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A Viking
longship has arrived at Gloucester docks. But don't panic, this
isn't an invasion by bloodthirsty battle-crazed Danes in armoured
skirts.
The ship Hugin is in fact a replica, built in 1949 to commemorate
to 1500th anniversary of the first Viking landing in Britain. It
measures 23m from end to pointed end, and is constructed from pieces
of overlapping wood.
Click
here to hear ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Gloucestershire's report on the arrival of the
longship.
To
listen to audio content on the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ you will need to have a program
called RealPlayer installed on your computer.
The
craftsman of Tommi Neilson's boatyard have been charged with the
task of restoring this delapidated vessel to its former glory.
Richard Chapman, who will be working on the boat, said: "This
will be something a little bit different to the jobs we usually
undertake.
"If you were to stand in the bottom now, in certain places
you'd go right through. It's certainly a bit tired."
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| The
Hugin swings into port |
Massive
Give
that a full-scale Viking warship is unlikely to feature on many
people's Christmas lists, how much will the restored Hugin actually
be worth?
Bristol-based insurance man George Hayes has the tricky task of
answering this question. "Things like this are used for film
work so they do have some commercial value," he said, "and
they're marvellous to look at."
It
wasn't just boat enthusiasts who lined the shipyard for the Hugin's
arrival. Gloucester MP Parmjit Danda came along to help mark the
occasion.
"This is a great example of some very rare skills, right here
in the heart of our community," he said."It's a chance
to demonstrate to the rest of the world why we're so good at what
we do."
The
restoration project has brought a guaranteed £250,000 worth
of work to the yard.
If
you would like to comment on this story get in touch at gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
or have your say on our
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The
Vikings are here! Well, almost. The longship Hugin is a 23m replica
of the type of vessel which once lay seige to English shores. Now
a local boatyard has been asked to restore it to its former glory.
