Kattegat Viking Project Overview

Kattegat Viking Project

Overview of Objectives, Site Plan and development phases.

Objectives

The Island’s Norse heritage has always intrigued me and I have a keen interest in Norse/Viking history and mythology. There is little in the way of interactive historical attractions on the Isle of Man, and not very much to celebrate our Norse history.

With this in mind, I wish to re-create a Viking settlement on my land at Sandygate. The land is currently listed as agricultural/horticultural; given the type of attraction I wish to run, I do not know if this actually needs re-zoning.

As this is a private venture, I will be running it as a co-operative/community project. with self-employed craftspeople who will provide the specialist interactive workshops around the site. I will manage the overall site including the permaculture aspect. It is hoped the site will generate enough income to keep the site in good condition and possibly expand the list of features in the future.

My vision is to create a carbon positive ecosystem, intertwined with a permaculture philosophy that nothing is wasted, the composting toilets will feed the willow coppices which provide the wood for the charcoal that cooks the food that creates the compost.

Site Plan

I acquired the field next door to the original site which will provide suitable space for a safe public entrance and carpark, room for a 5KW solar farm to power the entire site, a Willow plantation/coppice to provide building materials and a renewable source of fuel. Additionally in this field I want to donate a portion of it to wildlife incorporating an open water wetland habitat.

The main site is to be split into 2 areas. Public – All areas disabled accessible

•  Shop & Cafe – Selling handmade local items and possibly Tea/Coffee and Snacks.
•  Blacksmith/foundry - Run by a trained blacksmith, this would be interactive, showing how the Vikings created their tools and weapons.
•  Chieftain’s Hall – To be used as a classroom, indoor activities (if weather is poor) and for Functions/ Events.

The public area will then continue into the woods via the north path, passing several clearances in the woods which will be setup to allow other artisans/craftspeople to put on workshops and displays in keeping with the Viking Theme.

Also in the woods there will be a recreation of a Viking/Norse temple/church where the people assembled every year to pay tribute to the Gods.

Moving out of the woods and over the north bridge into ‘FolkVangr’ (Old Norse for ‘Field of the people’, an alternative heaven to those who did not wish to dine with the Gods in Valhalla, was ruled by the Goddess Freyr) where I hope to re-create an authentic Norse Farmstead with a Store barn, and small holding/ animal pens. Also in this field I hope to run Viking activities and displays.

Private The private side will be where all the groundwork for the buildings/activities, volunteers/staff space will be located, along with any auxiliary requirements for the site, these will include:

•  A site workshop – for use to build/maintain the structures and features of the site and to store any machinery out of view of the public.
•  A site Office – to plan and deal with the business side of the venture, also to provide an area for Staff and volunteers to escape the public when required.
•  Solar/Wind Farm – A 48v 5KW solar array will be sited in the south side of the site adjacent to the public carpark behind a low fence along with a 2KW wind turbine, this will feed into the power generation building which will hold a battery bank, invertor and a backup diesel generator, AC power will then be provided to the Workshop, Office and Chieftain’s Hall. It is expected that the other buildings will not require mains power and can be run directly off small solar panels and 12v DC.
•  Compost Farm – Since the toilets will be of the composting type, a central compost enclosure will be created to deal with the waste. Once composted it will be used to fertilize the willow coppice.
•  Charcoal Kilns – To provide renewable fuel for the Blacksmith and for cooking from the Birch and Willow on site.

Access to the whole site for Maintenance/Emergency will be via the private lanes, all public access will be on foot only.

Development Phases

• Phase 1 - Infrastructure

The existing structures will all need to be demolished to facilitate the new buildings. As a result of this, I will need to build the workshop to rehouse all of the equipment into one place before any of this work can be done. The Office is already built and is the base of operations for this venture. Also the Tool Shed will need to be built in the field to house the machinery required.

The Solar Farm was commissioned in June 2020 although the wind turbine has not yet been added, the Generator and Battery shed feeds the Office and Utility sheds at present. Access to the rear field will need to be established via a bridges on the south edge of the back field, and northwest corner of the front field.

• Phase 2

• Phase 2 will see the demolition of all buildings in the public area and the construction of the public vehicle entrance/carpark and footbridge into the site. Then the building of

•  Chieftain’s Hall
•  Blacksmith’s Forge and Foundry
•  Shop & Café
•  Activity areas through the woods
•  Composting toilets

• Phase 3 This will see the other buildings being erected throughout the public site

•  ‘Uppsala’ Viking temple
•  Viking Farmstead (Farmhouse, Barn, animal enclosures and veg garden etc.)

Additional Work Creation of the wetland habitat, willow coppice. This will run parallel to the other phases to facilitate access and the ecosystem required to sustain the site to the highest level of environmental awareness. Sand and Clay removed from excavating the wetland area will be used in the building of the site, so will be a key part of our environmental foundation.