Cliath, it seems
probable that most examples functioned solely or predominantly as raiding bases and thus may have been relatively short-lived. In most cases historical records refer to
a longphort only once, and consequently it is impossible
on the basis of this evidence to gauge whether the use of
an individual site extended over months, years or decades,
or whether its occupation was continuous or periodic. Archaeological excavation in the future, however, should
be able to throw light on these questions. At present the
archaeological evidence from Woodstown indicates that

293

it was a strongly defended site with settlement and raiding functions, while the nature of its silver assemblage
suggests that it also participated in a broader economic
framework. The evidence of Cuerdale, and other hoards,
has already established a link between silver and longphuirt in the case of Duiblinn/th Cliath. The suggested
association of silver, and sometimes of gold, with other
potential longphuirt, such as Athlunkard, Ballaghkeeran
and Rathmore, indicates that this link may have been a
common one. It may, perhaps, have been mainly due to the
role these types of sites played in the slave trade though,
given the historical evidence for the establishment of political and military alliances between the Scandinavians
and the Irish from the mid-ninth century onwards, it is also
likely that some of them may have developed local trading
and market functions. The evidence of Irelands hoards
demonstrates that considerable silver resources had already been amassed there before the establishment of the
formal Hiberno-Scandinavian towns, and the longphuirt
must have played a key role in this.

Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to Professor Donnchadh Corrin, Department
of Medieval History, University College Cork, and E.P. Kelly, Keeper
of Antiquities, National Museum of Ireland, for the benefit of their
discussions on this paper. He is also grateful to Nick Hogan, Department

of Archaeology, University College Cork, for preparing figs. 1, 2 and 4,

Michael Connolly, Kerry County Archaeologist, for supplying fig. 3,
and Archaeological Consultancy Services Ltd for permission to refer to
the silver finds from Woodstown.

ENDNOTES
1 In this paper the terms Scandinavian and HibernoScandinavian are used in accordance with the definitions that are
proposed in Sheehan et al 2001:93-4.
2 Wallace 1992; Simpson 2000; Hurley et al 1997.
3 Bradley 1988.
4 Sheehan 1998.
5 Harrison and Floinn, forthcoming.
6 Simpson 2005: 37-48; Connolly & Coyne 2005: 49-78; OBrien
& Russell 2005: 121-22, fig.7,8; ODonovan 2005.
7 Floinn 1998: 148-53.
8 In Moody et al 1982:20-21.
9 Mytum 2003: 118-22.
10 See Downham 2004: 75, fn. 7, for a listing of the annalistic
references to these foundations. Downham 2007, figs 4 and 8,
conveniently lists the ninth- and tenth-century chronicle references to
viking-camps in Ireland.
11 Doherty 1998: 324.
12 Ibid.: 326.
13 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 844, 845.
14 Floinn 1998:164.
15 Ibid.: 162-64.
16 Clarke 1998:348. Simpson reports that a limited area of

this island was subjected to archaeological testing in 1995 and that no

apparent Viking-age material was found (2000:21).
17 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 866.
18 Floinn 1998: 161.
19 Kelly and Maas 1995; Kelly and Maas 1999: 132-43.
20 Fragmentary Annals: s.a. 862.
21 Kelly and Maas 1999:141.
22 Kelly and ODonovan 1998.
23 Ibid.: illustrated on p.14.
24 Brady 1993, 40. The object is illustrated in Kelly and ODonovan
1998. I am grateful to Michael A. Monk for discussing this object with
me and for drawing my attention to the Brady reference.
25 The author is grateful to E.P. Kelly, Keeper of Antiquities,
National Museum of Ireland, for information on the Athlunkard material.
26 This was noted and recorded by Victor Buckley, then of the
Archaeological Survey of Ireland.
27 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 845; Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 922,
927, 929, Annals of Inisfallen: s.a. 922. It should be noted that John
ODonovan, the nineteenth-century scholar, proposed that the location of
the Lough Ree longphort may have been on the promontory of Rindoon,
on the Co. Roscommon side of the lake. See Journal of the Old Athlone
Society 1.4 (1974-75), 288. I am grateful to E.P. Kelly, National Museum

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Acta Archaeologica

of Ireland, for drawing my attention to this reference.

