Welcome

This web site evolved in early June 2008 as a result of a submission to the Liverpool Map Project. What started as an attempt to understand local history has almost become an attempt to rewrite some of it!
Using primary sources, I hope to foster debate on our history. As I am new to the subject, I request those of you with more knowledge about this period to challenge any oversights,  and would appreciate help in redirecting my conclusions (which are currently rather too far from those more knowledgeable than I). Please get in touch if you you have anything you would like to add or subtract from the site. I’m at guy@studioqu.com

Our local timeline starts in 902 with the arrival of Irish-Norse (Gall Gaedil) and ends around the epic Battle of Brunanburh, which is regarded by many as the making of England. This work is based on relevant extracts from the Anglo-Saxon chronicles. and the ‘Three Fragments’ (together with more about its pedigree),  The popularly accepted version of events is that the Norse-Irish (known as ‘Gall Gaedil’) arrived with Ingimund (a Norweigan viking whose men had been expelled from Dublin). Here I propose support for a hypothesis that there was an early split between Ingimund and the Wirral Gall Geadil. The conclusion of my little thesis is that Ingimund did not stand on the hillock in Thing-wall and advocate the sacking of Chester, but rather he stood at Ding-le and issued his rant there. What was said at Thingwall was about saving that city, and in so doing the Wirral ‘Gall Gaedil’ people had a critical role in the making of England. There’s also a little background on Norse paganism

The map below depicts the Wirral around the time of the Battle of Brunanburh. Placenames shown are only those recorded in the Domesday survey 150 years later and are colour coded according to ethnic derivation.
Note the high concentration of Norse placenames north of Raby (means ‘settlement on the border’) and the exclusively Anglo-Saxon placenames to the south.
At this time Eastern parts of the Wirral were covered by heathland, as is reflected by the absence of Domesday placenames between Wallasey and Poulton. This matchs the battlesite description of ‘heathland between forest and river’ in Eriks saga.

Micro Cosmic Wirral:

The map shows a strong correlation of local placenames and the territorial divisions of the time. In fact the Wirral was a real microcosm of England, and within its small confines included interests of all the principal forces of the age. In the map all placenames included in the Domesday survey some 150 years later are shown (in “quotes”). In Mercian Wirral to the south of the river Dibbin at Raby (which means ‘town on the Border’) all are old English in origin (shown in brown). To the north of Raby and Brombsbourgh, most are Norse (shown in purple) with the remainder (green- Celtic) either reflect the Irish origins of the refugees or surviving Bryton enclaves. (Some places shown in grey as they has the same translation in Norse or Old English.)

So remarkably was Wirral a microcosm of Britain it even had its own version of Wales. The Anglo-Saxon invaders called the indigenous Britons ‘ Welsh’ meaning foreigners. Wallasey was a tidal island before the shoreline at Leasowe was reinforced and its name means ‘Island of the Britons’. This is why Wallasey is in Celtic green on our map as despite its Anglo-Saxon label - it was so named as a Celtic enclave.

The extraordinary convergence of powers on the small peninsular does not end here, as immediately to its west is Wales; the main refuge of the indigenous Britons who had earlier fled the cruel Saxon advances and who contributed to the Norse Celtic alliance.

In addition the area east of Wattling street (the Roman main road from London to Chester) was for a long time the agreed border between the Norse Dane law region and Anglo-Saxon Mercia. The border was somewhat fluid and Wirral placenames such as Denhall, near to Neston is testify to the Danes interests in the area.

Furthermore the Northern Norse Kingdom of Northumbria which had only been lost to Æthelstan a decade earlier extended across the Mersey to the Scottish kingdoms.

Above: The ‘Hogback Stone’- 11th Cent. Gall Gaedil art at St Brigit’s Church in West Kirby.

Open Culture and the Liverpool Daily Post have launched a unique project to celebrate the impact Liverpool has had on the world. We are creating a map showing where the people of Merseyside think the boundaries of Liverpool really lie, geographically, historically and culturally. The map will highlight Liverpool's local, national and global influences, including the historical context