Övraby was a village that was left after the town
Halmstad
Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational urban areas of Sweden, city at the mouth of the Nissan (river), Nissan river, in the provinces of Sweden, province of Halland on the Sweden, Swedish west coast. Halmstad is the seat ...
in
Halland
Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Skåne, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Br ...
moved five kilometers to the south in 1320.
The town Halmstad is believed to have been moved because the ships were growing too big to be able to travel up the river
Nissan
is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...
, one of the four rivers that flows through the county of Halland. The city would also be easier to defend with its new coastal position.
On 2–3 November 1563, the Swedish forces led by King
Erik XIV and
Danish forces led by
Fredrik II clashed in Övraby. The Danish forces won the battle, and afterwards torched and plundered the village. The village was never rebuilt.
The only building still standing from Övraby today is the ruin of the stone church, known today as Övraby Kyrkoruin. The church's roof is the oldest surviving example of an ornate ridge
purlin
A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin.
P ...
in Sweden, dating back to the 12th century. In 1911 a Roman burial site was excavated from Övraby, deposited in a cist made of thin limestone slabs.
References
Populated places in Halland County
{{Halland-geo-stub