BBC History Magazine: Reading the Runes

Mysterious characters inscribed on stone, wood and bone reveal little-known aspects of everyday Viking life. Eleanor Barraclough deciphers runes that recount tales of love, lust, travel and tragedy from a millennium ago.

BBC Countryfile Magazine: A Giant-Sized Enigma

Roman god? Anglo-Saxon fertility aid? Political statement during the Civil War? Visitors to Dorset have puzzled over the origins of the Cerne Abbas giant for centuries, as Eleanor Barraclough discovers.

BBC Countryfile Magazine: Viking Shores

We picture Vikings marauding coastal settlements, looting and raiding. But what was life really like in the Viking Age? Historian Eleanor Barraclough reveals what the ancient artefacts found on Britain’s shores tell us about our formidable forbears.

Guardian: Top Ten Books About the Vikings

It’s not all raiding and looting – these stories and histories range from family dramas to political thrillers, not to mention man-eating trolls and bawdy gods.

BBC Countryfile: Dark Age Britain

After the end of Roman Britain, the land became a melting pot of Britons, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings – all of whom variously shaped the character of our countryside.

BBC History: Arctic Norway

For the latest in our historical holiday series, Eleanor explores the remote beauty and historical treasures of Arctic Norway.

History Today: Warriors of No Nation

Norse travellers reached every corner of the known world, but they were not tourists. The ‘racially pure’ Vikings of stereotype were, in fact, cultural chameleons adopting local habits, languages and religions.

BBC Countryfile: Forests of the Mind

Haven in troubled times or lair of magic and monsters, the forest beguiles and frightens in equal measure. Eleanor Barraclough explores our relationship with the deep dark wood through legends old and new.

BBC Countryfile: Vikings at Large in the Countryside

Waves of Vikings brought terror to the British Isles over 1,000 years ago and they left a deep mark on the landscape, as Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough discovers for a new BBC Radio 4 programme.

BBC History: Ancient Forests

Charlotte Hodgeman and Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explore Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, an ancient woodland that for centuries nourished both body and imagination.

Telegraph: True Norse

Idyllic social equality or countries ridden by alcoholism? Eleanor Barraclough visits the Nordic to bust the myths for a radio 3 documentary.

BBC World Histories: Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir

Old Norse sagas laud the exploits of Erik the Red and Leif Eriksson, but their real hero is female. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough introduces the First Lady of Viking Vinland.

BBC World Histories: Global City – Nuuk

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough explores the city once known as Godthåb (Good Hope), settled by Inuit hunters, Norse exiles and missionaries.

 

BBC World Histories: Global Cities – Oslo

From Neolithic hunters and Viking sailors to Arctic explorers and pioneering painters, Oslo’s inhabitants have left a diverse legacy. Eleanor Barraclough explores the sights of the Norwegian capital.

BBC Countryfile: Medieval Farming

In medieval times, the feudal system dominated the land until the Black Death changed everything, says Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough.

BBC World Histories: Brunhild

Germanic legends of valkyries may have been based on a strong-willed medieval ruler of northern Europe. Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough introduces the real Brunhild.

BBC World Histories: Museum of the World – The Franks Casket

This is testament to the astonishing wealth of cultural and historical influences circulating in England.