28 Fanning 1983: 221. The two radiocarbon dates obtained from
the site are recorded in the topographical file for the site in the National
Museum of Ireland.
29 Connolly and Coyne 2005: 172-73, pl.42.
30 Corrin 1996, 273. Corrin suggested that the site of
the Scandinavian dn was near Castlemaine, where there later was a
medieval castle, but this was prior to the discovery of the Rathmore
enclosure.
31 Floinn 1988:164.
32 Ibid.: 162.
33 Kelly and Maas 1999: 140.
34 Ibid.:140.
35 Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 852.
36 OBrien and Russell 2005; OBrien, Quinney and Russell
2005; McNamara 2005.
37 Kelly and Maas 1999:133.
38 OBrien, Quinney and Russell 2005:33.
39 Ibid.: 35, fig.14.
40 Preliminary accounts of the finds are included in ibid.: 58-73
and McNamara 2005. The rotary whetstones from Woodstown belong to
the pan-Scandinavian type, datable from the ninth to the early thirteenth
century, recently published by Stummann Hansen and Sheehan (2001).
41 OBrien, Quinney and Russell 2005:69.
42 Ibid.: 71.
43 Ibid.: 68-69, pl.23.
44 Ibid.: 74-78, 82; OBrien and Russell 2005: 115, 119, 124
45 OBrien, Quinney and Russell 2005: 43-45, figs.12, 15-16. The
relevant ditch is numbered F2174.
46 Graham-Campbell 1995: 97-98, pl.3a.
47 OBrien, Quinney and Russell 2005: 82.
48 See, for instance, ibid.: 57, fn.15.
49 See Cobhin, B., Camas bnFathaidh Tre: a note on its
location and significance, http://www.vikingwaterford.com/images_
documents/woodstown_camas.pdf (January 2005).
50 Downham 2004: 77-82.
51 Etchingham 1996: 21-2, map 3.
52 Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 912.
53 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 915.
54 Downham 2004: 82-84.
55 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 918.
56 Ibid.: s.a. 914, Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 912.
57 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 915, Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 913.
58 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 916, Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 914.
59 Annals of the Four Masters: s.a. 912.

60 See note 14.

61 Annals of Ulster: s.a. 902.
62 Ibid.: s.a. 845, 867.
63 Holm 1986: 318-26.
64 This event is also recorded in Annales Xantenses: s.a. 871.
65 Shearman 1872, 13, records that the hoard was associated with
a group of burials from which was also recovered a small bronze pin,
with a ring at the top. This appears to have been a ringed pin.
66 Dolley 1961:60-62.
67 Clarke 1998: 352.
68 Floinn 1998: 143.
69 Sheehan 1998: 171-73.
70 Downham 2004: 88.
71 See Wallace 1981: 138-39, OBrien 1998: 217-19, Clarke
1998: 346-51, Simpson 2000: 20-24.
72 Simpson 2005.
73 Floinn 1998, 163-64.
74 Ibid., 56-59.
75 Simpson 2005, 53-54.
76 Downham 2004: 75.
77 Clarke 1998, 315; Floinn 1998, 137.
78 Sheehan 1998: 167-83.
79 Graham-Campbell 1992, 113-14.
80 Dolley 1966: 49, no.57.
81 Crofton Croker 1848. See, however, Dolleys comments
regarding the size of this hoard (1966: 26-27).
82 Downham 2003, 251.
83 In Ryan et al 1984: 361.
84 Simpson 2005: 23-24.
85 Graham-Campbell 1974.
86 Sheehan 1992: 51-52; 1998: 201, fig. 6.1.
87 OBrien, Quinney and Russell 2005: 45, pl.5.
88 Kyhlberg 1980: 281.
89 Wallace 1987: 212.
90 Hrdh 1996: 33.
91 Sheehan, forthcoming.
92 Details of these finds, and published references for them, are
included in Graham-Campbell 1988.
93 Ibid., 109-10; the two annalistic references are the Annals of
Ulster, s.a. 921 and the Annals of the Four Masters, s.a. 919.
94 Floinn (1995, 103) suggests that this Cenrig may be equated
with the site of Dunree fort in north-west Inishowen.
95 Annals of Ulster, s.a. 921.
96 Floinn 1995, 101-03.

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