The Graveney boat. A pre‐conquest discovery in Kent

The boat found at Kingsteignton, Devon, in 1898

“…The publication of Medieval nautical archaeological research in Britain has made slow progress over the last 30 years, with few reports to move the subject on beyond the standards set in the Graveney boat report for example (Fenwick, 1978b). However, the 1990s saw a sudden upsurge in output, with the appearance of detailed work on vessels from Dublin (McGrail, 1993), Poole (Watkins, 1994) London (Marsden, 1996 and from the River Severn (Nayling, 1998), together with two welcome synthetic works on Medieval shipping (Hutchinson, 1994a;Friel, 1995).…”

Some Principles for the Reconstruction of Ancient Boat Structures

“…These factors must be compensated for using principles that vary according to the nature of the deterioration of the wood when found . For example: fully decomposed wooden elements, as at Sutton Hoo (Bruce-Mitford, 1975) and Snape (Bruce-Mitford, 1952); partially-decomposed wooden elements, as for example Dover (Clark, 2004) andBrigg 2 (McGrail, 1981); dimensionally-stable wooden elements, such as Ferriby 1 (Wright, 1990), Skuldelev (Crumlin-Pedersen andOlsen, 2002) and Graveney (Fenwick, 1978). To this should be added site-formation factors (such as displacement, deformation, or bending) affecting the shape of the individual elements and the general hull form to various degrees.…”

Sails in the North—New Perspectives on an Old Problem

“…The first English evidence for longitudinal mast-steps of Scandinavian type dates from the 10th century, well into the Viking Age, though from a Kentish site (Graveney, see Fenwick, 1978). ['31 So while the hull of the Sutton Hoo ship is built in a Scandinavian manner, it may have accommodated a transverse maststep just as easily as a longitudinal one (or none at all).…”