More on the Viking Settlement

Here is another view from he front of the earthworks and ramparts. Notice the ditch inf front of the walls. The earth from the ditch was thrown up into wood frames which eventually made the walls of the settlement. Atop the finished framed log walls would run a rampart with a lower supertructure wall. There was a walk way of planking running behind the upper wall. So facing the land side of the settlement were the rampart and a ditch. The rampart was too subtancial to easily destroy by fire or battering rams. The least defensible part of the defenses were its gates.

Here we can clearly see the types of gates used and how they were protected with circuit towers that were evenly placed along the ramparts. Unlike Norman gateways the Norse or Viking used fixed bridges leading to the gates themselves. Above each gate are shuttered windows from which the defenders could shoot down from. It is possible that the gates were of different colors which indicated different purposes. Fro example a blue gate might lead to water or a specic geographic place like another town. A visitor might ask, "Which road do I take to get to King Hadrada's town?" The answer, "Go through the blue gate and travel the road for a day's jouney."

Other interesting items include the shingled wood work of the upper levels of the peaks and roofs themselves. Each rampart section can be blocked by holding one of the respective towers. Not all the towers required had gates but all did have doors at the rampart level. t should be mentioned that a second ditch runs behnd the ramparts and towers and this required more ridges on towers with gates.