Silfrastaðir is a farm and church site at the mouth of the

Norðurárdalur Norðurárdalur (North River Valley) is a valley in eastern Skagafjörður, Iceland bordered by the Bóluá river, which forms the boundary between Blönduhlíð and Norðurárdalur. Route 1 runs through the valley up to the Öxnadalsheiði ...

valley in

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 ...

. The farm's property is vast, spanning from the Bóluá river in

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 , ...

out to the Kotá river in Norðurárdalur. Most of the land is mountainous, located around Silfrastaðafjall mountain. It is now slated for

reforestation Reforestation is the practice of restoring previously existing forests and woodlands that have been destroyed or damaged. The prior forest destruction might have happened through deforestation, clearcutting or wildfires. Three important purpose ...

. Previously, the entire Silfrastaðaafréttur mountain range belonged to the property of Silfrastaðir, but it was sold to the county in 1896 along with the smallholdings Hálfdanartunga and Krókárgerði in Norðurárdalur, which were abandoned and have not been rebuilt. The hreppur's corral, called Silfrastaðaréttur, is on a spit of land below the farm. The turf church that was previously in Silfrastaðir, built in 1842, is now part of

Árbæjarsafn Árbæjarsafn () is the historical museum of the city of Reykjavík as well as an open-air museum and a regional museum. Its purpose is to give the public an insight into the living conditions, work and recreational activities of the people of Rey ...

outdoor museum in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

. The church that is there now is eight-sided and was built in 1896 (consecrated on July 12). Within Norðurárdalur valley, a short way from the bridge over the Norðurá river, cape Skeljungshöfði runs towards a sandbank. There is a fairly large stone there called Skeljungssteinn. There are two holes running through the stone and, according to folk takes, the Skeljungur ghost had been bound to the stone, but the holes could actually be tracks from a log that lava had run over. The stone is a protected site.

Bólu-Hjálmar Hjálmar Jónsson (29 September 1796 – 25 July 1875), better known as Bólu-Hjálmar (after his homestead in ''Bóla''), was a 19th-century Icelandic farmer and poet, known for his sharp style and biting wit and for his mastery of the short Ice ...

recorded the folk tale about Skeljungur and the killer of Grímur. The

Sturlunga Saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic Norse saga, sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300, in Old Norse. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlun ...

states that Eyjólfur ofsi (“the violent”) Þorsteinsson and his men had stopped at the Skeljungsskáli cabin on their way to the

Flugumýri Arson The Flugumýrarbrenna () was a quickfire that took place 22 October 1253 in Iceland during the Age of the Sturlungs. The powerful Icelandic ''goði'' (chieftain) Gissur Þorvaldsson had returned from Norway with the Norwegian King's favour, and ha ...

, and it is not unlikely that there had been a farm there then.

References

{{reflist Skagafjörður Farms in Iceland Churches in Iceland