When the Danes fought Æthelflæd for the Midlands, they were not only raiders. Many stayed, farmed, married and were buried in British soil, and some of them commissioned stone carvings that still stand in churchyards today. Look closely at these stones and you will find Odin, Thor and the wolf of Ragnarök, carved by people who had grown up with those stories.
Here are seven Viking sites in Britain where you can still see that world for yourself, from Cumbria to Orkney.
1. The Gosforth Cross, Cumbria
Standing about 4.4 metres tall in the churchyard of St Mary’s, Gosforth, this slender sandstone cross from the first half of the tenth century is the tallest Viking-age cross in England, and the most striking.
What to look for: low on one face, a figure with one foot planted in a wolf’s lower jaw, pulling the upper jaw apart. This is Víðarr, Odin’s son, avenging his father at Ragnarök, exactly as Snorri Sturluson describes the scene three centuries later. Nearby you will find a bound figure with a woman holding a bowl above him: Loki, chained beneath a serpent, with his wife Sigyn catching the venom. And on another face, Christ on the cross. Pagan end of the world and Christian salvation on the same stone.
Don’t miss: inside the church, the “fishing stone” shows Thor in a boat with the giant Hymir, fishing for the Midgard Serpent with an ox’s head as bait, and two Viking-age hogback tombstones. For the full story behind the carvings, see this guide to Ragnarök in the Norse sources.
2. Thorwald’s Cross, Kirk Andreas, Isle of Man
The Isle of Man has one of the richest collections of Norse carved crosses anywhere, and Thorwald’s Cross, now kept inside Kirk Andreas church, is the most dramatic.
What to look for: on one face, a bearded figure with a bird on his shoulder and his foot in the jaws of a wolf. This is Odin, his raven beside him, at the moment he is swallowed by Fenrir. On the other face, a figure holding a cross and a book tramples a serpent. A runic inscription along the edge records that Thorwald raised the cross.
Visiting tip: many more carved crosses are displayed in Manx parish churches, notably at Kirk Michael and Kirk Maughold, so plan a day if you can.
3. The Heysham Hogback, Lancashire
Hogbacks are a uniquely Viking-British invention: house-shaped grave covers with a curved roof ridge, often clasped at each end by a muzzled bear. The one now inside St Peter’s Church at Heysham is among the finest.
What to look for: small figures, animals and a tree crowd its sides. Scholars still argue over what they show; some read them as the legend of Sigurd the dragon-slayer, others as scenes from the end of the world. Standing in front of it, you are free to judge for yourself.
Don’t miss: a short walk up the headland takes you to the ruined St Patrick’s Chapel and its rock-cut graves, with views across Morecambe Bay.
4. The Sockburn Stones, County Durham
Tucked into a loop of the River Tees, the ruined church at Sockburn shelters one of the largest groups of Viking-age sculpture in the North East: hogbacks and cross fragments carved with warriors, beasts and interlace.
Visiting tip: the church stands on private land, so check access arrangements before you travel.
5. Repton, Derbyshire
In 873 the Great Army, the force that had already overrun East Anglia and Northumbria, came to Repton and spent the winter there, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Excavations in the 1970s and 80s found a defensive enclosure around St Wystan’s Church and, close by, a warrior’s grave.
What to look for: the grave itself is not on display, but the story is worth knowing before you go. The man had died of terrible wounds; he was buried with his sword and a small silver Thor’s hammer pendant around his neck. Inside the church, the Anglo-Saxon crypt, where Mercian kings were buried, is one of the most atmospheric spaces in England.
6. York (Jórvík)
For almost a century York was Jórvík, a Viking kingdom and one of the busiest trading towns in northern Europe. You can still hear it in the street names: Coppergate, Micklegate and Stonegate end in gate, from the Old Norse gata, “street”.
What to look for: the Jorvik Viking Centre stands on the site of the Coppergate excavations of 1976–81, which uncovered timber houses, workshops and thousands of everyday objects. The Yorkshire Museum holds many more finds from Viking York.
A word of caution: the famous Coppergate Helmet is Anglo-Saxon, made around the eighth century, before the Vikings took the city.
7. Lindisfarne, Northumberland
This is where the Viking Age in Britain traditionally begins. In June 793 raiders attacked the monastery on Holy Island, and the scholar Alcuin wrote in shock from Charlemagne’s court that such a voyage had never been thought possible.
What to look for: in the small museum at Lindisfarne Priory, a ninth-century grave marker shows a line of warriors brandishing swords and axes on one side and the Day of Judgement on the other. It is often linked to the raid, though nobody can be sure exactly what it commemorates.
Visiting tip: Holy Island is cut off by the tide twice a day. Always check the published safe crossing times before you drive over the causeway.
Bonus: Maeshowe, Orkney
If you can get to Orkney, go further north. Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered tomb, some 5,000 years old, but in the twelfth century Norsemen broke into it and left around thirty runic inscriptions on its walls: one of the largest collections of runes in a single place. They include boasts about treasure, names, a carver praising a woman called Ingigerth as the loveliest of all, and a famous carved beast known as the Maeshowe dragon. The Orkneyinga saga even tells of men sheltering here in a snowstorm, two of whom went mad.
Visiting tip: visits are by guided tour only and must be booked in advance through Historic Environment Scotland.
Before You Go
These carvings were made in a time of change, when the old gods and the new faith shared the same stones. Check opening times before you visit, as several of these churches are kept locked outside service hours, and many have guides or leaflets that point out details you would otherwise miss.
Calogero Nicosia writes Mythic Harmonies, an evidence-based guide to Norse mythology and the Viking Age that quotes the Eddas and sagas passage by passage.
