Staðarfjöll
65°38′14.622″N 19°43′43.846″W / 65.63739500°N 19.72884611°W
Staðarfjöll is the name for grazing lands on the west side of Skagafjörður, Iceland between Sæmundarhlíð in the east and Laxárdalsfjall mountain in the west. The main part of Staðarfjöll used to belong to Reynistaður, which the area is named for,[1] and it is sometimes called Reynistaðarfjöll (Reynistaður mountains). It is now part of the Staðarfjöll plain and is owned by several municipalities in western Skagafjörður.[2]
Multiple valleys run through Staðarfjöll. Víðidalur valley is in the westernmost part of Staðarfjöll and it is around 15 kilometers long, running mostly from north to south.[3] Hryggjadalur valley is northeast of Víðidalur and its outermost part belongs to Staðarfjöll. Háheiði, a mountainous area, is east of Víðidalur and around 10 kilometers long. East of Háheiði are smaller valleys: Rangali and Miðdalur in the north, then Vatnadalur and Valbrandsdalur, and Þröngidalur in the south. To the east, there are the Sæmundarhlíð mountains[1] and north of those, there is Staðaröxl, a mountain overlooking Staðarfjöll.[4]
Víðidalur
[edit]One of Staðarfjöll's valleys is Víðidalur. It is a deserted valley on the border between Skagafjörður and Austur-Húnavatnssýsla counties.[2] The valley runs approximately north to south and is just over 15 kilometers long.[5] For the most part, the valley is 250–320 meters above sea level and rather wide, and some areas of the valley floor have lots of vegetation.
Víðidalur was considerably settled in the Middle Ages and one of the farms there, Helgastaðir, even had a church. There was no mention of Helgastaðir in the historical record until a letter from the scholar Björn Jónsson from Skarðsá from the middle of the 17th century. It is uncertain when Víðidalur became abandoned, which may have been the result of a wave of plague that afflicted the whole valley. The valley is now completely abandoned, likely because of the Black Death in 1402 or the second plague during 1495–1496. Afterwards, there were usually only one or two farms left in the area. The Staðarfjöll ridges, which are in Hryggjadalur valley, became abandoned in 1913.[3] Gvendarstaðir, in the very north of the valley and—for the longest time—the only farm in Hryggjadalur, was abandoned in 1898.[6]
There are ruins and hay fields of some of the farms still visible, including: Þverá, Svartagil, Rauðagil, Þúfnavellir, Helgastaðir, Hrafnagil,[7] and possibly Atlastaðir.[8]
The Skagafjörður Travel Association now has a lodge in Þúfnavellir in Víðidalur.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Guðbrandsson, Guðbrandur Þorkell (1998-05-01). "Trölli í Tröllabotnum og umhverfi hans" [Tröll in Tröllabotn and its surroundings]. Ferðir: Blað Ferðafélags Akureyrar (in Icelandic). Maí 1998 (47): 25–27 – via Tímarit.
- ^ a b Hallsdórsdóttir, Steinunn Anna (2005). "Beit hrossa á afréttum" [Horse grazing on pasture land] (PDF). skemman.is (in Icelandic). p. 12. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
- ^ a b Helgason, Ögmundur (1969). "Bæjanöfn og byggð á Hryggjadal og Víðidal, Skagafjarðarsýslu" [Farm names and settlements in Hryggjadalur and Víðidal, Skagafjörður County]. In Sigfússon, Björn; Þorsteinsson, Björn (eds.). Saga: Upphaf Íslenzkrar Verkalýðshreyfingar 1887–1901 [Saga: The origins of the Icelandic labor movement 1887–1901] (in Icelandic). Reykjavík: Tímarit Sögufélags. pp. 196–208.
- ^ Jónsson, Margeir (1940). "Reynistaður og Geitagerði" [Reynistaður and Geitagerði]. nafnið.is (in Icelandic). p. 9. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
- ^ Jónsson, Margeir (1924). "Víðidalur í Staðarfjöllum" [Víðidalur in Staðarfjall]. Blanda: Fróðleikur gamall og nýr [Blanda: Knowledge old and new] (in Icelandic) (III ed.). Reykjavík: Sögufélag. p. 301.
- ^ Briem, Eggert (1982). "Sýslulýsing yfir Skagafjarðarsýslu 1863–72" [Description of Skagafjörður County 1863–72]. In Helgason, Ögmundur; Sveinsson, Sölvi; Pálsson, Hjalti; Magnússon, Gísli (eds.). Skagafirðingabók [Skagafjörður Book] (in Icelandic) (11th ed.). Reykjavík: Sögufélags Skagafirðinga. p. 11.
- ^ St. Sigurðarson, Guðmundur; Zoëga, Bryndís; Sigurðardóttir, Sigríður; Zoëga, Guðný (2006). "Fornleikaskrá Reynistaður" [Reynistaður Archaeological Survey] (PDF). skraning.minjastofnun.is (in Icelandic). Byggðasafn Skagfirðinga. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
- ^ Catlin, Kathryn A.; Bolender, Douglas J. "Two Days in Víðidalur: Rapid Survey of an Abandoned Valley in Iceland" (PDF). Archaeology Now. 2024 (3): 6.
- ^ "Skálar félagsins" [Travel Association Lodges]. ffs.is (in Icelandic). Archived from the original on 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2025-06-15.