Hörgárdalur () is a valley in north Iceland, the valley of the river Hörgá. It is long and extends southwest from

Eyjafjörður Eyjafjörður (, ''Island Fjord'') is one of the longest fjords in Iceland. It is located in the central north of the country. Situated by the fjord is the country's fourth most populous municipality, Akureyri. Physical geography The fjord is ...

, which it meets inland. It is now part of the municipality of

Hörgársveit Hörgársveit () is a municipality located in north-central Iceland, in Northeastern Region (Iceland), Northeastern Region. Its seat is the village of Lónsbakki . History The former municipality of Hörgárbyggð was formed on 1 January 2001 ...

. The valley is wide and fertile at its mouth until its intersection with Öxnadalur; the area on the east side of the river here is known as Þelamörk (Thelamörk). The rest of the valley is narrow and has little flat land, running between high mountains. On the west side they reach , and in the Drangafjall ridge dividing the valley from Öxnadalur, the pointed peak of Hraundrangi (lava column) stands out. The main intersecting valleys in the interior are Barkárdalur and Myrkárdalur. West of

Akureyri Akureyri (, ) is a town in northern Iceland, the country's fifth most populous Municipalities of Iceland, municipality (under the official name of Akureyrarbær , 'town of Akureyri') and the largest outside the Capital Region (Iceland), Capital R ...

, the

Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

follows the valley for and then continues through Öxnadalur.

Flögusel

Flögusel was the first farm in the valley; south of that point, the valley turns more to the west. A road up from there west across the heath was previously a common route to

Hólar Hólar (; also Hólar í Hjaltadal ) is a small community in the Skagafjörður district of northern Iceland. Location Hólar is in the valley Hjaltadalur, some from the national capital of Reykjavík. It has a population of around 100. It is t ...

, which is in Hjaltadalur.

Grjótá

The farm of Grjótá was the birthplace in 1161 of Bishop

Guðmundur Arason Guðmundur Arason (; 1161 – March 16, 1237; ) was an influential 12th and 13th century Icelandic saintly bishop who took part in increasing the powers of the Catholic Church in medieval Iceland. His story is recorded in several manuscrip ...

Möðruvellir in Hörgárdalur

The historical main settlement in the valley is Möðruvellir , at its northeastern end, which was the site of an Augustinian monastery, founded in 1296,"Möðruvellir"
Christian Nowak, Hans Klüche and Odin Hug, ''Baedeker Reiseführer Island'', 5th ed. Ostfildern: Baedeker, 2005, and of one of Iceland's first academic secondary schools, founded in 1880; the school moved to Akureyri after a fire in 1902 and is now Akureyri Junior College. There is a church built in 1865–67 and an agricultural research station. Möðruvellir was the birthplace of Jón Sveinsson and of

Hannes Hafstein Hannes Þórður Pétursson Hafstein (4 December 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an Icelandic politician and poet. In 1904 he became the first Icelander to be appointed to the Cabinets of Denmark, Danish Cabinet as the minister for Iceland in the ...

, and also of Valtýr Stefánsson (1893–1963), the editor of ''

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic daily newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. It is currently the country's only daily printed newspaper and the newspaper of record. Hi ...

''.Several farms and settlements in Iceland have been called Möðruvellir; in particular, Möðruvellir in Hörgárdal should be distinguished from the nearby Möðruvellir in Eyjafjarðarsveit, after which the manuscript

Möðruvallabók __NOTOC__ Möðruvallabók () or AM 132 fol is an Icelandic manuscript from the mid-14th century, inscribed on vellum. It contains the following Icelandic sagas in this order: *''Njáls saga'' *''Egils saga'' *''Finnboga saga ramma'' *''Bandamanna ...

was named.

Skuggi

Skuggi is the site of a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

tenant farm that has been investigated by archaeologists in association with the Icelandic Archaeological Institute (Fornleifastofnun Íslands) for information on economic relationships in that era, in particular with Möðruvellir and the trading settlement of Gásir, in Eyjafjörður."Fundu merki um búsetu á Skugga"
,

RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...

, 21 July 2009, updated 15 January 2010

Flögusel

Grjótá

Möðruvellir in Hörgárdalur

Skuggi

Notes

References

Further reading