Anglo-Scandinavian or Viking-Age Hungate

The Viking Great Army arrived in York in 866. In the following centuries, the Anglian and Scandinavian people intermarried and forged the Anglo-Scandinavian culture of Jorvik which is unique to Viking-Age York. The incoming pagan culture soon adopted Christianity but retained strong links with the rest of the Viking world. During this vibrant period York developed socially, economically and topographically into a recognisable predecessor of the medieval and modern city.

Over much of York the Anglo-Scandinavian period saw the laying out of new streets, property divisions and churches. Dwellings and workshops built of wattle and daub, or more substantial timbers, were built beyond the boundaries of the old Roman city centre.

Artist's impression of the riverside at Jorvik

The waterfront is crucial to understanding Hungate's development at this time. Excavations nearby in the 1950s discovered what was described as an 'Anglo-Danish bank'. This embankment has been variously described as a Viking-Age defensive feature or an early Norman flood defence. If it continues into the area of current excavation we may be able to clarify the purpose and date of this embankment, and to determine its impact on the surrounding area. We need to know more about when streets and building plots were laid out and about the economy of these Anglo-Scandinavian people.

We know from excavations at Coppergate (the site underneath Jorvik Viking Centre) that the Anglo-Scandinavian city was a busy place with many different types of manufacturing processes busily producing a range of goods for sale in city markets and in the wider area. There has been evidence from near the Hungate site that tanning and leatherworking may have been taking place close by. Viking-age leatherworkers may have been the predecessors of the much later documented presence of cordwainers hereabout. We hope to learn more about this and other early industries in the area and about the daily life of people on the riverside.

Viking-Age leatherworker, as imagined at Jorvik Viking Centre