From our Instagram

Sources and Corrections

Every post, with the source behind each slide and anything we got wrong.

A small stone country kirk with a bellcote and a round window, gravestones on the grass and a path curving past, under a blue sky at Cranshaws in the Scottish Borders (photograph)Latest post Oct 16, 2026 Norse Words in Scots: Sources and Corrections See the sources → Girls in bathing caps learning to swim in an open-air pool in Laugardalur, Reykjavík, in 1909, three on a platform with arms raised and women watching from a wooden walkway (black-and-white photograph) Oct 16, 2026 Reykjavík and Iceland's Place-Names: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A crew in plain wool rowing a small wooden boat on a misty forest river, a man in a red hood at the stern and two more boats behind (AI-generated illustration) Oct 16, 2026 Rus' and Russia: a Norse Word for Rowing? Sources and Corrections See the sources → Men in wet wool sit on benches either side of a long fire in a dark turf hall while living men stand by an open door onto falling snow (AI-generated illustration) Oct 16, 2026 Saga Ghosts and the Door-Court at Fróðá: Sources and Corrections See the sources → Lerwick harbour under a blue sky with white clouds: a green-hulled boat moored at a quay hung with tyres, yachts beyond, and the town's stone houses rising up the hill behind Oct 16, 2026 Norse Shetland and Norn: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A crowd, many in Faroese national dress, gathered round red wooden rowing boats on the harbour slipway at Ólavsøka in Tórshavn, with the Faroese flag flying from a boat behind (photograph) Oct 16, 2026 Norse Faroe Islands: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A crowd in plain wool gathered round a four-tiered turf mound, a king in red with two elders and a priest on top and a man below calling out, a green hill behind (modern illustration) Oct 15, 2026 Norse Names on the Isle of Man: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A small Norse trading ship rowed into a wide river mouth, the steersman pointing at a low grassy island among sandbanks, green hills behind (modern illustration) Oct 2, 2026 Norse Place Names in Wales: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A man and a woman in wool clothes driving sheep down a hillside past a turf-roofed farmhouse, first snow on the mountains behind (modern illustration) Sep 30, 2026 Winter Nights, the Norse Start of Winter: Sources and Corrections See the sources → Walkers crowding the rocky summit of Scafell Pike in the Lake District, around the stone summit cairn (photo: Peer Lawther, CC BY 2.0) Sep 30, 2026 Old Norse Landscape Words in Northern England: Sources and Corrections See the sources → The Highland Council's Welcome to Sutherland road sign at the Ord of Caithness, on a grassy slope above the sea (photo: Roger Davies, CC BY-SA 2.0) Sep 30, 2026 Norse Place Names in Scotland: Sources and Corrections See the sources → Modern illustration: a bald, grey-bearded Icelandic farmer in a smoky hall holds up a rusted axe with gold mounts, the king's gift from Egils saga Sep 28, 2026 Viking Axes in the Sagas and the Law: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A young Icelandic woman on a slope holds the ball from the game below, as in Hallfredar saga, chapter 2 (modern illustration) Sep 27, 2026 Knattleikr, the Saga Ball Game: Sources and Corrections See the sources → Men haul a boat up a stony beach as a wave breaks behind them (modern illustration) Sep 27, 2026 Viking Kennings: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A Viking Age man has grooves filed into his front teeth on a beach by a longship (modern illustration) Sep 26, 2026 Viking Filed Teeth: Sources and Corrections See the sources → An older man makes a capture on a wooden hnefatafl board (modern illustration) Sep 26, 2026 Hnefatafl and Tablut: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A rider on an Icelandic horse on a moss-covered track below a glacier Sep 26, 2026 Horses in the Viking Age: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A bearded man holds his beard in his hand Sep 26, 2026 Beards in the Viking Age: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A red-haired man stands at the edge of a Norse feast hall while the company looks on (modern illustration) Sep 25, 2026 Loki in the Medieval Sources: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A woman at home hugs her small terrier Sep 25, 2026 Dogs in the Viking Age: Sources and Corrections See the sources → A man in a tattoo studio shows a Norse-style symbol tattooed on his forearm Sep 23, 2026 Which Norse Symbols Are Actually Viking? Sources and Corrections See the sources → Norse guardsmen with long axes on their shoulders at a gilded palace doorway in Constantinople Sep 22, 2026 The Varangian Guard: Axemen From the North, Sources and Corrections See the sources → A medieval walrus ivory chess warrior biting the top of his shield Sep 22, 2026 Bought for Five Pounds, Sold for 735,000: The Lewis Chessmen, Sources See the sources → A Viking longship sliding down the face of a grey winter wave, crew at the oars Sep 22, 2026 Is Ski an Old Norse Word? Norse Skiing, Sources and Corrections See the sources →