The battle of Clontarf

degrassinoel

I live basically on top of where it's taking place in Saint Annes Park.

Took a look there today, the crew did a few mock skirmishes and shield walls, battle lines etc.. Looks like great fun, felt authentic. The whole show is free too btw.
Afaik it's going ahead tomorrow and Sunday with the recreation itself (with 400+ people beating the tar out of each other) starting around 1pm and again at 4pm. I might be wrong about the times, but definitely give a look. I took some photos too, so ye can have a gander.
It's a free event too, i know i've said it twice, but it's really really worth seeing

http://oi61.tinypic.com/15hzvrl.jpg
http://oi61.tinypic.com/2dbrr42.jpg
http://oi61.tinypic.com/2lctvf6.jpg
http://oi62.tinypic.com/20kov93.jpg

Pictures are too big to embed, sorry

whiskeyman

Just an FYI.
Traffic is likely to be MENTAL around clontarf tomorrow and Sunday.
Mount Prospect Ave will be closed from Wongs to past the park.
The coast road traffic is likely to be busy anyway with people heading to Howth on a sunny day.
Come early and park a bit away if possible.
Take the 130 from Abbey St where possible.
The Dart to Raheny is better to get than Clontarf, but its still be a good 20min walk to the park.
Enjoy the fun!

neris

whiskeyman wrote: »

Just an FYI.
Traffic is likely to be MENTAL around clontarf tomorrow and Sunday.
Mount Prospect Ave will be closed from Wongs to past the park.
The coast road traffic is likely to be busy anyway with people heading to Howth on a sunny day.
Come early and park a bit away if possible.
Take the 130 from Abbey St where possible.
The Dart to Raheny is better to get than Clontarf, but its still be a good 20min walk to the park.
Enjoy the fun!

dart to killester aswel isnt to far a walk to the park. i think there may be works on the dart over the weekend. apparently joe duffy was going mad at the guy from cie yesterday on liveline about it yesterday (joe of course looking at it out of self interest, him living close to the park and all that)

vickers209

Theres no darts running on northside on sunday

Service Arrangements - Sunday 20th April

Due to major engineering works between Connolly and Malahide there will be no train service between Connolly/Howth/Malahide on Sunday 20th April.

DART - The following DART stations will be closed - Portmarnock, Clongriffin, Howth, Sutton, Bayside, Howth Jct. & Donaghmede, Kilbarrack, Raheny, Harmonstown, Killester and Clontarf Road.

Dublin Bus will accept all valid rail tickets on scheduled services between closed DART stations and city centre. Additional bus services will operate, particularly on Route 130 to facilitate those travelling to the Battle of Clontarf Festival at St Anne's Park, Raheny.
DART services will operate to/from Greystones - Connolly stations only.

http://www.irishrail.ie/easterweekend

uck51js9zml2yt

were can I park tomorrow?
coming with the family so public transport isnt an option for us.

Birneybau

vickers209 wrote: »

Theres no darts running on northside on sunday



http://www.irishrail.ie/easterweekend

That is disgusting, on a fcuking bank holiday Sunday?

ProudDUB

Yep. It is fairly common for the Darts not to run on bank holiday weekends. Irish Rail say that it is the best time for them to do necessary maintenance work on the lines. They would have to shut down the lines during peak travel times if they didn't. Doing it on bank holidays causes less disturbance to less people, as it affects day trippers mainly & not commuters. I get the logic of it, but suffice to say that the traders and businesses of Howth, Malahide etc etc are less than impressed when it happens.

Anyhoo, people can park at Bull Island. Shuttle buses are being ran from there.

From the sounds of these two articles, it look like there will be parking laid on at the site.

http://www.herald.ie/news/no-darts-as-40000-flock-to-see-staging-of-1014-battle-30195187.html

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/more-than-40000-spectators-to-attend-battle-of-clontarf-millennial-reenactment-30195609.html

the_syco

Big thanks for the heads up. Hope to pop out to it on Saturday.

the_syco

Schedule; http://www.clontarf.ie/news/battle-of-clontarf-viking-festival-2014-easter-weekend

Yellow BricksNZ

Hello!)) Could some kind soul tell me where you could buy alcohol close to saint annes park? Not that I drink, just curious)))

degrassinoel

Drinking in the park or indeed in public is illegal and can result in a fine and will result in confiscation of alcohol - just so you're aware the park is being heavily patrolled by the Gardai and CCTV is in operation at the event too.

degrassinoel

got a quickie video done

there's so much more to see than just that too, great fun!

arybvtcw0eolkf

Yellow BricksNZ wrote: »

Hello!)) Could some kind soul tell me where you could buy alcohol close to saint annes park? Not that I drink, just curious)))

Not getting on a high horse but it was refreshing to see a lack of alcohol at an Irish event.

