Rock Carvings and Runestones of Sweden

Documentary: Anglo-Saxon Paganism

This is the teaser trailer for an upcoming film on Anglo-Saxon paganism that I am making called From Runes to Ruins. The film is still in production, but will explain how the paganism of our ancestors lives on the landscape and the people. There are landmarks, place names and aspects of our language which are remnants of Anglo-Saxon paganism. It is from Woden, the god of war, that we take the name for the third day of the week, Wednesday (Woden’s day).

There are features of the landscape that take us right back to pagan times and give us insight into how people used to think. Burial mounds such as Cwichelm's barrow in Oxfordshire were thought to be haunted by the ghosts of the dead warriors they contained. Further up the Ridgeway is 'Wayland's smithy', a Neolithic long barrow which the Anglo-Saxons believed was built by Wayland, the blacksmith of the gods.

Despite the significance of Anglo-Saxon paganism to the history of Britain, no one has ever made a documentary exclusively on this subject. Until now.

Edit 2020: the film is now available to watch online for free