Nytt om runer 14 (1999)

Eleventh Annual Runic Workshop, Isle of Man, 1998

The eleventh international workshop for field runologists was held on the Isle of Man, 26-29 March 1998, organised by Michael Barnes (University College London), Judith Jesch and David Parsons (University of Nottingham). Sir David Wilson (Castletown), Professor R.I. Page (University of Cambridge) and staff at the Manx Museum, Douglas, provided the organisers with expert assistance, both practical and scholarly. Participants came from Denmark, England, Holland, Norway and Sweden, and were accommodated at King William's College, Castletown.

On the first evening, David Wilson provided an illustrated background talk on "The Viking Age in the Isle of Man", while Ray Page introduced "The Rune Stones of the Isle of Man" immediately after breakfast the next day. The rest of the day was devoted to an excursion (much of it in thick fog) to the north of the island, beginning with six stones at Andreas and one at Bride. A packed lunch was taken in the shadow of the many sculptured stones (runic or otherwise) of Maughold. We then continued to Ballaugh (one stone) and Michael (nine stones). The day culminated in a splendid dinner at the Lifeboat House, Castletown, courtesy of David and Eva Wilson.

The Saturday excursion began at Balladoole, site of an Iron Age hill fort and Viking ship burial, interpreted for us by David Wilson, with the view towards Malew reminding us that there are Viking-style carved stones in the south of the island, even if none with runes. The rest of the morning was spent at the Manx Museum in Douglas, where we saw the four rune stones kept there and an exhibition of early records of the inscriptions. After testing the local hostelries, we devoted the afternoon to the runic inscriptions of mid-Man. At Onchan, we were able to remove the rune stone from its fixing and study its little-known Face B. The excursion concluded with visits to Braddan (four rune stones), and Marown/Rhyne and St John's (one stone each). The workshop culminated in a symposium dinner at King William's College, where we were all relieved to note that the standard of the food was superior to that of the accommodation. Most participants left very early the following morning, with a strong desire to return to this delightful island, not least to inspect the two rune stones we were unable to include in the excursions (Jurby and Balleigh).

The workshop provided runologists with an opportunity to study runic inscriptions (both Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon) in the context of other writing systems including ogham and roman, to ponder the multilingual and multicultural aspects of Viking Age Man, and to compare rune-inscribed stones with other sculptured monuments. The exhibition of documents in the Museum at Douglas emphasised the importance of using early antiquarian records of the inscriptions.

The Manx symposium was also most participants' last meeting with Christine Fell, a long-time stalwart of these workshops. She died on 2 July 1998 and will be sorely missed by all runologists.

Judith Jesch
Centre for the Study of the Viking Age
University of Nottingham

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