CRITTERS SUNDAY SEAL IN PEEL AND A VIKING FIND

This is a very friendly seal, who popped up to say hello, is in the town of Peel, situated on the east coast of the island. Yesterday I posted a photo of Peel Castle and it's Viking history. This image was taken on the far right of the castle in the harbour. Peel is a great place to see seals up close as they are often in the harbour competeing with the fisherman for fish.

I have been having a Viking theme and it's history in relation to the Isle of Man. I had planned on posting a lot more but I have a very poorly laptop. I am in the middle of saving and backing up all my photos before it dies completely and have been off the net all day, and may be for sometime.

Here though is a historical Viking find found at Peel Castle.

Pagan Lady’s Necklace

The Pagan Lady’s necklace, excavated in 1984 from a grave at Peel Castle, Peel, German

Dimensions: Largest bead diameter 3.3cm. Manx Museum Accession Number - 1984-16/L 483

Thought to date to mid to late 900 AD, a total of 73 beads were found in the grave of the “Pagan Lady”, mostly clustered around the area of her head, and probably forming one long necklace.

Every bead is different: most are made of plain glass (white, red, yellow, green, orange and blue), coloured patterned glass, and a few others are of amber and jet. Their shapes also vary - round, square, rectangular, oval, flower-shaped, melon-shaped, spiraled and grooved beads are all represented. The largest bead is 3.3cm in diameter, whereas the smallest is only 0.3cm diameter. Both the number of beads found and their variety is striking. Perhaps the beads had been collected by the “Pagan Lady” herself, or had been brought to her as gifts from trading or travels around the Viking world.

The shores of the Baltic and the North Sea provided sources for amber during the Viking period. The only known source for jet was the Whitby area of North Yorkshire. Glass and bead making took place throughout the Viking world, including Great Britain and Ireland.

The necklace was certainly a demonstration of wealth and status.

The beads, and other objects from the grave, are on display at the Manx Museum.

A selection of Viking objects -

• Pagan Lady’s Necklace
• Bronze Balance
• Ballateare Sword
• Gold Rings
• Annular Brooch
• Gold Pin

If you get the chance take a look at yesterday's pic to see Peel Castle, where the necklace was found. We have had many Viking finds and this is considered to be quite an important one.

Got to run and save my photos, thousands of them.

For more camera critters see MISTY DAWN Camera ctrittrers.

KING MAGNUS BARELEGS AND PEEL CASTLE

I was originally only going to feature a short series of Viking Posts for a limted period. As I still have some images to use that tie in with the Viking theme I thought I'd continue for a little while longer. So, until I've either exhausted the research for now or "Ramsey Week" starts, (which I will have to photograph), I will continue in the same vein. Today we are leaving Ramsey to go over to the East Coast and the town of Peel. Well we are going there virtually of course.

KING MAGNUS BARELEGS

King Magnus 2nd, to give him his correct title, is usually refered to as "Magnus Barelegs." He acquired this nickname simply as he had a penchant for wearing kilts, and showing off his unclad legs, hence earning the barelegs part of his name. Besides the Kilt wearing he also managed to get himself expelled from Norway for opening his father's grave, Olaf the 2nd. After conquering many lands he settled in the Isle of Man and Built Peel Castle incorporating the Celtic monastries.

PEEL CASTLE

Peel Castle, is one of the Isle of Man’s principal historic monuments sits upon the important site of St Patrick’s Isle at Peel. The Castle’s Curtain Wall encircles the ruins of many buildings which are a testimony to the site’s religious and secular importance in Manx history. These include St. Patrick’s Church and the Round Tower from the 11th century, the 13th century Cathedral of St. German, and the later apartments of the Lords of Mann. The importance of the Isle as a centre of Manx Christianity was established in the 6th century and this role was to survive the arrival of the Pagan Norse Vikings at the end of the 8th century. In the 11th century it became the ruling seat of the Norse Kingdom of Man and the Isles, first united by Godred Crovan as mentioned in earlier posts and the statue photographed.

It's now a popular tourist attraction of course like most historical monuments and plays a major part as the backdrop the the Viking Festival that takes place yearly. Yes Manxies really do dress as Viking, sail longboats and invade their own island. Islalnd life for you, can send you a little stir crazy, but it's all good fun. Honest.