Largest Viking Age building discovered and excavated in Britain

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Dating back to the 10th-11th century, this massive timber hall offers new insights into early medieval life and rural social structures in Cumbria.

A survey in High Tarns Farm, Silloth, England, excavated by Grampus Heritage & Training Limited (GHTL), uncovered the largest Viking Age building to be discovered and excavated in Britain. The team of archaeologists originally believed the crop marks shown in satellite images “suggested that a large ancient building…may be buried beneath the surface.” according to Archaeology Magazine. Therefore, the team suspected it might be associated with a nearby twelfth-century Cistercian monastery. 

The High Tarns Archaeology Project— funded by GHTL —explained, “following our identification of an archaeological cropmark using open-source satellite imagery in late 2022. The cropmark showed the clear footprint of a timber building measuring 50m in length by 15m in width at the widest point (external post hole measurements).” In terms of American units of measurement, the footprint is 165 feet long and 50 feet wide. GHTL stated their initial reason for researching the area was “to search for evidence of a monastic Grange Farm, known to have been established within the Tarns area by Holme Cultram Abbey by 1200 AD.”

GHTL shared the carbon dates received from the Grampus-led excavations at High Tarns in Cumbria, which were “funded by Defra through Solway Coast National Landscape’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.” Trench one is the Internal Structural posthole. GHTL explains, “This was from one of the load-bearing timbers forming the aisle down the centre of the building 990 – 1040 AD at 94 [percent].” Trench two is the Charcoal Production Pit. GHTL notes, “This was cut by the later corn-dryer and reflects last use of the feature 990 – 1160 AD at 95 [percent].” Trench two specifies the aforementioned Corn Dryer, “Sample from the bottom of the drying chamber reflecting last use 1040 – 1180 at 94 [percent].”

This may seem like a lot of dates and percentages with no significant meaning, however, these dates of the timber building are from the tenth to early eleventh century. According to GHTL, these dates show “that the structure is not at all related to, and significantly pre-dates, the Cistercian monastery of Holme Cultram. Furthermore, this date allows us to interpret the building as a large Hall of the late Viking Age.” GHTL adds, “As if that wasn’t exciting enough, this is the largest Viking Age building to be discovered and excavated in Britain.”

GHTL explained, “The significance of this discovery, in shedding light on the early medieval period and social structure in rural Cumbria and more widely, is hard to overstate.” GHTL continues, “When we consider the impressive scale of the hall in association with the charcoal production pit, the grain dryer, and the other features identified through geophysics yet to be excavated, it seems most likely that the hall is the focus of an early medieval Manor Farm.”

Multiple phases often separate large excavations like High Tarns Farm. Phase One started in Nov. 2022, Phase Two was from the fifteenth to the twenty-sixth in Jan. 2024, Phase Three was from the fifth to the sixteenth in Feb. 2024, and Phase Four was the excavation in July 2024.

As for what is next, GHTL has stated, “They hoped to reveal anomalies which could be further invested through community excavation next year and to establish more context for the timber building identified from a cropmark.”