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About 1200 years ago, the Vikings marauded and traded along the western coast of the British
Isles. They regularly reached as far as, what is now
known as Pembrokeshire on the west coast of Wales. The
local men when asked jumped at the opportunity of
employment as Viking mercenaries.
The Vikings plus local
Welsh mercenaries returned to Northern Islands
regularly, however the Welsh remained on the British
island, now called Shetland; whilst the Vikings returned
home before the next voyage.
The Welshmen found the local Shetland women initially
unfriendly as they claimed that they were not clean
enough. To address this problem they decided to have a
ritualistic cleansing festival. This eventually became
known as HAAGDYVE. A
site was chosen to enable participants to bathe in both
the North Sea and Atlantic. This is the place now known
as
Mavis Grind. The local women succumbed to the
handsome and cleaner Welshmen.
Recent DNA evidence has linked West Walian men with the
Shetland gene pool and it has been suggested that
Shetlanders are more closely related to the Welsh than
anyone else.
Links
Scientists are searching for 2,500 British male
volunteers willing to take part in a groundbreaking
study of the nation's Viking heritage. BBC
scientists who have discovered the genetic fingerprint
of Viking invaders in the blood of Orkney and Shetland
islanders
999 AD: Bishop Moregenau killed by Vikings & 1080 Bishop
Abraham killed by Vikings
Fishguard and neighbouring Goodwick are said to have
derived their names from the Vikings, who were frequent
visitors to this part of the coast.
The cathedral was built in a valley to hide it from
marauding Vikings .. (BBC)
St David's, which was attacked 11 times between 967 and
1091 ...
Islands named by Vikings off the Pembrokeshire coast
include Grassholm, Skomer, Skokholm and Ramsey.
The Dark Ages brought the Vikings whose presence here is
evident in place names such as Goodwick, near Fishguard
..
.. the Norwegian Vikings who annexed all the valuable
land easily reached from river and coast and drove the
Welsh (North-European term for foreigners) into the hill
country.
Fishguard in North Pembrokeshire, was also known as
Fissigart, Fisgard, Fysgard
The Smalls Viking Wreck Site, Pembrokeshire
St Davids is one of the great historic shrines of
Christendom. Nowhere in Britain is there a more ancient
cathedral settlement, for it reaches back fourteen
centuries and survived the plunder of the Norsmen in the
'Dark Ages'
Copyright: The Haagdyve Foundation
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