You Could Help Build the First Viking Settlement in 1000 Years

I never knew how pleasing it would be to use a wooden hammer to hit an axe into a piece of wood until I met Chris Hall. Nor did I know how much more efficient and safer this process was in the actual chopping of wood. Jack Nicholson would have got through that door a whole lot faster in The Shining if he’d adopted Viking techniques.

I met Chris up at the Manx Viking Project site. Not in passing, we had an arranged interview.

‘I want this place to look, smell, feel like you’ve stepped back 1000 years.’

He tells me as we meander peacefully through the site.

‘I want to reduce the road noise with big fortifications of timber so when you walk over the bridge, you truly feel like you’ve left the current planet behind. You can immerse yourself in a bygone era, leave all your worries in the car park and just enjoy it. That’s what it’s going to be here for. Simply for people to enjoy.’

The Manx Viking Project site is in Sandygate, Jurby. I’d left myself plenty of time to get there as my getting lost on the way to places outside Douglas is inevitable. Ever since I got lost in an ASDA in Blackburn when I was 5, my capability with directions has not improved. So, I was pleasantly surprised when I made it there in one go.

I went on a sunny day and the views were nothing short of glorious. The tranquillity of it, soul soothing. The only thing perforating the peace were the birds chirping and a pheasant rustling in the bushes. One day Chris hopes those sounds will be accompanied by the chatter of people in a Viking longhouse. Chris has had a love of Vikings from an early age, but the idea came from a more profound place.

‘The idea came from many nights sat around a campfire in the countryside wondering what was going on with humanity and where we were heading. We’re that busy now to move forward and pave over everything and build everything in concrete, we’ve forgotten about our roots and how humans used to work with the planet. This is a way of getting back to that. Plus, the Viking backdrop, is in our heritage and it sparks passion in people. The second you mention the word Viking, people’s ears prick up. This is a canvas for other people to make their own stories on.’

The main attraction of the site is going to house a Viking longhouse but there’ll be plenty more accompanying it.

‘There’ll be a blacksmith forge in the middle with the Viking trading post, so anything that’s made on the site can be put in there for sale. In the corner, there’ll be a Viking kitchen, that’ll tie in with our one-acre permaculture site, which will hopefully produce all the vegetables and food we need for the Viking kitchen. Past the Long House, there’ll be a crafting workshop in the corner that will teach ancient jewellery making. There’ll be bead kilns in there and kids can take home the jewellery afterwards. Then, as you walk through the Alfr Woods (Norse for the Elf Woods), there’ll be a Viking stave church, and Viking God statues lining the woods. And in the backfield, there’ll be Folk Vanguard – the alternate Norse heaven – where there’ll be a large fire pit and Viking farmstead, that’s where most of the activities will take place.’

There’s not an end date on the site yet but Chris would rather do the project right then rushed.

‘It’s a very organic project. I purchased the land, I’ve rented it out in its entirety to the to the project indefinitely, and it will grow as fast or as slow as the Isle of Man lets us.’

The project is admirable and one with pure intentions to be for the Manx public and used by them with no charge. Like a library but with fewer books and more homemade shields and swords. But, though Chris doesn’t want to create something in order to get financial gain in return, funding is needed to help make his vision become a reality.

‘Funding is the key thing that’s holding us back at the moment. So, the more money we can get into the charity, the faster we can springboard forward and get things built. We finally became a charity last year. (The Manx Viking Project charity) so, if we can get sponsors and people to donate that’d be a big help. We don’t mind promoting sponsors as long as it’s in keeping with the Viking gear or signage, etc, but we don’t want anything gaudy on the site. The best way of putting it is sometimes it’s good to support something because it’s the right thing to do, not because there’s particularly anything in it for you.’  

The Manx Viking Project team is holding an open day on Saturday (19 April) for locals to see if it’s something they’d be interested in helping out with or sponsoring.

‘Most of the work here has been done by myself and a few friends here and there but it’s very difficult doing a project of this magnitude yourself. There is the planning, surveying, levels, groundwork, logistics. There are so many facets to the project. And then there’s making videos; we want to make sure this is documented, because there hasn’t been a Viking settlement built on the planet that’s been fully documented from start to finish. So this is our opportunity, the Isle of man’s opportunity, to really put themselves on the Viking map as the people who built the first fully documented Viking settlement in 1000 years.’

Chris and the team will be at the site from 10am-2pm for a meet and great. It’s an opportunity for people to have a look at the project, find out more information, and seeing if they’ve got any aspects they’d like to help out with.

‘It’ll be great to hear what people’s experience is and what their skills are, get a read on what people can do and how much time they’ve got to do it. So, we can start putting forward a schedule of when we can get people together to do jobs on the site.’

Walking around the site, listening to Chris describe where each part of the Viking settlement will go, made it incredibly easy to visualise and, no doubt, it will be magical when finished. The idea of the settlement is made all the more poignant by Chris’ backstory.

‘I used to be a bit of a t***’ he tells me candidly. ‘I used to work in IT and had different priorities.’

Then a medical condition altered Chris’ perspective on life. As we strolled around the site, he told me about how much he hopes this project can be built by and for the community in a way that brings people together in an appreciation of the simpler pleasures in life that benefit the soul as much as the mind.

‘It’s always been a priority for me that this project is built by the people, for the people. So, it’s not just a one-man operation. It’s not just a few people taking credit for the whole thing. I want everybody to literally put their name on the project. So, when you come and volunteer, it will be logged that you’ve helped. And then when we finally build the longhouse, everybody who’s been involved will be invited to come and scratch their name into the into the tenders of it to give themselves a lasting legacy of their part in the project.’

The passion Chris spoke with for his project and the hope that it can be something bigger than himself was palpable.

‘I know that when that longhouse is built and the fire is lit for the first time, and all the people who’ve been involved have sat around that fire in that longhouse, everybody will realize why they were part of it.’

If you’d like to find out more about the Manx Viking Project you’ve got a few options. You can head on down to the site itself on Saturday (19 April) in Sandygate, Jurby between 10am-2pm, check out the Facebook page, or email admin@manxvikingproject.com.