Government
The Thing At Thingwall

Thingwall is in the centre of the Viking area of Wirral. Thingwall is a very historic place but very few people in Wirral realise its historic significance.  It is here that the Vikings held their parliament which was called the Thing.  

 A "Thing" in Old Norwegian meant "place of Assembly or Parliament". "Wall" comes from the old Norse "volr" which means "field". So Thingwall means "Assembly Field".

There are 9 or 10 other Thingwalls in the British Isles such as Tynwald (in the Isle of Man), Tinwald (in Shetlands) and Thingwall Hill (in Wavertree), but the most famous is Thingvellir in Iceland (vellir means "fields") Icelanders held their parliament here from 930 A.D. until relatively recently.

Wirral's Thingwall in fact probably predates Thingvellir by some 30 years and Tynwald in Isle of Man by some 75 years. Here the Norse chiefs in the area and all the "free men" would meet once or twice yearly to discuss policy and law.

It would also be a great Festival occasion – you could think of this as an ancient form of the current Wirral Show.  It would also meet in cases of emergency and it is highly probable that in 907AD it was here, at Cross Hill, Ingimund called a meeting of the Thing to plan the attacks on Chester. And in 937AD – if it was true that the Battle of Brunanburh did take place on Wirral - then it is likely another emergency meeting was held to discuss what to do about the arrival into the peninsula of the various feuding armies. If they had any sense the locals would have decided to stay well clear!

 

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