Thompson Vikings in York

Our genealogy says that some of our ancestors were Vikings. Imagine what it was like to be living on the east coast of England near York and to look out over the sea and see Viking sails and Viking oars approaching the shore.


Hordes of them came, fought with the locals, and settled the area, building cities and a hundred years or so later mixed with the people and changed the English language, helping to make it what it is today.


Archeologists digging in York in preparation for building new structures have discovered Jorvik, the old Viking version of York, with preserved portions of houses, clothing, food, and household goods so they know how they dressed and how they lived. Their houses were of wood and thatch. They have a reconstructed village that you can visit in a Disneyland type ride.


They even know what their markets were like.


They point out that Vikings didn't look like Hagar the Horrible and wear horns. They drank out of them, blew them as horns, or reshaped them or flattened them using water, heat, and hammers to create windows, utensils, and other useful things.


Centuries earlier the Romans founded York and built structures of stone. Roman York housed a large Roman garrison. A few years ago in digging a basement for a tavern, they discovered a bath house for the soldiers with a furnace and hot air ducts for heating the stone floors so they would produce steam when water was poured on them, and soldier graffiti. The Romans also built the original stone wall that surrounds the city today, built stone buildings, and laid stone roads. However, they had abandoned York about 400 years before the Vikings arrived and their structures were in ruins. Viking York was built over these ruins.


After the Normans came in 1066, the walls were rebuilt.




As you walk the streets today, you can imagine life in medieval times.


It's fun to look at the signs.








Some buildings you can enter and step back in time...


and see how they decorated the insides to make them seem more homey.


The outdoor market is nicer than in Viking times.


Of course we had to have some fish and chips.


Men, you might consider updating your shoe collection.


After all, you never know where the latest fashion trends are going...


and you don't want to be arrested by the fashion police!