The 'Ragnarok Stone' at Skipwith

Skipwith (North Yorkshire) is the site of an ancient church containing a fascinating early medieval low relief sculpture. It lies immediately to the north of Skipworth Common, where tradition held that the few remaining Norse warriors from the failed 1066 invasion had gathered and buried their dead (at 'Danes' Graves').

St. Helen's Church has been renovated several times over the past millennium, but still preserves a pre-conquest structure in the form of the tower with its original Anglo-Saxon windows.

The ancient tower of Saint Helen's Church at Skipwith, showing original Anglo-Saxon windows

Set low inside the tower wall, in the modern vestiary, is an ancient image carved into a stone. It's thought to be a re-used Roman stone (magnesian limestone) with a pre-conquest carved scene, later included at the base of the church tower wall. The timing of the block's incorporation in the wall is unknown, the carving not having been noticed until 1866 following the lowering of the church floor during a refurbishment in 1877. These days, you have to sit on the floor to get close to it and bring your own light to highlight the various figures.

Snapshot of a 3D model of the 'Ragnarök Stone' in St.Helen's Church Skipwith, created using photogrammetry. The stone measures approximately 63 by 36 cm.

There's quite a lot going on here, with a large canine animal in the centre which has hold of someone's foot in its jaws. There are figures fleeing to the right and figures fleeing to the left as indicated by the positions of their arms. Several of them have pointed helmets, but none of them has a weapon. A larger right-facing figure with moustache and beard has both of his arms spread extravagantly wide, perhaps in horror at the unfolding scene. There's something like a serpent along the wolf's back, its head with large eye and snout pointing towards lower left. A head beneath the wolf's tail is looking towards the left. People have been tempted to see the beast as Fenrir and the snake-like creature as Jörmungandr (killed by Thor at Ragnarök, though the serpent's poisonous breath kills Thor shortly afterwards). It's hard to know, but the composition, showing chaos, fear, fleeing and a large beast or two, is very dramatic in any case. The shapes of the heads are comparable with those shown on late Anglo Saxon coins, especially those of Edward Confessor in a pointed helmet.

A silver penny of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) minted in York showing pointed helmet and bearded face comparable with those seen on the Skipwith stone. Reverse legend is + STIRCOL ON EOFER for the moneyer Styrcollr. See https://emc.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/full-record/20030126

The large central canine beast with jaws clamped on the foot of a left facing individual with pointed helmet is very striking. Buckland (2010) sees this as representing Viðarr, son of Oðinn, avenging Oðinn's death, but the image clearly shows the wolf as aggressor. There is a more compelling representation of the story of Viðarr standing on Fenrir's lower jaw while pulling its jaws apart on the Gosforth Cross in Cumbria. If the Skipwith stone is taken to show the events of Ragnarök, then the image would work better as Fenrir's attack on Oðinn.

Detail of the figure in pointed helmet being attacked by the wolf.

I find Buckland's inference that Jörmungandr and Thor are depicted (detail below) plausible, but interpreting the wolf's tail as Thor's hammer is surely far too fanciful.

I was skeptical about the Ragnarök interpretation of the Skipwith stone, but became less so after seeing that there are parallels elsewhere, notably the 11th century Ledberg Stone in Sweden and the probably 10th century Thorwald's Cross in Kirk Andreas on the Isle of Man. Thorwald's Cross depicts a bearded male holding a spear downward at a wolf, his right foot in its mouth, while a large bird sits above his shoulder, a scene interpreted as the Norse god Oðinn being consumed by the wolf Fenrir. The Ledberg Stone image shows the helmeted male figure's left foot held in the mouth of the wolf, body and arm positions suggesting pain, all of these features matching those in the Skipwith 'Ragnarök Stone'.

Two other examples of the wolf-biting-male figure motif. At left is the Ledberg Stone in Sweden and at right Thorwald's Cross on the Isle of Man.

The magnificent Gosforth cross (visited in July 2013) depicting various scenes from Norse mythology.

If the Skipwith stone is read as a depiction of Ragnarök, the questions as to who made it, why and when follow. Scenes from Norse mythology are known from early medieval crosses in northern England, but this carved stone is not part of a cross. As noted at the top of the page, Skipwith is situated close to the portion of the River Ouse where the Viking invasion fleet of 1066 was moored and where the survivors from the comprehensive defeat at Stamford Bridge (25th September 1066) gathered. It is tempting to see a possible connection with the aftermath of that battle, which may well have seemed like the end of the world to those who escaped death that day.

Map showing locations of Skipwith, the two momentous battles of September 1066, and the stretch of the River Ouse (near Riccall) where the invasion fleet was moored (scale at lower left, click to enlarge)

The Skipwith 'Ragnarök Stone' remains enigmatic, but is in any case a vivid and dramatic early medieval scene carved on a re-used Roman stone. The location, in the vicinity of the 1066 Viking invasion fleet where the survivors of Hardrada's defeat at Stamford Bridge gathered before their return to Norway, is an evocative one. That defeat (like Ragnarök) marked the end of an age and Hardrada's son, 'Olaf the peaceful' was noted for conscientously avoiding conflict during his reign in the aftermath.