Invasions of York

Tuesday came early this week with a visit to York, organised by the Photographic Society. We invaded the city by train (we like to be friendly to the environment) on Saturday morning.

Some members of the society are railway fanatics and immediately headed for the Railway Museum. The more sane amongst us headed in other directions.

As luck would have it the city had also been invaded for the weekend by latter day Vikings, taking part in a Viking Festival. The real Viking Invasion of York began in 866 when Ivar the Boneless(!) led a fleet up the River Ouse. They stayed until 954 when their then leader Eric Bloodaxe was defeated by the English King Eadred.

As there were no digital cameras around in 866, the original invasion was not well recorded by visual media. The antics of the participants in the Festival therefore gave a great opportunity to record what the events might have looked like.

At first I thought that most of the Viking costumes being worn looked a bit naff and definitely had a home made look to them. But as the day wore on I began to realise that they were probably far more authentic than the pristine costumes we see in Hollywod epics. Real Viking attire would have been home made, and with no automatic washing machines and tumble driers around, would tend to look a little on the 'tired' side.

A battle re-enactment was due to take place in the afternoon, but thinking that I might not be able to get close enough to the action I decided to attend an advertised practice session in the morning. This strategy paid off resulting in quite a few decent shots, the best of which was this one: