Tofta, also known as Gotlands Tofta, is a populated area, a

socken Socken ( or ) is the name used for a part of a counties of Sweden, county in Sweden. In Denmark, similar areas are known as , in Norway or and in Finland or . A is a rural area formed around a church, typically in the Middle Ages. A socken ...

(not to be confused with

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 ...

), on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...

. It comprises the same area as the administrative Tofta District, established on 1January 2016. Tofta is most noted for its long, sandy beach. In the north part of Tofta is a military firing range.

Geography

Tofta is the name of the socken as well as the district. It is also the name of the small village surrounding the medieval Tofta Church, also known as ''Tofta kyrkby''. Tofta is on the central west coast of Gotland, situated on a high rocky

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

mostly covered in pine forest, 48%, while 22% of the area is used as farmland. In the northwest part of Tofta, between the coastline and road 140, is the Tofta firing range (''Tofta Skjutfält''). It is a military compound, approximately , used for training with live ammunition,

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

and

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

s. Once a year, the Gotland Grand National, the world's largest enduro race, is held on the range. On the Tofta coast are two old fishing villages; Blåhäll to the north and

Gnisvärd Gnisvärd (also referred to as Gnisvärd and Smågårde), is a fishing village in Tofta, Gotland, Tofta on the central west coast of the island of Gotland, Sweden. Gnisvärd is mostly known for its stone ships and harbor. Geography Gnisvärd is ...

a bit further south. Blåhäll has several caves and Gnisvärd has some of the grandest

stone ship The stone ship or ship setting was an early burial custom in Scandinavia, Northern Germany, and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial was surrounded by slabs or stones in the shape of a boat or ship. The ships vary in size and were ...

s on Gotland. Inland is the Smågårde village. Tofta is most noted for the long sandy beach along the southern coastline. It is the second largest and most visited, on Gotland after the Sudersand beach on

Fårö Fårö () or in Gutnish is a Baltic Sea island just north of the island of Gotland, itself off mainland Sweden's southeastern coast. It is the second-largest island in the county and it is a popular summer resort. It has its own language, Fårö ...

. , Tofta Church belongs to Eskelhem-Tofta

in Eskelhems

pastorat The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest Lu ...

, along with the churches in Eskelhem and

. One of the

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s in the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, centered on the Sun and roughly spanning the space between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids ...

, 11308 Tofta, is named after this place.

History

The village of Tofta dates from

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

times. The oldest preserved text where the name is mentioned, is from 1304. The name may be related to the Swedish word ''toft'', meaning

thwart A thwart is a part of an undecked boat that provides seats for the crew and structural rigidity for the hull. A thwart goes from one side of the hull to the other. There may be just one thwart in a small boat, or many in a larger boat, especially ...

. In the greater Tofta area, there are a number of remnants from earlier eras. During excavations,

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 ...

settlements and a

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

has been found. There are stone ships and grave mounds from the

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 from The

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 ...

there are 23 grave fields, groove stones, stone walls, a

picture stone A picture stone, image stone or figure stone is an ornate slab of stone, usually limestone, which was raised in Germanic Iron Age or Viking Age Scandinavia, and in the greatest number on Gotland.The article ''Bildstenar'' in ''Nationalencyklopedi ...

and a

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

. There are also

runes Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

chiseled on a stone in the church. The stone is from 1170–90, and is a more likely to have been a tombstone than a

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

dedicated to a man called ''Röde Orm'' ("Red Snake"), a common name at that time.

Places of interest

A reconstruction of a

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

village has been made in Tofta, where visitors can try out life during the Viking age. The Gotland Grand National, the world's largest

enduro Enduro is a form of motorcycle sport run on extended cross-country, off-road courses. Enduro consists of many different obstacles and challenges. The main type of enduro event, and the format to which the World Enduro Championship is run, is ...

race, was held annually at Tofta firing range from 1984 to 2023 before being relocated to Hejdeby.

Gallery

File:Tofta-Kyrka-S.jpg, Tofta Church File:CV9040 2.jpg, Tank on Tofta firing range File:Vikingabyn-Tofta-Gotland-2010-01.jpg, Tofta Viking village Tofta strand södra.JPG, Tofta beach

References

External links

Objects from Tofta at the Digital Museum
by

Nordic Museum The Nordic Museum () is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the early modern period (in Swedish history, it is said to begin in 1520) to the ...

"Röde Orm" runes in Tofta Church
{{Authority control Populated places in Gotland County Nordic Stone Age Nordic Bronze Age Iron Age Scandinavia Prehistory of Sweden Medieval history of Sweden