Celts And Vikings

Two races - the Celts and the Vikings - have been the defining elements in the forging of the Manx identity. The well-preserved historical landscape of the Isle of Man still contains many of their relics, and provides a constant reminder of the antecedents of our national character.

The earliest inhabitants of the Isle of Man we can really claim to know lived some 1,500 years ago. A race of Christian Celts, they spoke a language we can recognise, built homes and defences, and raised crosses in memory of their dead.

But these Celts had a much older heritage, going back perhaps another 1,000 years. We know of it only what we can discover from artefacts they left behind, and the places where they lived, worked and died.

Around the time of Christ, Roman invaders occupied much of Britain. But they largely ignored the Isle of Man; archaeology has revealed few signs of Roman influence here, and nothing to suggest permanent occupation. Left undisturbed, the Manx Celts traded and absorbed the ideas, material culture and religion of their neighbours.

At the end of the eighth century the first of the raiders from Scandinavia came to the Irish Sea. Despite almost 500 years of Scandinavian trade and migration, Norse influence did not entirely prevail. The Celtic language survived, and the Viking invaders were converted to Christianity.

There is much that we shall never know about the people who inhabited this Island between 2,500 and 1,000 years ago. But the sites and artefacts of our archaeological heritage give us tantalising glimpses of the way they lived...