Irish National Heritage Park installs a reconstructed Viking boat in its visitor centre

One of Wexford’s most beloved tourist attractions has a new addition to its foyer…

The Irish National Heritage Park in Ferrycarrig, Co. Wexford has installed a Viking boat with a rich history in its visitor centre.

The open-air museum, established in 1987, pays tribute to Ireland’s Viking history through its reconstructions of Viking daily life. Wexford in particular has close connections with the Vikings since the town itself was established by Norse settlers in the ninth century. It’s believed the name Wexford even came from the Vikings; Wexford may be an anglicization of the Norse ‘waisfjord’ meaning ‘harbour/inlet of the mud flats’.

The Irish National Heritage Park is home to over a dozen reconstructed sites spanning thousands of years of Irish history. Their latest project is a Viking boat reconstruction that has been restored and added to the visitor centre lobby. The story of how this boat found its way into the foyer of the Irish National Heritage Park is a fascinating one that spans centuries and commemorates Wexford’s Viking heritage.

The Viking boat reconstruction
now available to view in the
foyer of the Irish National
Heritage Park in Ferrycarrig,
Co. Wexford.

In 1880, a team of archaeologists under antiquarian Nicolay Nicolaysen carried out an excavation of a burial mound on a farm called Gokstad in Sandefjord, Norway. What they uncovered was astonishing. A massive 9^th century Viking ship built from oak measuring over 23 metres long and 5 metres wide.

Archaeologists believe it was built around 890 CE, at the height of the Viking Age. Sometime after its construction, a rich and powerful Viking was buried in the ship. Vikings had a rich mythology and believed that death was only the beginning; after a warrior died, they were buried with weapons and riches that they might need in Valhalla, the Viking afterlife. Some Vikings were even buried in their ships, as was the case with the Gokstad ship.

The ship contained three smaller boats, including the Gokstad Faering. The Gokstad Faering is 6.5 metres long and 1.38 metres wide and was likely used to transport people. These oak vessels were skilfully crafted using axes, chisels and planes. Today, the original Gokstad ship and Gokstad Faering are displayed in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway.

In 2006, expert shipwrights from the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum in Denmark visited the Irish National Heritage Park in Ferrycarrig, Co. Wexford. They made a reconstruction of the Gokstad Faering boat by hand on site, using authentic tools and materials. They named her ‘Gro’, a Norse name associated with nature and fertility.

Heritage Park employee Tom Murphy working on ‘Gro’, the Gokstad Faering reconstruction.

‘Gro’ suffered from deterioration in the years that have passed since the Roskilde craftsmen built the boat in 2006. Over the last several months, members of the team at the Irish National Heritage Park have lovingly restored the vessel and prepared her for display. Now, thanks to the Roskilde craftsmen and the hard work of Heritage Park employees Tom Murphy, Paul Reck, John Somers, Anthony Doyle and Dan Hendrick, the authentically crafted Viking boat sits in the foyer of the park’s visitor centre for all to see.