Throughout the Woodstown project, there has been ongoing collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders. An expert steering committee advises and guides the direction of the project. Organisations such as the Heritage Council, National Monuments Service, the National Museum of Ireland, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Waterford Treasures, National Biodiversity Centre, and University College Cork as well as the Norwegian Embassy are all part of that group and they provide advice and support to the project. Recently, new partnerships have been developed with the Discovery Programme, and with the University of Stavanger. Another key partnership has been with Déise Medieval, one of Ireland’s leading historical reenactment groups, who host the annual Aonach na nDéise, a free, family orientated two day Heritage Festival of Viking re-enactment at Woodstown every year. This focus on collaboration enables Woodstown to benefit from vast amounts of experience and expertise, and provides a solid foundation for future success.

Woodstown is a monument that poses a number of challenges. Its sheer scale and the importance of the archaeology means that it is a site that needs careful consideration before excavations commence. However, the monument offers tremendous potential in helping us to understand a key phase of Viking activity in Ireland. The geophysical surveys have provided a great insight into what lies beneath. The next step is to start to ‘ground-truth’ those surveys, by selecting particular features suitable for archaeological excavation. The physical evidence in terms of archaeological features, environmental material, artefacts and so on, should allow us to gain insights into the types of activities that were being undertaken at Woodstown, and when exactly it was all happening.