Barlingbo is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

), on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. It comprises the same area as the

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

Barlingbo District, established on 1January 2016. It is mostly known for the Stafva Manor, the largest cheese producer, and once one of the largest farms, on Gotland.

Geography

Barlingbo is the name of the socken as well as the district. It is in the middle of the north part of Gotland. The land is flat and most of it is cultivated. The two mires, ''Stormyr'' and ''Lillmyr'', have been drained and are now farmlands. The only forested areas are the east, north and west borders of the socken. Barlingbo is also the name of the village surrounding the Barlingbo Church.(''Barlingbo kyrka'') , Barlingbo Church belongs to Barlingbo

in Romaklosters pastorat. The church belongs to the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...

and lies in the Diocese of Visby.

Etymology

The name Barlingbo was first mentioned in 1380. It comes from ''bard'', meaning "edge" or "ridge", and ''inge'' meaning "inhabitants". The last part, ''bo'', means "settlement". This gives the meaning of Barlingbo as "the ridge people's settlement".

History

Barlingbo dates back to

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

times. It is the name of a larger area surrounding the medieval Barlingbo Church. It was originally part of the Endre thing, which in turn was in the northernmost of the three original districts (similar to ridings) that Gotland was divided into during the Middle Ages. In 1862, it became an independent municipality. In 1952, it was incorporated into the Romakloster municipality and in 1971, all of Gotland became one

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. The

boatswain A boatswain ( , ), bo's'n, bos'n, or bosun, also known as a deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department, is the most senior rate of the deck department and is responsible for the components of a ship's hull. The boatswain supervi ...

s from Barlingbo under the

allotment system The allotment system ( sv, indelningsverket; fi, ruotujakolaitos) was a system used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. This system came into use in around 1640, and was replaced by the modern Swedish Armed Forces conscription s ...

, were part of the First Gotlandic Boatswains Company. There are 40 known

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

graves in Barlingbo. A

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

silver treasure has also been found.

Stafva Manor

Stafva Manor (''Stafva gård'') was one of the largest farms on Gotland. It was bought in 1866, by Arthur von Corswant and has since been owned by that family for five generations. The main building was constructed by the former owner major J.E. Ahlgren by connecting two older stone buildings. In order to convert the land into farmland, Corswant felled most of the large oak groves in Barlingbo, something that caused much discontent among the inhabitants in the socken. His son, Willy von Corswant, was instrumental in the draining of the

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

and Stava mires, thereby creating even more farmland. The manor is a working farm with cheese and meat production. Stafva is the largest cheese producer on Gotland. Three new stables for 1,200 beef cattle were inaugurated on 7November 2007, by Minister of Agriculture Eskil Erlandsson. The Stafva estate was originally , of that area was farmland, used for grazing and was forested. In 2011, of farmlands and forest as well as the stables, were sold. It became the largest property sale on Gotland ever, with a price of SEK 88 million. Stafva has its own

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

. It was the first turbine bought by, and used on, a farm in Sweden. It is high, the rotation diameter of the turbine blades is and it was started in 1992. About 25% of the 300,000 kWh it produces each year, is used by Stafva estate. The rest of the electricity is sold to the Gotlands Energi AB (GEAB).

References

External links

Objects from Barlingbo at the Digital Museum
by

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum ( sv, Nordiska museet) is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to be ...

Stafva Gård website
{{Authority control Populated places in Gotland County Manor houses in Sweden