Explore The Viking Age in Wirral with this new app

You can discover the story of viking Wirral by downloading a new free app brought to you by heritage experts at the University of Liverpool.

The Viking Age in the North West is a new resource available on both Android and iOS devices.

It takes the user on an adventure through Wirral’s hidden viking history; exploring sites and place names that remain in use, providing historical facts and revealing the mythology and folklore associated with the peninsula.

Dr Clare Downham, in the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, delivered the content for this interactive app, which was developed and designed by the mobile team within the University’s Computing Services Department.

Dr Downham, who researches Viking Age history and contact across the Irish Sea in the Middle Ages, said: “I take students on a field trip to Wirral to see Viking Age sculpture, and so I thought an app filled with this information could be a handy tool for other visitors.

“You can search through the app using a map, or by looking up place names.

“For example, did you know that modern day Thingwall was the site of the viking parliament? Or that Thor, the God of War, was said to have dropped his hammer, Mjollnir, at Thurstaston?

“The app also covers archaeological finds, such as the Viking age beach market site at Meols; and art and culture, like the sculpture collections in Neston and West Kirby.

“Together, the app helps tell the story of viking settlement and integration in Wirral, and the different cultures that have co-existed there over the centuries.”

The Viking Age in the North West app would not exist were it not for the work of viking Wirral enthusiasts and experts, such as Dr Stephen Harding and Dr Rob Phillpott, and the many organisations working to preserve this historical legacy.

The team hope the app will encourage heritage based tourism on the peninsula, particularly with the International Viking Congress – jointly hosted by the University of Liverpool and Bangor University – on the horizon, in 2021.