The Last Battle of the Vikings

On 2nd October 1263, King Hakon Hakonson stepped ashore at Largs to command his 900 Norwegian warriors against a force of 500 mounted Scottish knights. The calamitous events that followed at the Battle of Largs changed the future course and identity of a fledgling Scottish nation forever. But this film reveals that although Viking power retreated from Scotland’s shores, they never truly left. Evidence of their assimilation into the villages they first terrorised and then colonised is now coming to light. Marine archaeologist Professor Jon Henderson rediscovers the incredible story of the last days of the Vikings, painting a vivid picture of Scotland and the brutal men who came over the North Sea in longships.