Laxárdalur is a valley located to the west of
Tindastóll mountain 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 ...
. It is 14 kilometers (8.7 miles) long and heads toward the sea north of Tindastóll where it is called SævarlandsvÃk. Beyond the valley, Laxárdalur becomes
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 ...
.
The valley is located almost due south along Tindastóll, and to the west are low hills and ridges. The valley then curves to the southwest and narrows. The river
Laxá, which originates in Hryggjafjall mountain in
Staðarfjöll
is the name for grazing lands on the west side of Skagafjörður, Iceland between SæmundarhlÃð in the east and Laxárdalsfjall mountain in the west. The main part of used to belong to Reynistaður, which the area is named for, and it is so ...
, runs through the valley. There were several farms in Laxárdalur; some are inhabited but others have been abandoned.
Hvammur was the church site and parsonage,
and thought to have been the homestead of
EilÃfur örn Atlason who, according to the
Landnámabók
(, "Book of Settlements"), often shortened to , is a medieval Icelandic written work which describes in considerable detail the settlement () of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.
is divided into five parts and ov ...
, settled Laxárdalur.
Laxárdalur is now much more well-traveled than it used to be since the road that runs through Laxárdalur and
Gönguskörð
Gönguskörð is a settlement and valley on the west side of Skagafjörður, Iceland, due northwest of Sauðárkrókur, in between Molduxi mountain to the south and Tindastóll Mountain to the north. Shortly after entering Gönguskörð, the a ...
to
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 ...
was built over
Þverárfjall
Þverárfjall (also called Þverárleiti) is a mountain in Austur-Húnavatnssýsla, Iceland between Norðurárdalur valley, which runs to the northwest from what is often called "front Laxárdalur" in Austur-Húnavatnssýsla and the Laxárdalur i ...
mountain.
Farms
Inhabited farms:
*Sævarland
*Þorbjargarstaðir
*Hafragil
Abandoned farms:
*Skefilsstaðir
*
Hvammur
*SkÃðastaðir
*
Hrafnagil
Hrafnagil (, also known as Hrafnagilshverfi and formerly Reykárhverfi ) is a small village in Eyjafjarðarsveit, northern Iceland, which in 2016 had 260 inhabitants.
The village has a school and a community center. The area has access to high-t ...
References
{{Authority control
Skagafjörður
Valleys of Iceland