Verkegards, or Verkas länning as the fishing village is colloquially called, is scenically located on the southern shore of Kyrkvik next to the border where Friggar's and Hammar's properties meet. Here, at the far end of the bay, five red-colored beach huts stand in a row parallel to the beach. In front of these, two jetties and a sturdy stone pier stretch out into the water. Behind the beach huts and a stone wall is the gist garden. From the landing you have a beautiful view of the church, the school and the Bergman center across the bay. You can also see Mönorhauen and Friggarsviken, where the gray lime kiln guards the entrance like a medieval defense tower. In the background Avanäset looms over whose dark forest edge the August moon rises magnificently red during the late summer. At the distance of a good rowing trip, in at least half an hour in a south-easterly direction, you reach Hammarsgrundet. A foundation visible at low tide. It also makes itself felt in rough weather when the waves break into white foam, far out there against the hard surf. Here the flounders have been set in the lake and have produced good catches for many generations. Askogrundet is another well-known eye-catcher where on certain days the island seems to float above the water.
Find here
The easiest way to get to Verka's county is to turn off directly after the first lattice bridge on the country road between the church and Dämba - from the church. In the 1960s, the gallery bridge replaced "Kallander's gate", named after the owner of the nearby residence. The exit road leads to the landing through an open pine forest with Kyrkviken's water glitter looming between the tree trunks.
The bridges and the stone pier
The bridges and stone pier at Verka's landing are of late date. There is no oral or written information about the bridge in older times. The reason is simple. Länningen is completely open to autumn storms and pack ice. The forces of the sea would surely have broken down and taken most things with them in its path, if there had been a bridge here. Verka's landing has therefore had the same character as most other fishing villages on Fårö - some beach huts, a number of landings, boats raised on the castle and various devices and gear for fishing.
It seems that a bridge association is being formed
The pier and piers are around 15 years old. They were built with the joint efforts and financial investment of the partners in Verka's brewery association, which was formed in February 2006. After the necessary permits from the island's authorities, the construction of the bridge started with sup and handshakes down by the beach on Maundy Thursday of the same year, in grim weather. The association then consisted of 11 members. Today, the number has increased to 24. Thanks to knowledgeable and diligent Verkas residents, the stone pier with the associated wooden jetty could already be inaugurated in the late summer of the same year. The smaller bridge came into existence somewhat later – in 2009.
The task of the brewing association
The piers and the pier are owned and managed by Verka's pier association. Anyone who owns a property with the register designation Verkegards, or is registered there, can become a member of the association. Membership means that you have the right to apply for a berth according to the queue list. The association can provide space for guest boats for a certain fee if there is space. The business is led by the chairman together with the treasurer/secretary. The dock bailiff and the construction manager have the practical responsibility for the maintenance of the docks and pier. Larger and more costly measures are decided by the general meeting. Contact persons: Anders Nyström chairman, Ann-Christine Broman treasurer/secretary.
The piers - an asset for the people of Verkas
The lean-to and the piers have become a valued asset for Verkas residents and visitors who find their way here. From the large jetty, it is excellent to take a morning swim. Others come with a coffee basket or for a barbecue evening when the sun slowly sets behind the church's curved baroque tower. While the village invites relaxation and great nature experiences, it is still a lively fishing village, even if it is not what it used to be. Whenever you came here, there was someone here who might be working on the boat, arranging the nets or simply being chatty. And of course you got to hear fishing stories - both credible and more imaginative. Fishing is like that. Some of today's Verkas residents are still diligent with their nets in the lake, while others fish less often. The beach huts are kept in good condition and are used in the traditional way. They are owned by individual members of the community.
About the landing in 1971
The most accurate description of the conditions at the landing is the County Board's fishing location inventory from 1971. It reports six beach sheds as well as two winches and three winches in working order. In addition, there are three two-man boats, four smaller boats and a cutter. You also get information about who owns the beach huts and how they are built. A sketch shows in detail how the area was laid out. According to oral accounts, Verka's lanyard was moved to its current location after a severe storm rendered the old lanyard unusable. The incident has not been confirmed through written information. It is clear, however, that the land is in its current location in 1829 according to the change of law map. In that case, the move should have taken place earlier. Possibly the land may have originally been located where there is a trapped body of water.
