WIRRAL’S Viking heritage will be celebrated this weekend with two special history walks.

The St Olav’s Wirral/ Chester Viking Heritage walks started in conjunction with the Grosvenor Museum in Chester and the Municipality of Trondheim in 2008 after a pilot walk in 2007.

They celebrate Wirral and Chester’s great Viking tradition, started by Norsemen led by Ingimund who, beginning in AD902, settled the peninsula in great numbers.

Settling along the Dee side of the peninsula, and along the sea coast, the Vikings gave their villages names such as Kirby, Greasby and Meols and introduced their own local government system with a parliament at Thingwall.

The walks also commemorate Norway’s patron saint St Olav, whose life and works are celebrated across Scandinavia, particularly in Norway.

Every year around St Olav’s Day (July 29), Norwegians commemorate him with a series of events including several walks which go to Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, where he is buried.

On Saturday, July 29, walkers will meet at St Bridget’s Church Centre, West Kirby at noon and walk the three and a half miles to Meols. Along the way, they will receive updates on the Meols Boat project, which is now in the scientific analysis stage, and the Brunanburh isotopes project, before finishing at the Railway Inn.

Sunday, July 30 sees walkers meet at St John’s Church in Chester for a two-mile trail hosted by re-enactment group Unknown Vikings and led by Ragnhildr and Halfdan/ Bishop Grimkeld.

Organiser, Professor Stephen Harding, said: “Hopefully there should be a lot of interest and in the last two years we have attracted record numbers.

“However because of safety, numbers will be limited so it is important people who would like to come read the web page and then email us if they would like to come on one or both walks.”

n For more information and to contact Professor Harding in order to book a place on the walks, go to nottingham.ac.uk/ncmh/vikings/olsok.aspx