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Yxnøy (also spelled Yxney, formerly: Yxnøyn) is the southernmost part of
Østerøya (East Island) in
Sandefjord, Norway
Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...
. It stretches from Nordre Truber to Ertsvika. It is one of the largest undeveloped areas found along the
Vestfold
Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered t ...
coast. It is a recreational area home to several beaches, steep cliffs, forests, sloping rocks, glacial potholes, hiking trails, and
Tønsberg Barrel.
The main trailhead is located at Tallakshavn, which has been named one of the most scenic beaches in the
Tønsberg Fjord. There are marked hiking trails from the parking lot to Tønsberg Barrel and various beaches such as Strandvika and Ertsvika. Ertsvika is a sandy beach in the southern part of Yxnøy. This was the filming location for the 1993 film ''
Head Above Water''. A theory of this beach's namesake is the plant species
Pisum
''Pisum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, native to southwest Asia and northeast Africa. It contains one to five species, depending on taxonomic interpretation; the International Legume Database (ILDIS) accepts three speci ...
. Another theory is that the beach is named for a species of seal.
There are public toilets at Nordre Truber, Strandvika, Ertsvika, and Engebukta. It is home to a variety of trails, including to Tønsberg Barrel and a variety of beaches. Designated campfire sites are located at Nordre Truber. Islands near Yxnøy include Espeholmen, which as an elevation of 20 meters above sea-level and lies in the
Mefjord outside Yxnøy. Teistholmen, Terneskjær and Torsholmen are three other nearby islands.
Yxnøy is home to varied wildlife and a number of rare plant species. A 9 km trail from Yxnøy leads to the beach
Skjellvika. It is part of the international
North Sea Trail.
History
Parts of southern
Østerøya, the Skogan farm, was purchased by
Christen Christensen in 1899, and the Christensen family has since owned parts of Yxnøy. The first property was purchased by Christen Christensen from Anders Kristian Hansen in 1899. The property was expanded in 1933 to 1,600 decares and was now the largest property in
Sandar. From 1961, the owner of Yxnøy was
Lars Christensen
Lars Christensen (6 April 1884 – 10 December 1965) was a Norwegian shipowner and whaling magnate. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in the exploration of Antarctica.
Career
Lars Christensen was born at Sandar in Vestfold, No ...
. The area was now also beginning to take shape as a nature park.
Yxnøy and the area surrounding Tønsberg Barrel were fortified by the
German occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...
forces during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Bunkers, trenches, and other remains from the occupation can still be seen at Yxney. Numerous ships have sunk near the seamark, including ships such as ''Wilhelm Tell'' in 1851 and ''Bjørgvin'' in 1961, which lies 70 meters from Tønsberg Barrel. In 1907, the ship ''Union'' sunk here and its crew of eight men drowned.
Skogan farm is now privately owned by
Kjell Christian Ulrichsen who purchased the property in 1994 for NOK 31.8 million.
According to an editorial by ''
Sandefjords Blad
''Sandefjords Blad'' is a newspaper published daily in Sandefjord, Norway, except on Sundays. It is available in Norwegian language only. Sandefjords Blad is a private company, owned by Mecom with a circulation of 14,780 copies (2004) and 50 empl ...
'' on July 5, 1986, Yxnøy would have likely been developed into a residential area had it not been owned by the Christensen family who could afford to leave the area undeveloped.
Strandvika Nature Preserve
Strandvika is a
nature preserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...
and protected beach. A protected coastal riparian forest is found here along with slopingrocks (svaberg) and adjacent farmland. The nature preserve was established by royal resolution on June 13, 1980, in accordance with the Nature Conservation Act. The purpose of the preservation is to protect the black alder swamp forest with its rich flora with species such as
Allium ursinum
''Allium ursinum'', known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows's leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear's garlic, is a bulbous perennial flowering plant in the amaryllis family Amary ...
,
Filipendula ulmaria
''Filipendula ulmaria'', commonly known as meadowsweet or mead wort, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Rosaceae that grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and Western Asia (Near east and Middle east). It has ...
, and
Orchis mascula
''Orchis mascula'', the early-purple orchid, early spring orchis, is a species of flowering plant in the orchid family, Orchidaceae.
Description
''Orchis mascula'' is a perennial herbaceous plant with stems up to high, green at the base and ...
. It is illegal to pick or remove plants or plant parts in the preserve, which is marked by signs and green marks on nearby trees. It is the only place in Norway where
Valeriana dioica occurs.
Tønsberg Tønne
Tønsberg Barrel ("Tønsberg Tønne") is a 5-meter (16 ft.) tall old beacon mentioned in ''
Sverris saga
''Sverris saga'' is one of the Kings' sagas. Its subject is King Sverre Sigurdsson of Norway (r. 1177–1202) and it is the main source for this period of Norwegian history. As the foreword tells us, the saga in its final form consists of mo ...
'' from around year 1200. Many ships have sunk near the landmark, which is located at the southern tip of East Island. The
seamark
A sea mark, also seamark and navigation mark, is a form of aid to navigation and pilotage that identifies the approximate position of a maritime channel, hazard, or administrative area to allow boats, ships, and seaplanes to navigate safely.
Th ...
(navigation mark) sits on the mountain Tønneberget (Stenbåken) with ocean views in all directions. It has an elevation of 37 meters (121 ft.) and marks the entry point for the city of
Tønsberg
Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative c ...
. Its circumference is at its most 12 meters (39 ft.), and it is painted in white and black. The beacon originally consisted of a barrel, hence the name, but was replaced with the current seamark in 1900.
[{{cite book, last=Davidsen, first=Roger, year=2008, title=Et Sted i Sandefjord, publisher=Sandar Historielag, isbn=978-82-994567-5-3, page=98–100, entry=Tønsberg Tønne, entry-url=https://www.nb.no/nbsok/nb/9e31c5837d93e44a321807936e792082?lang=en#101, lang=nb]
References
Nature reserves in Norway
Sandefjord