No scumbags or scroats, it was a really pleasant change from the 'norm here.

If anyone is going for the battle tomorrow (16:00~17:00) arrive at least one hour before hand as the place was filling really fast close to 4pm, and you WILL NOT get to see the battle if you arrive at four.

Good event, well worth the visit and I'll be returning tomorrow.

Meauldsegosha

Abdiel Jolly Waterfall wrote: »

Not getting on a high horse but it was refreshing to see a lack of alcohol at an Irish event.

No scumbags or scroats, it was a really pleasant change from the 'norm here.

If anyone is going for the battle tomorrow (16:00~17:00) arrive at least one hour before hand as the place was filling really fast close to 4pm, and you WILL NOT get to see the battle if you arrive at four.

Good event, well worth the visit and I'll be returning tomorrow.

Couldn't agree more. Was down there earlier and there was a great atmostphere. The sunshine certainly makes people more pleasant. . The re-enactment, game displays and craft stalls were great and interesting.

Pang

Had a great time at the festival today. It was possibly the best Irish run festival I have ever been at. It was really well organised and there was so much to see and do.

The stalls were plentiful and very interesting. I really enjoyed the armoury tent as there was so much to see. I picked up a few Viking coins too that a man was making at this tent as they were pretty cool.

If anyone is going tomorrow, make sure you go visit Trevor from Dublin Falconry. He has loads of his birds there and two of his owls. They are fantastic creatures. I have done the falconry experience out in Courtlough and it is wonderful.

Get a place early for the reenactments. We went at half twelve today for the 1pm show and found it difficult to get a good viewing point. So get some food and settle down early for it!

ProudDUB

Thanks for updates folks. I was wondering how it all went.

Was there any decent grub on offer, or was it just chipper vans and icecream?

Around lunch time today, I drove down to the area, to see if I should take the in car tomorrow. I drove in from Sutton on the coast road. Cars were parked bumper to bumper up on the curb, a good mile before Watermill Rd. The Causeway at Bull Island looked similarly full. That is where the shuttle bus runs from to the Mt Prospect Ave gate, but I wouldn't chance my arm getting parking there tomorrow.

Watermill Rd itself was totally jammed with parked cars. When I got to the top of Watermill Rd, there were loads of signs directing people to official car parks. Didn't head anywhere near them, as I imagine they were jammers the closer you got to the park. I'll deffo be taking the 31 bus in tomorrow. With the Dart's not running, I'd say parking will be even harder to find.

Pang

There was a great selection of food stalls. Bay restaurant were there from Clontarf. Also there were Pieminister, a taste of Portugal stall, loads of bbq and burger stalls, two Indians, noodle stall, at least three crepe stalls and a few different bakery stands.

I'm sure there were more but my memory is a little hazy! All the food stalls are down between the music stage and the amusements.

ProudDUB

Cheers. Thanks for that. I'll bring my appetite then so.

Btw, if anyone is mega interested in the BB historical stuff, TVG did a great 2 part documentary on him. I watched the last part tonight. I'd say it will be repeated over the next few days. 'Twas subtitled too, for those of us that are linguistically challenged in the cupla focail department.

Cianos

Damn, really would have loved to have gone to this but don't think it'd be doable, sounds like too long a day for the little one.

Does anyone know if anything similar will be planned again, hopefully more south side?

While I'm here, I found this demo very interesting regarding the purpose of shields - one of those things that changes your perspective. Not from the festival but maybe a few reading would be interested nonetheless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkhpqAGdZPc

ProudDUB

Cianos wrote: »

Damn, really would have loved to have gone to this but don't think it'd be doable, sounds like too long a day for the little one.

Does anyone know if anything similar will be planned again, hopefully more south side?

I doubt it. Where else would you celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, but in Clontarf itself? Clontarf does have a smallish festival every year, with bouncy castles and the like. It's fairly small and not really worth traveling all the way from the south side for. They are only going all out with all the hoopla, as it is the 1000th anniversary of the battle.

Cianos

ProudDUB wrote: »

I doubt it. Where else would you celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf, but in Clontarf itself? Clontarf does have a smallish festival every year, with bouncy castles and the like. It's fairly small and not really worth traveling all the way from the south side for. They are only going all out with all the hoopla, as it is the 1000th anniversary of the battle.

Ah yeah I'm aware this particular event is a once off but I was just wondering if there were other similar happenings in other parts of the city. Would be nice if there was more outdoor activities based around the history of Dublin.

