FRIENDS OF THE NEWPORT SHIP
DONATION FOR VIKING TOOLS
The
Friends of the Newport Ship have donated £3,000 for the purchase
of replica Viking ship building tools for the Newport Ship team. Since
their inauguration in August 2002 the Friends have continued in active
support of the Ship project, with the firm intention of getting it back
on display in Newport, an estimated 15 years of work.
The Friends are donating the money in honour of Glenys Silverson, a founder of the Friends of the Ship and a stalwart campaigner, who very sadly died this year.
The Newport Ship, which dates to the fifteenth century, is one of the most significant maritime archaeology projects in the world. No other sea going vessel of this size and date survives as completely as the Newport Ship. She is older than the Mary Rose. The number and volume of the ship timbers means that a new approach to archaeological timber recording was necessary. The Ship Team have spent the last year developing a digitised three dimensional recording system, the first time this system has been used in the UK for an archaeological project.
Based
on this work, Newport City Council has submitted a bid to the Heritage
Lottery Fund to cover the recording stage of the work. A decision is expected
next week.
One of the many diagnostic features being recorded are the tool marks of the ship builders. Axe, adze, auger and scribe marks are beautifully preserved on the timber surfaces. Careful recording of these will allow the Ship team to work out how the ship was built. This knowledge is essential for the final reconstruction and display of the Ship.
The set of replica ship building tools will allow the Ship Team to replicate tool marks on modern timbers, when they are unsure of the type of tool being used. The same technique is used at the Viking Museum in Roskilde in Denmark, in the recording of their archaeological ships.
A
formal donation of a cheque for £3,000 was made at the Ship Conservation
Centre at 10.00 am on Friday 2nd December.
This is the first large donation the Friends have made. The Friends of the Newport Ship Chairman S.C.Rutherford is delighted to make the award, saying, “The donation has been raised by from the Newport public – not only is the Ship of immense historical significance, but it still occupies a very real place in the hearts of Newport people. The Friends of the Newport Ship are very delighted to present the fund in honour of our much loved friend Glenys. The reproduction tools will make a major contribution to the recording process. We hope the Newport Ship’s HLF bid is successful.”
Follow this link for
a report by Octavius Morgan 1878 on the ANCIENT DANISH VESSEL DISCOVERED
AT THE MOUTH OF THE USK.