Norwegian and Scandinavian History and Heritage in the British Isles - Conference

This October, discover the rich history and heritage of Norway and Scandinavia in the British Isles at a special end-of-project conference for the Norwegian Church Heritage Research and Outreach Project. Bringing together fascinating insights, stories, and research, this event celebrates the project’s journey and its exploration of shared cultural connections—made possible through the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Schedule for the conference: Tusday 06.10.2026 09:00 Opening 09:00 Dr. Thomas Alexander Husøy (Norwegian Church Arts Centre and Swansea University) From Seamen's Churches to the Welsh Norwegian Society: Norwegian Institutions and Organisations in South Wales 1866 - 2000 (An Overview) 09:30 Dr David Redvaldsen (University of Agder) The Norwegian Seamen’s Church in London 1905-1945 10:00 Charlie Olsen (University of Reading) Norwegian Sailors in Late Victorian Cardiff 10:30 Pause 10:45 Dr. Christian Cooijman (University of Oslo) Imagined Pasts? The Viking Age between Memory and Identity. 11:15 "Risteárd ‘Rish’ McDonald CF FCIPD MSt. (Cantab) (2026-2027 Churchill Fellow) This Land is Our Land (?): An Analysis of Ritual Heathen Praxis at the Great Heathen Gathering 2025 11:45 Dr. Jack Dyce (The Scottish College) Ganga um Kaupstað: Walking about a market town: in once Viking Largs, now a Scottish town but with a Norse past and legacies 12:15 Pause 13:15 Dr. Maiken Mosleth King (University of Bristol) The Sons of Ragnar: The Representation of Vikings in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 13:45 TBC 14:15 Lisbeth Iversen (A Helping Hand to Our Oldest Norwegian Seamen's Church and Oslo School of Architecture & Design) From Leith to the World: A Digital Museum of Norwegian Seafarers and Transnational Heritage 14:45 Pause 15:00 Professor Per Norseng (University of South Eastern norway) Ice, steam and fish and chips: Norway, the British Isles and the trade in natural ice" 15:30 Eyvind Bagle (Norwegian Folk Museum and Norwegian Maritime Museum) Natural ice from Norway: A hidden industry 16:00 Knut Nygaard (Oslo Metropolitan University) Ice exporter Thomas Johannes Wiborg and his trade networks in the British Isles 16:30 Michael Freeman (University of Oxford) Natural vs artifical Ice in Cardiff Wednesday 07.10.2026 09:00: Leonie Tancell Protecting Traditional Craft: What Wales Could Learn from Norway (10 min. 5 min questions Lightning talk) 09:15 Dr Thomas Alexander Husøy (Norwegian Church Arts Centre and Swansea University) Heritage Projects at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre: Public History and Didactic Uses of Norwegian Heritage in England and Wales (10 min. 5 min questions Lightning talk) 09:30: Professor Knut Øystein Høvik (University of Innland Norway and the Norwegian Study Centre, University of York) Hvilket lag holder du egentlig med? Norwegians’ obsession with English football 10:00: Dr. Bjørn Thore Rosendahl (ARKIVET) From Convoys to Communities: Norwegian Wartime Seafarers in Liverpool through War and Peace" 10:30: Pause 10:45: Dr. Peter Reid (Robert Gordon University) Little Norway of the Moray Firth: Stories of the Norwegian and Danish Communities in the town of Buckie During the Second World War 11:15: Ragnhild Bie (Vest Agder Museum) Children in Exile: The Norwegian Boarding School at Drumtochty Castle 11:45: Oddbjørn Hofseth (Indpendent Historian) Illegal deer hunting in the Norwegian SOE training camps in Scotland during WW2. 12:15 Pause 13:15 Haakon Vinje (Head of the Norwegian War Graves Service, Ministry of Culture and Equality.) Norwegian War Graves in the United Kingdom 13:45 Mark Russell (Independent Historian) 333 Squadron RNoAF and Norwegian clandestine operations from Scotland during World War Two 14:15 Inga Grønnerud (Kongsvinger Muncipality) Going to Scotland to be a teacher in housekeeping education - in the pre and postwar era. Transnational connections between Norway and the United Kingdom in a historic context revealing Scandinavian involvement in the British educational system (becoming “husstellslærerinner”). 14:45: Pause 15:00 Ranghild Bie (Vest Agder Museums) A Ship Between Nations: SS Hestmanden and Anglo-Norwegian wartime connections 15:30 TBC 16:00 - 17:30 Service of commemoration and rededication, Norwegian war graves in Cathays Cemetery.