Reconstructing early shieling landscapes & land-use in Cumbria during the Viking Age

This paper presents a historical and cultural geographic approach to landscape development in Cumbria, through an examination of shieling names. A lack of contemporary written sources and few archaeological excavations leave place-names as an important source of evidence. This paper examines cultural practices associated with shielings to help explain how landscape was exploited and what this tells us about Scandinavian settlement in the Viking Age.