Save Viking Waterford Hold First in Series of Lectures on Woodstown

waterford | environment | event notice Friday October 01, 2004 13:27 by SVWAG - Save Viking Waterford Action Group save at vikingwaterford dot com 086-0679708

With Dr. Colman Etchingham

‘SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP’ BEGINS SERIES OF LECTURES ON WOODSTOWN

‘SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP’ BEGINS SERIES OF LECTURES ON WOODSTOWN

Dr Colmán Etchingham of NUI Maynooth will give the first lecture in a series of presentations on Viking Woodstown in the Granville Hotel on 7th October at 8 p.m. His paper is entitled “Woodstown and Viking Waterford – the Historical Context” and will outline the written evidence for the arrival and development of Viking power in the Waterford region.

Dr Etchingham is a national authority on Irish medieval history. Best known for his monograph on the church organisation in Ireland 650 to 1000 (1999), he has also published a book on Viking raids on Irish church settlements (1996) and has another book in preparation on the Vikings in Ireland in the ninth and tenth centuries. He has also lectured and published on Irish/Viking studies in Britain, France, Norway and Sweden.

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group was established following a public meeting in the Granville Hotel attended by over 100 people. The group will be holding a series of lectures over the coming months with national and international academics, outlining the importance of the Woodstown Viking Site.

In launching the series, the chair of the Action Group, Dr Catherine Swift, called on the new Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, to distance himself from Martin Cullen’s statement that public comment on Woodstown was ‘unhelpful’. “How can it be unhelpful?” she asks “As Irish tax-payers we’ve been paying since April 2003 to investigate this site and as Irish citizens, we’re eager to find out what knowledge has been gained. Why does the government feel the need to keep it secret? Aren’t we all entitled to learn about our past? I hope we’ll have lots of public comment and debate about Woodstown because it belongs to the people of Waterford and surely they have every right to express their views.”

Dr. Swift continued: “We are holding these lectures to inform local people of the importance of this site and trying to put pressure on the Minister for the Environment to order the full excavation of Woodstown. We will also be taking up petitions and organising a string of public events to ensure that Waterford’s heritage is protected”.

The Save Viking Waterford Action Group has joined with the National Museum, the Heritage Council and the NRA as well as national and international scholars in calling on the Minister to order a full research excavation of the entire Viking site and not a partial or rescue excavation. A senior NRA engineer, Mr Ray Burke, pointed out to Waterford City Council in the summer that until the Minister had clarified what he intends to do, it is unlikely that the various consortia will be prepared to make bids to build the bypass.

Dr. Catherine Swift 086-0679708

1st October 2004
For immediate release






SAVE VIKING WATERFORD ACTION GROUP
086-0679708 save@vikingwaterford.com www.vikingwaterford.com