The Vikings and the River Alt

Beaten back on Formby's beach, the Vikings rowed up the River Alt and struck from behind.

Formby takes its name from Old Norse and is thought to mean the settlement or village of a man called Forni. Wikipedia says that Norsemen from Ireland first came to this coast of Lancashire in about 960 AD, trading or raiding and then settling. A local tradition says the Viking invaders could not defeat the Anglo-Saxons on the coast at Formby. Instead they sailed inland up the River Alt and attacked from behind. Formby now has wide beaches and sand dunes looked after by the National Trust, where erosion of the sand on the beach has uncovered remains from the past.

One sourceOnly one written account of this legend has been found so far.