Akrar is a cluster of farms at the base of Akrafjall mountain in the

Blönduhlíð Blönduhlíð is a district in Iceland in eastern Skagafjörður that lies along the Héraðsvötn river. It spans the area from the Bóluá river in the south of and the Kyrfisá river to the north. Brekknapláss is the outermost part of in , ...

district of

Skagafjörður Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland. Location Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. There are four farms, located in close proximity, collectively named , and . Akrar includes the Akradalur valley, which goes far into the mountains east of . The lögréttumaður Eggert Jónsson had a residence in Akrar, but his son Jón Eggertsson managed the abbey in Möðruvellir. There used to be a

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

landing on the

Héraðsvötn Héraðsvötn (), whose name is often shortened to Vötn or Vötnin (and was called Jökulsá in previous centuries) is a glacier river in Iceland. It is formed by the confluence of Austari-Jökulsá and Vestari-Jökulsá. The Héraðsvötn is ...

at Akrar, and by 1930, it was the last cable ferry.

Akratorfa

consists of several farms and is located just outside the deserted farms of and , along with the farm . These farms are named after the farm Stóru-Akrar (or "Akrir" as some in also call it). Akrar, Akratorfan, and Stóru-Akrar are all names typically used to describe the same group of farms, depending on who one asks.

Stóru-Akrar

("Big Akrar") is the most well-known of the Akratorfa farms, where there was a manor and, for a long time, one of the main, large farms and settlements in . Well-known chieftains, leaders, governors, sheriffs, and lawyers served there. The priest Björn Brynjólfsson lived there in the early 14th century, and his descendants dwelled there for centuries. Björn's son Brynjólfur ("the rich") Björnsson (died 1381) and his son was also called Björn (died 1403). His daughter was . She was married the lawyer

Þorsteinn Ólafsson Þorsteinn is an Old Norse and Icelandic masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Þorsteinn Eiríksson (X century), the youngest son of Erik the Red *Þorsteinn Erlingsson (1858–1914), Icelandic poet *Þorsteinn Gylfason (194 ...

in the

Hvalsey Church Hvalsey Church (; ) was a Catholic church in the abandoned Greenlandic Norse settlement of Hvalsey (modern-day Qaqortoq). The best preserved Norse ruins in Greenland, the church was also the location of the last written record of the Greenlandic ...

in Greenland in 1408, and the record of the wedding is the last reliable source about Norse settlement there. and 's only daughter, called Akra-Kristín, was first married to the lawyer Helgi Guðnason and later to the governor Torfi Arason. Akra-Kristín and Helgi's daughter was Ingveldur, wife of , governor of

Reykhólar Reykhólar () is an Icelandic village in the Westfjords, in the northwest area of the country. The village, with around 120 inhabitants, has a swimming pool near the local camp site with a great view on the sea and mountains. The camp site, hostel ...

. Ingveldur and 's daughters, and Helga, acquired Akrar from their parents. , who was known as , lived there for a long time along with her husband, the lawyer Grímur Jónsson. The other portion of the land was acquired by Gunnar Gíslason in

Víðivellir is a farm in the Blönduhlíð district of Skagafjörður, Iceland, and an old manor house that chieftains often lived in, like some of Skagafjörður county's sýslumaðurs. There was as church in early in the settlement of Iceland, but it ...

, and their daughter was Solveig ("the stately woman"), wife of

Arngrímur Jónsson Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned (; 1568 – 27 June 1648) was an Icelandic scholar and a Christian apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591. Arngrímur studied in Copenhagen, completing his studies in 1589 and taking up a posit ...

. It seems that Arngrímur lived in Akrar for a while, followed by his son Jón. He sold the land to Eggert Jónsson in 1630 and his descendants lived there until 1743 when it was sold to the

sýslumaður (; plural: ; , , ) is a governmental office or title used in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. The position originated in Norway in the Middle Ages, where it was used as a noble title, and the was granted a fief called a '' sýsla'' (pl ...

—and later sheriff—

Skúli Magnússon Skúli Magnússon (12 December 1711 – 9 November 1794) was an Icelandic civil servant. He is often referred to as the ''father of Reykjavík.'' due to King Frederik V of Denmark donating the estate of Reykjavík to Magnússon's Innréttingar ...

. From 1743 to 1745, he built an impressive turf house that was inhabited until 1938; parts of it are still standing. The house has been restored and is in the care of the

National Museum of Iceland The National Museum of Iceland ( Icelandic: ''Þjóðminjasafn Íslands'' ) was established on 24 February 1863, with Jón Árnason the first curator of the Icelandic collection, previously kept in Danish museums. Collections The second curat ...

. There was a church in Stóru-Akrar from early in the settlement of Iceland, but it was decommissioned in 1765 on order of the king of Denmark. is the

Akrahreppur Akrahreppur (, regionally also ), previously called Blönduhlíðarhreppur, is a former municipality, or hreppur, situated in the Northwestern Region of Iceland, and located east of the Héraðsvötn, north of the Kyrfisá, and leading south to H ...

community center in Stóru-Akrar. The house was built between 1919–1921 and was dedicated on June 13, 1921. It was built using funds from the farmer Símon Eiríksson of valley, donated in memory of his son who drowned in the

near Grundarstokkur on November 15, 1914. The house was originally named although it is typically called . In 1960–1961, it was remodeled and enlarged, and received the name ('s memorial). Around 1990, the house was enlarged and remodeled again. It was the location of the hreppur's school for decades, until it was decommissioned in 2006.

Minni-Akrar

("Smaller Akrar") is located off the side of the highway. The poet Hjálmar Jónsson of

Bóla Bóla is an abandoned farm in Blönduhlíð in Skagafjörður, Iceland that was a smallholding from Uppsala previously named . It was abandoned for most of the 18th century and up until 1833, when the poet Bólu-Hjálmar, Hjálmar Jónsson lived ...

(known as Bólu-Hjálmar) lived in Minni-Akrar for 27 years. He was kicked out and forced to move to , located in the same district. Hjálmar's poetry was, in large part, written while he was in Minni-Akrar, where he lived for much longer than he did at Bóla, although that is the farm that he is named after.

Höskuldstaðir

The farmer Stefán Jónsson lived in for a long time. He was a well-known scholar and wrote many well-written works about issues in . Few other people have produced as much quality material about as he has.

References

{{coord, 65, 32, 17, N, 19, 19, 09, W, display=title, region:IS_type:city Skagafjörður Populated places in Northwestern Region (Iceland) Farms in Iceland