ProudDUB

Gotcha. I read somewhere that they brought in over 400 genuine Viking role players for the battle reenactment. A fair few of them flew in from Scandanavia. I'll keep my ears open. If I hear anything about any where else they do that kind of thing, I'll post it here.

tampopo

Yes, there were several scandanivian accents around about.

Good food selection,but of course, as per usual the queues were ginormous. bring food. Or queue.

The falcons were good.

Arrive early. It was mental. I'm tall and found it hard to see, though, having said that, it seemed to me that on the north side of the battle area it was raised so you could get a better view of the action. fwiw.

I think somehow, life for vegetarians must've been pretty grim a thousand years ago!!!

mockingjay

Went in today as well, parking was difficult but parked on the Howth Road and walked back - delighted I did - fantastic afternoon, well worth a visit and a great lively atmosphere.

Pawwed Rig

Sounds good so will pop along there tomorrow.

whiskeyman

ProudDUB wrote: »

Clontarf does have a smallish festival every year, with bouncy castles and the like. It's fairly small and not really worth traveling all the way from the south side for.

I presume you're referring to the annual Rose Festival.
Over the past year or so, they've really upped the game here.
Perhaps it was all to get a feel for the Scale of the Viking festival, but I'd highly recommend the Rose Festival if the weather is good.
Lots of food stalls, live music, fairground rides and a lovely huge park in the summer sun is fantastic!
It's usually on over a weekend in July.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Regards parking.. Drive to the gates on Windmill Road and there is LOADS of parking inside the park, don't let the cars parked outside fool you into thinking there's not.

I ride a motorbike and the clowns at the gate were telling bikers to park outside because there was no room for motorbikes on the grounds (doesn't make any sense to me either).

Oh, sun screen!.. My scalp is burnt!.

Tabnabs

Had a terrific time with the kids there yesterday. It was absolutely jammers from 2pm onwards, but not uncomfortably so. Heck of a walk out of the park to the DART, there seemed to be plenty of parking inside the park itself though with fields laid out ready for cars?

The biggest Viking re-enactment I've seen to date. Spoke with one Danish guy who knew nothing of the history he was doing, he was just there to "play viking" :pac: English, Irish, Danes, Germans, but no Norwegians ironically A super day out, just a shame I didn't arrive earlier.

ProudDUB

Had a really great time today. Ate some really great food, coz what says Battle of Clontarf more than a zebra curry burger and samosas from Kenya? It is a well known historical fact that BB stuffed his gob with same on the morning of the battle. Shure bates the aul shpuds anyway

Unfortunately it got really cold around 3ish, so we scarpered, but we had great time for the couple of hours we were there. The falconry exhibit was fab. The man doing it was really, really great. Deffo worth a trip up to Dublin Falconry up in Balbriggan to see 'em again.

Didn't get to see much of the reenactment, but I've seen lots of that kinda stuff before, so I didn't mind. Lots of other people did want to see it, but unless you were right at the front, you didn't see much. It is a pity they didn't try and put in some sort of temporary tiered steps, so that people could see better, especially the kids. A lot of people just drifted away as they couldn't see.

It's a shame that so many people didn't get to see all the hard work that so many people put in to bring it all together. I know that peeps here advised getting there mega early to nab a spot. But that isn't really an option if you have kids in tow. Other than that, it seemed to be a very well organized and event & well run event, so kudos all around.



If any of ye need yet another festival fix, the Dublin Bay Prawn Festival is taking place out in Howth next weekend. It used to be the Howth Prawn Festival, but I guess it is being rebranded. It is on Fri/Sat/Sun with a fireworks display on the Sat. I've never been to it, so am interested in checking it out. Luuuuuuurves me some prawns, so I do !

http://dublinbayprawnfestival.ie/

whiskeyman wrote: »

I presume you're referring to the annual Rose Festival.
Over the past year or so, they've really upped the game here.
Perhaps it was all to get a feel for the Scale of the Viking festival, but I'd highly recommend the Rose Festival if the weather is good.
Lots of food stalls, live music, fairground rides and a lovely huge park in the summer sun is fantastic!
It's usually on over a weekend in July.

Nope, I know about the Rose festival. I was referring to a mini festival I have seen taking place at the seafront in Clontarf, over the past couple of years. I don't remember when it was on, early summer I think. It was no where near on the scale of todays event. Just a few bouncy castles, face painting...that sort of thing. It's a pity that St Annes is not used for more events like this, or the Rose Festival. It really is a perfect setting for them, being as big as it is, and being as close to all the public transport links that it is.

skimpydoo

Yesterday I noticed that during the falconry display a crow chased the falcon away.

