To what extent has the Portable Antiquities Scheme (P.A.S.) in Leicestershire added to or changed our understanding of settlement in north-east Leicestershire during the Viking period

Principal investigator: Liam
Level: Undergraduate

Leicestershire was part of the Danelaw. Scandinavian derived place names abound in the eastern side of the county suggesting Viking occupation, or some form of ownership, of a number of villages and hamlets. It is understood that 10th century inhabitants of the Wreake Valley in north- east Leicestershire were speaking a hybrid Scandinavian- English dialect (Stafford 1985, 120). This overall body of evidence seems to point to a substantial inward migration and considerable settlement.

On the other hand the archaeological evidence for such a settlement was scant . In 1996, Prior to the setting up of the P.A.S. the entire artefactual evidence for the Viking presence in the county amounted to a tantalising but frustratingly minuscule body of evidence.

I can find no reference to any archaeological features in the county unequivocally identified with Vikings. There are no known Viking burials in Leicestershire. If there was a substantial settlement, where are the dead settlers buried?

This raises questions about the impact of the Viking Invasion on this area:

• To what extent did this influx of Scandinavian people physically replace the Anglo-Saxon farmers and land owners?
• Was this simply a change of political control with the indigenous people continuing to farm their land and having new landlords? • How much, if any, acculturation took place and how long were its effects sustained?
• How is any such acculturation evidenced in artefacts, language, landscape, boundaries, Scandinavian derived place names abound in the eastern side of the county suggesting Viking occupation of, or some form of ownership of, a number of villages and hamlets. • What was the effect on the local Christian church of an ostensibly pagan influx?

Audit data

• Created: 14 years ago
• Created by: D P