Archaeological Dig for Viking Boat in Meols

On Saturday 18th February Work is due to start on an archaeological dig to find an ancient Viking boat thought to be buried under the car park of the Railway pub in Meols.

People have long talked about the possibility the boat but this will be the first time a proper investigation has been done to find it.

Around 100 small bore holes will bed drilled across a wide area in front of the pub to gather small samples of wood and material which will be carbon dated to prove it’s age.

Professor Stephen Harding who is a scientist and expert on Wirral’s Viking settlements has said. “The Boat is purported to be a very old wooden clinker (overlapping planks) a design of boat building that originated in Scandinavia and is buried in waterlogged blue clay - a great preservative - and similar to the clay in which the famous Norwegian clinker boats, the Oseberg and Gokstad were deliberately buried.”

“The position and depth suggests it is very old, when Meols was a vibrant seaport and Wirral hosted a large Scandinavian community.”

We will keep an eye out for more information on this as it comes in.

For more information on Wirral’s Viking History the University of Liverpool have created a fantastic mobile app called The Viking Age in the North West. It can be downloaded for free in your app store and is a great resource for finding out more about Wirral’s Viking heritage.