A Viking Ship Graffito from Kilclief, County Down, Ireland

Abstract

Deep ploughing near Kilclief, County Down, near the site of an early monastery, disturbed a large quantity of buried stones. One of these displayed a Viking‐type ship with a furled sail. Decorative artwork on the stone suggests an 11th‐century date. The ship displays close similarities to Viking ship graffiti in Viking Dublin and in the Scandinavian homelands. This article describes the decorated stone and suggests that it represents an Irish ship constructed in the Viking style. Documentary sources indicate that ships were being granted by an Irish over‐king to a local king of this area at this time.

Abstract

爱尔兰唐郡Kilclief的维京-雕刻画

在唐郡的Kilclief-近, 一处数量庞大的石柱遗迹受到了深耕的扰动。这处遗迹临-一所早期修道-遗址。在其中一块石柱上刻有一艘卷起风帆的维京式船。石柱表面的装-艺术作品表明其年代在公元11世纪。该-表现出同维京都柏林和斯堪的纳维亚半岛本土所见雕刻画上的维京船极大的相似性。本文着重描述该-饰石柱并提出此船-表的是一艘建造成维京式样的爱尔兰船。文献资料表明在这一时期一-船只曾被-位爱尔兰上王授予-一地区的一位地方国王。

愛爾蘭唐郡Kilclief的維京-雕刻畫

在唐郡的Kilclief-近, 一處數量龐大的石柱遺跡受到了深耕的擾動。這處遺跡臨-一所早期修道-遺址。在其中一塊石柱上刻有一艘卷起風帆的維京式船。石柱表面的裝飾藝-作品表明其年代在公元11世紀。該-表現出同維京都柏林和斯堪的納維亞半島本土所見雕刻畫上的維京船極大的相似性。本文著重描述該-飾石柱並提出此船-表的是壹艘建造成維京式樣的愛爾蘭船。文獻資料表明在這一時期一-船只曾被-位愛爾蘭上王授予-一地區的一位地方國王。

Grafiti de un barco vikingo en kilclief, condado de down, irlanda

Un arado profundo en las cercanías de Kilclief, en el área aledaña a un monasterio temprano, disturbó una gran cantidad de piedras enterradas. Una de ellas contenía la representación de un barco de tipo Vikingo con la vela plegada. El arte decorativo de la piedra sugiere un fechado del siglo XI. La embarcación cuenta con similitudes cercanas a los barcos vikingos de los grafitis en Dublin y en las tierras natales escandinavas. Este artículo describe la piedra decorada y sugiere que representa una embarcación irlandesa construida al estilo Vikingo. Las fuentes documentales sugieren que un rey soberano le estaba concediendo barcos a un rey local de esta área en aquel tiempo.

Traducción: Ricardo Borrero L (with thanks to the Honor Frost Foundation)

Key words:

• Ship graffiti
• Ireland
• Viking
• Medieval
• stepped stem
• square sail

Acknowledgements

Finbar McCormick would like to thank William Mulhall for bringing the carved stone to his attention and to Brendan Masterson for allowing him continual access to the stone in its present position; also Uaininn O'Meadhra, Richard Warner and Niamh Whitfield for their opinions of the carving and Tony Corey and Liam McQuillan (Department for Communities; Historic Environment Division) for photographing the stone, John Meneely (QUB) for scanning the stone, Libby Mulqueeny (QUB) for providing the drawings for this article; and finally, Pat Wallace for his comments on the text. Ole Kastholm would like to thank the picture archivists at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde for their kind assistance.

Notes

1. The years quoted in Hennessy's Annals of Ulster are a year out and have been corrected in this article.