Svartrå is a former village and parish in

Falkenberg Municipality Falkenberg Municipality () is a municipality in Halland County on the Swedish west coast. The town Falkenberg is the municipal seat. The municipality was created in 1971 when the ''City of Falkenberg'' was amalgamated with six rural municipalit ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

with about 200 citizens. It formed a parish until 2006, when the parish merged with Köinge and

Okome Okome () is a parish and village in Falkenberg, Sweden. The village has a population of about 160, and the parish as a whole has a population of about 500. The village has some services, such as a primary school A primary school (in Irel ...

parishes to form Okome parish. It was a municipality between 1863 and 1951. A brook, Svartån, flows through the area. It is likely to have given name to the village which in turn gave the parish its name. Svartrå was first mentioned in 1461, then spelt ''Swa eraa''. ''Svart'' means black, while ''rå'' means owner's mark or border. The children usually attend Okome school until the age of 12, after which they attend ''Apelskolan'' in

Ullared Ullared is a locality situated in Falkenberg Municipality, Halland County, Sweden, with 791 inhabitants in 2010. The village hosts a large department store, Gekås. It is the largest store in both Sweden and Scandinavia, and the growth of the sto ...

. However, the children in the northernmost part of the area spend all their compulsory education at Apelskolan. The area is a political stronghold for the Centre Party which usually gains around 50 percent of the votes.

Geography and geology

Svartrå is bordered on the east by

Högvadsån Högvadsån is the largest tributary of river Ätran, Sweden. It is well known for the fishing of salmon and is chalked in order to counteract acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation ...

, of which Svartån is a tributary. The southern and eastern parts of the area are predominantly cultivated farmland, while the northern and western parts are covered by forests. The ratio between cultivated and forested areas, however, has fluctuated considerably throughout history and the parish was almost free of any forest as late as in the early 20th century. Sumpafallen and Björkekullen Nature Reserve are located in the area, the latter being a farm museum. As the ice receded during the last glacial period parts of Svartrå formed a bay. Glacier rivers eroded the land and made it comparatively hilly.

History

Some remains from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

have been found, such as flint objects and arrow points. There are

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

and

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

remains in the vicinity of the church, as well as Bronze Age remains at ''Vårdhögen'', a hill top. The church dates back to the 12th century and has survived several planned demolitions. The village was split up due to agricultural reforms in the mid 19th century ( laga skifte).

Falkenberg railway Falkenberg Railway (Swedish language, Sw. ''Falkenbergs Järnväg (FJ)'' or ''Pyttebanan'') was an 891 mm gauge narrow gauge railway, narrow gauge railway railway line, line between Falkenberg and Limmared in Sweden. It was inaugurated 28 S ...

and Varberg-Ätran railway had stations in ''Svartråhed'' and ''Skinnarlyngen'' in the first part of the 20th century. Svartrå had a school in one form or another from about 1850 to 1960. The population topped during the later part of the 19th century, when it reached about 500 people. It was depopulated during most of the 20th century, until a population of about 200 people was reached. It has remained on that level for the last decades.

Economy

Svartrå has never been home to any major industrial activity, although it has had a few minor

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s as well as a

gravel pit A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Gravel pit lakes are typically nutrient rich and ...

References

Swedish Wikipedia: Svartrå (22/01/2006)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svartra Populated places in Falkenberg Municipality