Keta is an old manor and church site on the east side of the

Skagi Skagi is the name of the peninsula between Húnaflói and Skagafjörður, which derives its name from Skagi. There used to be three municipalities in Skagi; two were and , now named Húnabyggð and Skagaströnd, on the western side, which bel ...

peninsula located in Skagafjörður County,

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 ...

Background

Keta was a church not connected to a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

whose congregation came from Hvammur in

Laxárdalur Laxárdalur () is a valley in Dalasýsla in northwestern Iceland, formed by the . It was the home of the , a group of Icelanders whose doings are described in the ''Laxdæla saga ''Laxdæla saga'' (), Old Norse ''Laxdœla saga'' (Old Norse pro ...

, but is now serviced from

Sauðárkrókur Sauðárkrókur () is a Localities of Iceland, town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Skagafjörður (municipality), Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Re ...

after the Hvammur

vicarage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...

was closed down in 1975. The Keta parish extends across

Austur-Húnavatnssýsla Iceland was historically divided into 23 counties known as ''sýslur'' (), and 23 independent towns known as ''kaupstaðir'' (). Iceland is now split up between 24 sýslumenn (magistrates) that are the highest authority over the local police ( ...

county as the northernmost towns in Skagi, Húnavatnssýsla, belong to the parish. There was a fishing station accessible from Keta during fishing season, and the area benefits from good trout fishing. Keta's shore is also home to the impressive Ketubjörg sea cliffs, which are volcanic remains from the

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

. Here there is

columnar basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90% of a ...

, rock arches and pillars, and a little further out in the sea there is a lone rock outcropping called .

References

{{Authority control Skagafjörður Churches in Iceland