The peculiar landscape
If you want to explore the surroundings at the landing, there are several options, on foot or by car. A walk along the beach is self-written, whether it goes up towards the church or south towards Hammars. You can also choose a nature walk in the nearby beach meadows. The grazed land extends all the way up to the country road, and also beyond it. The vast and open landscape with single trees and grazing sheep gives a strong Fårök feeling. The natural environment is unique and is usually described as "pine savannah".
Beach meadows and bird life
It is the lambs that make sure that the beach meadows at Verka's county remain. The cloud disciplines the grass and keeps down bushes and sly. They leave the grass high enough for the shorebirds to continue to thrive here, lay their eggs and watch over their young in the nest - constantly observed by the crows in the pine forest next door. Great crested grebe, red-legged gull, shore catfish and "bläcku" thrive on the land down towards the landing. Their arrival and intense sounds are a long-awaited sign of spring.
Strandåkrar
The need for arable land was great in older times and they made use of what was available. At the beach, not so far from the landing, two areas with beach fields are mentioned - lean and rocky according to the surveyor's determination of the condition of the land in the early 1800s. It is still possible to see the traces of the fields and Verkasborna's cultivator labor in the forest edge above the landing. One is amazed that it was possible to grow anything in this environment at all.
About the road to Hammars
Along the beach runs a road between Hammars and Fårö church. It is Hammar's church road. It is named and drawn on the map first surveyor AJ Lallér established at the legal change in 1829. The road certainly has very old origins. Church roads are already mentioned in medieval national laws with a statutory width of 5 cubits (3 meters) because the church had a central function in the society of that time. Public roads were few and people had to go to church for everything that belonged to church life. The only public road on Fårö until the 1780s was between Broa and Lauter via the church. Hammar's church road is one of Fårö's most beautiful sections of road with the sea and the beach on one side, stone fences and a claimed agricultural landscape on the other. West of Verkegards is Dämba church road.
Ingmar Bergman was here
Along the road to Hammars, a short distance beyond Verka's county, Ingmar Bergman found the environments he was looking for for several of his films. Here, with the help of Fårö residents, he had scenery houses and railways built for camera rides for the filming of Såsom i en spegel. During a walk in the area and with the Bergman Center's exhibition about the film in mind, you can really feel the starlight from the great film actors of the 1960s. The local environment at Verka's county has also been used in certain scenes. So also in the current film Bergman Island.
The shooting range
In the vicinity of the village there are remains of the Fårö Västra shooting association's shooting range. It was built in 1901 by Fårö Skyttegille, which had been formed in 1898. The shooting ramp was in use until the mid-1940s but is said to have been used as late as the 1960s. It stretched from the country road down to the beach where it ended with a bullet catcher. It still exists. There are also the construction sites of 3 and 400 meters left. It happened that sniping was practiced at even greater distances. On such occasions the road was flagged off. The shooting range also included a shooting pavilion where parties and dance performances were arranged, not least during the standby period. The building has now been demolished, but remains remained until the 1960s. Adjacent to the beach not far from the bullet catcher is a barricade of larger stones laid in a horseshoe formation. It stems from World War II.
The tar factory
On the beach land where Hammars kyrkvägen turns off up towards the country road was the so-called tar factory. This is probably a so-called milestone. It is a masonry cylindrical furnace with a steel drum and direct heat for dry distillation of split stumps to produce tar. The method meant that it was also possible to extract turpentine and various wood oils. Furnaces of this kind came into use after the First World War and replaced the traditional miles of commercial production. Two people at Verkegards were co-owners of the facility. Today, only weathered brick and some scrap iron remains.
