Who were the Vikings?

The Vikings are sometimes called Danes, Norse or Northmen. They were people who lived in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. This region is known as Scandinavia.
In Scandinavia the land was poor and mountainous. It was not very suitable for farming. The climate was cold and wet. So, some Vikings were tempted to leave and travel over the seas to find richer, warmer lands where they could settle down.
The Vikings were good fishermen and sailors. They became very skilled boat-builders. Their ships are known as longships.

The Vikings attack Ireland

In 795 AD Viking raiders attacked the monastery on Lambay Island, which is off the coast of Dublin. The raiders killed the monks and stole their precious chalices and sacred vessels.

The monastery on the island of Iona was also attacked that year. Then the monastery on Sceilig Mhichil, off the coast of Kerry, was attacked several times by Vikings. Soon no monastery was safe.

Round towers

Some monasteries had tall, strong round towers built of stone. They were probably first built as bell towers to call the monks in from their work in the fields. The doorway of a round tower was three or four metres above the ground. It could only be reached by using a ladder. The monks began to use those towers for shelter and protection during Viking raids. When the raiders were seen coming, someone rang the bell. The monks would the take all their treasures into the round tower for safe-keeping. When everyone was safely inside, the ladder was pulled up.

Viking towns

There were no towns in Ireland when the Viking raids began. People lived in ring forts, crannogs and monasteries.
After a while some of the Vikings began to stay for longer periods of time in Ireland. To protect themselves they built strong forts at the mouth of some of our rivers. They built those forts near good harbours for their ships. Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick were originally established by the Vikings. Many of the Vikings who settled became peaceful traders and merchants.