A group of visiting Danes joined with Irish friends to plant a new copse of oak trees in the ruins of Glendalough monastery, Co Wicklow, yesterday. The new trees symbolically replace those used by their Viking predecessors to build the Skuldelev 2 in 1042.
The captain and crew of the reconstructed longship, Sea Stallion of Glendalough, joined Minister for the Environment John Gormley, Minister of State for Finance Noel Ahern, Danish minister for culture Brian Mikkelsen and a host of other dignitaries and visitors to plant a copse of 21 Sessile oaks beside the round tower.
Manager of the Glendalough Visitor Centre George McClafferty took the visitors on a tour of the monastery and even dispelled a few myths about how the Vikings were received there before. "We were all taught at school that the doors of the round tower were high off the ground so that monks could escape from the Vikings, but in fact it was a safe place to store valuable things," he said.
The Danish minister was also eager to restore the good name of the Vikings. "They were foremost traders rather than raiders," said Mr Mikkelsen, "but of course there were some bad guys too!"
Rain held off for the symbolic ceremony and the crowd cheered for each new tree. "I hope you will be part of a new Viking ship of Glendalough," said Harry Carstensen, the Sea Stallion's oldest crew member, to the quivering sapling he had planted.
Mr Gormley said that the voyage of the Sea Stallion had strengthened relations between Ireland and Denmark. "It's great to bring two cultures here together today in this beautiful location," he said.
Director of the Roskilde Viking Museum Tinna Damgård-Sørensen said archaeologists had identified from tree rings that the Skuldelev2 had been made from wood from the Dublin area, and Glendalough had been chosen as its symbolic origin because of the recorded Viking presence at the site. Carsten Hvid, captain of the Sea Stallion, said that his crew were pleased to visit the namesake of the ship which had brought them 1,000 nautical miles from Roskilde. "It's such a powerful place," he said.