Möðruvellir, Eyjafjörður, Iceland
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Möðruvellir is located in Hörgárdalur, Eyjafjörður, Northern Iceland. It is situated on an open lowland pasture, just north of the river Hörgá, and ca. 13 kilometers north of the modern city of Akureyri (figure 1). The site lies close to the Hörgá river delta, and thus its eastern property is remotely part of a coastal environment.
The Möðruvellir estate has been an institution of considerable importance throughout Icelandic history. A church was established on its grounds at least as early as the second half of the 12th c. (Vésteinsson, 2001:10), and Möðruvellir became a House of Canons at the end of the 13th c. These religious activities were supported by the produce of a large and important farming estate. The original farm and religious buildings have not been located with precision, but it is generally assumed that their remains are beneath the historic farm mound (Bæjarhóll) adjacent to the wellknown Midden Mound or Ash Hill (Öskuhóll). The Möðruvellir farm mound and historic buildings represent a major cultural and archaeological monument with tremendous potential for future research. The farm mound itself measures some 80 m in diameter and centuries of occupational and construction remains have raised its top 4 – 5 meters above the surrounding farm land. The modern church at Möðruvellir was built in 1865. It is a protected building of historic importance in its own right and stands as successor to a series of churches and other ecclesiastical buildings, many of which had burnt down. |
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