A Viking Ship Graffito from Kilclief, County Down, Ireland

Abstract

Deep ploughing near Kilclief, County Down near the site of an early monastery disturbed a large quantity of buried stones. One of these displayed a Viking-type ship with a furled sail.Decorative artwork on the stone suggests an 11th-century date. The ship displays close similarities to Viking ship graffiti in Viking Dublin and in the Scandinavian homelands. This article describes the decorated stone and suggests that it represents an Irish ship constructed in the Viking style. Documentary sources indicate that ships were being granted by an Irish over-king to a local king of this area at this time.

A Romano-British Graffito of a Ship from Gillingham, Kent, UK

“…Graffiti depicting ships and boats are well‐known from a variety of cultural contexts (for instance Dhoop et al ., ; Zamarkoupi, : 62; McCormick and Kastholm, ). From Roman Britain graffiti depicting marine subjects are surprisingly rare, with the pharos scratched on a tile probably the best‐known example (Brodribb, ).…”