The Vikings!

This is the Great Barm at Buckland Abbey, West Devon, which has been illuminated and decorated for Christmas. The theme this year is the Vikings. In the 10th century the Vikings carried out raids in South West England making use of the rivers and then striking inland to plunder towns and monasteries. The raids would have been carried out in the Summer months but the importance of the Winter Solstice is recalled, when blazing fires would have provided warmth in the longhouses and stories would.been told around the blazing hearth.