Some excerpts from Verkegard's probate documents
In the change of ownership documents from 1829, surveyor AJ Lallér notes the "Samfällda apartments" (places) that are on the "Werkegårds home". One of them is: "The land between Hammar's church road and the Lake with several blocks there as well as slåke chains and fishing below." A demarcated area divided into two smaller units with a beach hut on each marks the fishing location on the parcel map. Fishing has always been a necessity for the livelihood of the people of Fårö in the past, and through the wording in the deed of deed, the farm owners were guaranteed the same right to the beach and fishing. Equally indispensable was the sedge as a supply of nutrients to the meager fields. The slag washed ashore was piled up on the beach and distributed so that all Verkasgårdars got a share of it. The line floats ashore a short distance beyond the ball catcher. The probate documents tell us that Lars Persson Werkelin, Per Persson, Ewert Persson and Olof Werkander each owned ¼ of Verkegard's homestead at the time of the transfer in 1829. The surveyor's final document on the redistribution of the ownership was approved with his own signature and residence mark on September 11, 1829. The document is witnessed on the same day by two best men, Olof Broa and Erasmus Båta. The meeting had been preceded by a general meeting at Verkegards on August 18 with all concerned landowners present. The meeting was announced from the pulpit in Fårö church a few weeks earlier. The jointly owned beach land is today called common land and stretches from Hammar's church road down to the water and lengthwise away towards the church where Sven's property takes up. It has the same extent today as when the estate map was made. In addition to the beach land, there were also other jointly owned sites that were necessary for the operation of the farms in the early 19th century. The deed of transfer mentions: The windmill on the property Hemrum with 8 acres of land around it, Nyåker's qvior, i.e. a road 25 cubits wide to Limor swamp, plan for the old well in Hemåkern next to the residential buildings and a small corner of Hemåkern at the "driveway" to the courtyard . Fishing in the nearby Limor swamp is also occupied as a common asset. The need for excavation and quarrying was resolved by a special agreement between the farmhands and was not regulated in the shift.
Information about Verkasborna's fishing in older times
Among the oldest information about the Verkasborn's fishing is the mapping of Gotland's farms from 1693. Here it is noted for the Verkegards: "slekedy to 40 loads in Saltsiön, mountain fish in Limor swamp (tierr), skäälfishing in Haganäs and cod and flounder fishing at Berget and Helligman (Saltsiön) ". The fish did not go solely for own consumption. Salted sturgeon and cod as well as seal blubber and salted lamb carcasses were common as payment in kind of the tax. It is noteworthy that there is nothing about fishing at the bank, as well as the comment kierr at Limor swamp. The swamp is almost dried up today and forms a vast sea of water - magnificent to view from the high limestone cliff at Klintängarna. In the springs, a mirror of water shines out in the middle of the former swamp. Attempts were made at the end of the 19th century to dig out the swamp, which was one of Fårö's largest. A landowner objected to the excavation and the project was never implemented.
Estate records tell about the fishing
The cooking shift at Verkegards was one of the earliest on Fårö. Driving the issue was the owner of one of the parties, Lars Persson Werkelin. Based on the estate registration in 1844, when he hands over the farm to his son Niklas Petter Werkelin, it appears to have developed in a favorable way since the last estate registration in 1796. This is likely a result of the probate reform, which made it possible to farm the land in a more efficient way. From having previously been scattered and divided into approximately 300 pieces of land, the shift meant that the farms' holdings were gathered into a few larger units. Improved cultivation methods and implements also contributed to the development of agriculture. The 1844 estate register mentions: a two-man boat, 13 flounder nets, a cod boat, a swamp boat (probably flat-bottomed) and a quarter of a three-man boat. In addition, there were 10 flounder nets, gillnets and a number of gillnets. Compared to the estate register in 1796, there are significantly more nets and boats, which can be interpreted as fishing having increased in scope since Lars Persson Werkelin took over the home net. Since the farm's finances have strengthened, you can count on a lot of fishing to be sold. Salted fish was a desirable commodity and provided plenty of money for the farm. Assuming that the other three farms had a similar set of boats and fishing gear, there should have been a lively activity at the landing during the first half of the 19th century.
Contact
Anders Nyström, chairman Email address:
ale@747.se
Text: Fårö 10 March 2022 Lennart Edlund