Been dying to go to the prawn festival, shall be there next weekend! Thanks for the reminder. Think my highlight of the event yesterday was North Strand Contra Band followed by Prairie Dogs, we spent most of the day at the stage. Though seeing and patting the fjord horse was a treat, I remarked I'd never seen one in real life before, despite how much I've worked with horses, to be informed there's only six in the country! So delighted with that.

Pigeon Reaper

It was an excellent festival. Well done to all involved.

Dizzyblonde

For anyone who's interested, there's a Viking festival on this weekend in Swords in Co. Dublin, commemorating the wake and handover of Brian Boru's body. There will be a Viking fire parade through Swords and a fireworks display on Friday evening, and a Viking village at the castle all day Saturday and Sunday with falconry demonstrations and battle re-enactments.
There's a downloadable schedule here: http://www.fingal.ie/media/Swords%201014%20Schedule%20of%20Events.pdf

Ole Rodrigo

With all due respect - and its great that there are alcohol free events that people can enjoy without being intimidated - but doesn't the reenactment of what was a brutal and violent event, with thousands of deaths and injuries, make anyone a bit uneasy ?

Does Game of Thrones have something to answer for ?? :pac:

Pawwed Rig

ror_74 wrote: »

With all due respect - and its great that there are alcohol free events that people can enjoy without being intimidated - but doesn't the reenactment of what was a brutal and violent event, with thousands of deaths and injuries, make anyone a bit uneasy ?

No not really. It is part of the history of Dublin. Nations are formed in such ways unfortunately. Better to give people a little perspective than ignore all the parts of history we are not comfortable with.

arybvtcw0eolkf

ror_74 wrote: »

With all due respect - and its great that there are alcohol free events that people can enjoy without being intimidated - but doesn't the reenactment of what was a brutal and violent event, with thousands of deaths and injuries, make anyone a bit uneasy ?

Does Game of Thrones have something to answer for ?? :pac:

No, its not a 'free for all'.. Most people will be interested in the weapons and tactics used at the time.. A staged event can never come close to replicating the real thing in terms of violence and intent to harm/kill.

ProudDUB

ror_74 wrote: »

With all due respect - and its great that there are alcohol free events that people can enjoy without being intimidated - but doesn't the reenactment of what was a brutal and violent event, with thousands of deaths and injuries, make anyone a bit uneasy ?

Does Game of Thrones have something to answer for ?? :pac:

What a load of nonsense.

Did you even go to the event?

There were over 500 "professional" Vikings there, living in an authentically re created Viking village, giving lessons & demonstrations on all kinds of aspects of life back then from cooking, clothes making, fire making and tending, boat craft, archery, horse craft, jewelry and bead making to sword making, falconry, tent building, baking, saddle making, beer making ( ) crop gathering, money making. You name it, they covered it. It was fascinating. The battle reenactment was just one small part of what they did.

Any kid in attendance would have learned far more about life in the Vikings world in 30 minutes, than they could in years of reading books. The battle was all done in a very tongue in cheek way and, the violence was very toned down. The battle reenactment was done more as a history lesson, than it was a celebration of blood and gore. They explained who was fighting who & why, where they all came from, how the landscape would have looked back then, how the winning battle tactics won the day & what the long term implications were for the winners and losers.

A lot of people put a lot of hard work and effort went into making the event that massive success that it was. To dismiss them as a bunch of Game of Thrones wannabes does them all a tremendous disservice.

Tabnabs

Did anyone else see the tinfoil hat lady on Saturday afternoon? In her 50s (ish) with a Chinese takeaway try on her head with a piece of elastic around her chin. Wearing normal clothes too.

Very, very odd.

Big Game

Went in with the missus on Saturday, as other have said, it was absolutely brilliant, ProudDub's post is bang on the money.

If you got to the battle reenactment about 15 minutes before it was due to start or hung on after the falconry display you'd have been fine. As an aside, did anyone else think that the fact that the guy doing the voice over during the battles sounded exactly like Dylan Moran gave it an even more surreal twist???

Anyway, hats off to the council, would love to see more events like that, lived in Germany years back and have been back a good few times and there's a lot of public events put on that are always very well supported and lead to a great sense of civic pride, great to see something similar on my own doorstep.

the_syco

Tabnabs wrote: »

Did anyone else see the tinfoil hat lady on Saturday afternoon? In her 50s (ish) with a Chinese takeaway try on her head with a piece of elastic around her chin. Wearing normal clothes too.

Very, very odd.

Looks like she was protecting the "bald spot", without getting "hat hair"?