Vikings
Cheshire's Viking heritage was unearthed when latter day Norsemen invaded Altrincham Preparatory School.
Viking experts Sonnie and Linda Raee revealed that the Cheshire of 1,000 years ago was a Viking stronghold, and that many of countyıs current inhabitants have Viking blood flowing through their veins.
Linda Raee, who has made a career of her life long hobby, now teaching in schools, staging Viking re-enactments and advising film and TV producers on Viking authenticity, said: "Cheshire is awash with Viking DNA. On the Wirral, where they landed after having first settled in Ireland, 80% of the population can trace their blood lines back to Norway and though this ratio steadily reduces as we go further into the county, there is still a strong Viking heritage in and around Altrincham." Linda said: "It was the salt that drove them inland. They were great traders and Cheshire salt was the purest and best salt in Europe. They came down the River Dee and River Mersey in search of salt to trade across the Continent." The latter-day Vikings did not deny their heroe' reputation for raping and pillaging, but said: "Every section of society was at it 1,000 years ago. It was the sort of society where if it wasn't nailed down you stole it; the Vikings were just far better at it." However, as well as giving the APS boys an insight into Viking warfare and weaponry, the lecture also concentrated on their farming, food, textiles, medicine and education.
Linda added: "We are not interested in talking about dates and battles, the sort of information you get in an old fashioned exercise book, but in showing the children how their counterparts would have lived 1,000 years ago." Linda added: "Above all the Vikings were mobile and extremely entrepreneurial. When they first settled on the Wirral they brought with them two specialist people to make their money; just five years later that had 17 full-time moniers making money so they could trade." She added: "Nor were they religious bigots, rather they readily accepted the religion of the peoples they came to live with were also highly skilled farmers and boat builders. They were far in advance of the native populations they encountered in Cheshire and across the England generally." If you want to discover whether you have Viking DNA a good test it to examine your palms and if the pads at the bottom of the fingers as they join the palms are pronounced you are likely to be a descendant of Eric Blood Axe and his clan."
APS Year 3 Class Teacher Kath White said: "We all had a fantastic day. The boys thoroughly enjoyed having Viking history brought to life in such an enthusiastic way and were inspired by all that Linda and Sonnae showed them."