England circa 878

British kingdoms circa 800

Britain circa 600

Let's go viking

The Old Norse feminine noun víking refers to an expedition overseas. It occurs in Viking Age runic inscriptions and in later medieval writings in set expressions such as the phrasal verb fara í víking "to go on an expedition". In later texts such as the Icelandic sagas, the phrase "to go viking" implies participation in raiding activity or piracy, and not simply seaborne missions of trade and commerce. The related Old Norse masculine noun víkingr appears in Viking Age skaldic poetry and on several rune stones found in Scandinavia, where it refers to a seaman or warrior who takes part in an expedition overseas.^[4] The form also occurs as a personal name on some Swedish rune stones. There is little indication of any negative connotation in the term before the end of the Viking Age. Regardless of its possible origins, the word was used to indicate an activity and those who participated in it, and it did not belong to any ethnic or cultural group.<sup>[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking</sup>

Invasion 400 to 800

A map that give a better idea where the invaders came from. Apparently the language that is nearest to English is Frisian in the Saxon belt on the map.

Blessing of the Thames.

Members of St Magnus the Martyr (far side with the wooden cross) and Southwark Cathedral (and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie) meet in the middle of London Bridge at the borders of the dioceses of London and Southwark for a brief service and the casting of the cross into the river (only to be run over and gobbled up by a passing leisure boat!).

St_Magnus-the-Martyr 
Southwark_Cathedral

Inspiring

Top of the spire of St Antholin's which used to stand in the current huge demolition site in Queen Victoria Street. Now incongruously off road in the middle of a housing estate near me in Round Hill SE26.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Antholin,_Budge_Row

After the walk

Don't know if this will work, but thought it would be good to have somewhere we could swap information/stories/comment in between walks. Hopefully I can include everyone as 'co-authors' rather than just commenteers but need to look into that in more detail.

To stop this becoming one long post I'll create a new post at least every weekend and add others that warrant being separated.

I've now discovered that Blogger only give a limited amount of free storage so if you post pictures make sure they're not 3Mb etc – maybe best to put them on a site like photobucket.com and provide the link? – again I need to look into that too!