Potential Discovery of Viking Warlord's Lost Grave on English Coast
The long-sought burial site of Ivarr the Boneless, one of the most powerful Viking leaders to have ruled in Britain, may have been discovered on the west Cumbrian coast, according to an independent archaeologist. This formidable ninth-century warlord, also known as Ivarr the Legless or Ivarr the Dragon, established a ruling dynasty in Dublin and played a pivotal role leading the Great Heathen Army during its campaigns across England.
The King's Mound: A Viking Burial Landscape
Archaeologist Steve Dickinson believes the Viking leader may have been interred with his ship beneath a large mound referenced in medieval records as "The King's Mound." Mr. Dickinson considers this site part of an extensive and previously unrecognised Viking burial landscape. In August 2024, he visited the location and confirmed the mound still exists, measuring approximately 60 metres across and nearly six metres high, with commanding views overlooking the coast.
The precise location has not been publicly disclosed to prevent potential looting of this historically significant site.
Evidence Supporting the Ship Burial Theory
Only sixteen pre-Viking and Viking Age monumental ship burials are currently known in the region, with none yet confirmed in the United Kingdom. Ship burial was practised by some early medieval cultures as a mark of status and respect, with Britain's best-known example being the Anglo-Saxon ship burial discovered at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.
Metal-detecting in the area surrounding The King's Mound has uncovered compelling evidence:
- Lead weights used for measuring silver
- Large ship rivets and fittings
- Thirty-nine smaller satellite mounds suggesting a large Viking Age necropolis
The Beckermet Hoard, discovered nearby and now held at the Beacon Museum in Whitehaven, includes silver from the Carolingian Empire and coins originating in Baghdad. This hoard appears to have been weighed out beside The King's Mound, further strengthening the connection to Viking activity.
Historical Context and Scholarly Debate
Mr. Dickinson links the site to Ivarr through Icelandic sagas and contemporary Irish annals. One saga records that Ivarr was buried in a mound on a boundary in England, while Irish annals describe Ivarr and his brother Óláfr as sons of the king of Laithlind. Some historians have placed Laithlind in Norway or Scotland, but Mr. Dickinson argues instead that Irish sources point to the eastern shores of the Irish Sea.
"So I consider Ivarr's home kingdom was in West Cumbria, and it figures that he would have been buried there at his death," Mr. Dickinson explained. "As he was a famous sea-king with a reputation of crossing the Irish Sea from Dublin to Dumbarton on the Clyde and way beyond, it also figures that he would have been given a 'pagan' burial in a ship in a mound overlooking the sea."
Other scholars have suggested Ivarr was buried at Repton in Derbyshire, site of a major Viking encampment, but that claim is based on a burial reportedly uncovered in 1686 and lacks the archaeological evidence now emerging from Cumbria.
West Cumbria as a Viking Power Centre
Historians have long argued that Vikings not only raided but settled in Cumbria, a theory supported by the high concentration of Scandinavian place-names across the county. In 2001, a BBC television programme examined DNA samples from locations across England, finding that only Penrith in east Cumbria showed strong evidence of Norwegian Viking ancestry in the modern population. More than a quarter of men sampled were found to share a direct male ancestor from Norway.
Recent discoveries have significantly strengthened the case for west Cumbria as a major Viking centre:
- Satellite imagery, LiDAR and ground surveys have revealed what archaeologists believe to be Viking fleet bases and large timber hall complexes
- In early 2025, a 50-metre-long late Viking Age hall was identified near Wigton by a Cumbrian heritage agency
- An even larger hall, measuring about 63 metres, has been detected south of Gosforth, which would be the largest pre-Norman hall known in the UK and Ireland
Professor Neil Price, Chair of Archaeology at Uppsala University, has described the complex as comparable to royal Viking Age palaces in Scandinavia. Taken together, the evidence suggests west Cumbria may have been a significant Viking Age power base, possibly corresponding to the kingdom known in ninth-century Irish sources as "Laithlinn" or "Laithlind."
This potential discovery represents a significant development in understanding Viking settlement patterns in Britain and could provide new insights into the burial practices of high-status Viking leaders during this turbulent period of English history.
