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In Waterford City, an exciting project has begun to build a replica 40ft Viking Longboat. Currently, the keel (spine) of the Longboat has been laid. The Longboat is being built by 18 FÁS participants under the watchful eye of shipwright, Michael Kennedy through a FÁS Community Services, Local Training Initiative. The Project which is a joint initiative of FÁS, Waterford Museum of Treasures, Waterford City Council and the private sector including the Waterford Chamber began in June of this year. On Tuesday, 23rd November the workshop where the boat is being built was opened to stakeholders in the project to view progress to date.
The replica Viking longboat, which would have been used for trading purposes, is due for completion in September 2011. Waterford, has a very strong Viking heritage, originally the Vikings settled in Woodstown near Mount Congreve as early as 812 however in 914, the Vikings moved to a new settlement, Waterford City. Waterford City became a well-defended settlement which survived and prospered. The Vikings called it Vedrarfjord meaning windy harbour which over time became ‘Waterford’, the only city in Ireland that retains its Norse name. This project displays how proud Waterford people are of its Viking history.
The project was fortunate to secure a Viking Longboat drawing from the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark. Plans are well underway to move the build of the Longboat into to the City Centre in April next and open it up to members of the public to view.
Also on show on Tuesday evening were a sailing dory which the participants build in its entirety, along with an 18th century mussel boat they restored and are planning to take to the water in the next couple of weeks, so watch out for them on the River Suir. These boats have offered the participants the learning opportunity to develop and fine tune the traditional skills required for building the replica longboat.
Watch the RTE Six One News report about the project here: http://www.rte.ie/news/av/2010/1213/media-2871135.html
Visit http://on.fb.me/vikinglongboat to view more photos from the launch. (c) Peter Grogan, www.emagine.ie - please ask before use |
