Craft activities are the mainstay of our demonstrations. At shows, we take you through the whole process of making clothes - early mediaeval style.

Click here for Gaelic kit guidelines

The first step is to shear the sheep for fleece. Next take the fleece and soak it to wash out the dirt and excess lanolin.

Place the fleece in the dyepot for the appropriate time; allow to dry and card in to neat, untangled lengths.

Drop-spin into threads and place these on your vertical warp-weighted loom (for making material) or tablet weaving loom (for decorative braids and borders).

And finally, don't worry if this doesn't all make sense! Come and see the real thing in action, and it will all become clear...

We often get asked to explain what Living History is all about. Essentially, we are endeavouring to recreate a time from our past. (Click here for Gaelic kit guidelines). Our chosen time frame is the Viking Age in Ireland. The arrival of the Vikings to Ireland in 795 AD signaled the beginning of this age. They maintained a presence in Ireland for over two hundred years. We generally consider the Battle of Clontarf in 1014 AD to be our finishing point, although there were still many Viking influences in the country - particularly in some of the coastal towns they had founded and what was to become the nation's capital - Dublin.

Try and cast your mind back a thousand years. The day-to-day routine of most people was one of hard work, aspects of which we reproduce by demonstrations of spinning, dyeing, weaving, woodwork and leatherwork. Each members' clothing is hand-made to patterns based on archeological finds and manuscript evidence and represents hours of research and work. The food prepared on site is also typical of the diet of the period.

The moneyer strikes coins

There are fun and games, too! Visitors to our shows can try their hand at "tafl" - a board game popular amongst the Vikings. You can also try on a mail shirt, and feel how heavy a real broadsword is!

The weapons and tools which we use on site are based on archaeological finds and are constructed of authentic materials. In the case of battle display, these weapons are specially blunted for safety purposes.

At all times our aim is to re-enact for both ourselves and the public what life would have been like in Viking Age Ireland. The photographs on the site show members of the group engaged in aspects of their day-to-day routine.

We take pride in bringing our “inter-active” Living History display to festivals and event of all kinds throughout Ireland.

We delight in giving people young and old the opportunity to experience first-hand the ways of our ancestors.

We are also keen to promote school and museum visits as part of our ongoing educational programme. If you would like to include Gael Agus Gall in an event or show, please contact us for more information.

The coins we make on site are replicas of the original King Sitric Silver Penny - the first coinage minted in Dublin in 997 AD.