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<< Our Photo Pages >> Borgarvirki - Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle in Iceland

Submitted by KaiHofmann on Friday, 16 April 2010  Page Views: 5831

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Borgarvirki
Country: Iceland
NOTE: This site is 15.501 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle
Nearest Town: Blönduós  Nearest Village: Borg
Latitude: 65.474810N  Longitude: 20.59663W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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markj99 visited on 15th Nov 2015 - their rating: Cond: 3 Access: 4 I was fortunate to visit Borgarvirki Fort on the cusp of Winter, a fresh layer of snow adding atmosphere to an impressive site. Although my visit predated Game of Thrones it seems to me that Borgarvirki could easily have been transported from the icy wastes beyond The Wall.

Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by KaiHofmann : Site in Iceland (Vote or comment on this photo)
Made out of natural basalt lava, humans altered it to make a fort.

Additional text by CharcoalBurner89: Borgarvirki is one of the few forts discovered in Iceland to date. It is located in the western part of the Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla district and not far from the Hóp Lagoon in the north of the country. The fortress probably dates from the 10th or 11th century.

The fortress rests at a height of 177 m on a natural bulwark of basalt columns between Lake Vesturhópsvatn and Víðidalur. The 10-15 m high basalt columns form a fortress-like structure with a 5-6 m deep depression in the middle and an opening to the east. Further rock layers of 1 to 2 m in height and up to 30 m in length were piled up on top of the basalt columns.

In the middle you can see the remains of one or two huts from the Viking Age. The larger one measures 9 m × 4 m, the smaller one 8 m × 4 m. The remains of a well have also been discovered.

The Heiðarvíga saga, for example, tells of Barður Guðmundarsson and his quarrel with the Borgfirdingers. He is credited with building the Borgarvirki.

Another source refers to Finnbogur rammi, who lived at Stóra-Borg and was at odds with the Vatnsdælingers. A third story tells that the first settlers of the Ingimundur Gamli area had the Borgarvirki built as a job creation measure during the winter period. This is quite conceivable, although Ingimundur would certainly have thought more about protecting his property. In any case, according to the Vatnsdæla saga, it had its first settlement at the foot of Borgarvirki before finally settling in Vatnsdalur.
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Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by markj99 : Borgarvirki Fort Entrance. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by markj99 : Borgarvirki Fort interior & outer wall. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by markj99 : Borgarvirki Volcanic Fort on the cusp of winter. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by KaiHofmann : Site in Iceland The view from the fort. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Borgarvirki
Borgarvirki submitted by KaiHofmann : Site in Iceland The wall remains of the fort.

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"Borgarvirki" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Nothing BC by Andy B on Thursday, 30 July 2015
(User Info | Send a Message)
Kenny Brophy writes: There was no prehistory in Iceland. Nothing BC.

Yet when I recently visited for the first time, it became apparent to me that the landscape, both urban and rural, has a prehistoric quality to it.

This is an island that is defined by extremes of stone, and this has thrown up (in some cases literally) strange and beautiful arrangements of rocks. But not all of these megaliths are natural – there are standing stones, dolmen, stone circles too, commonplace in laybys, parks, street corners and on roadsides and pavements. This is immediately apparent on the road leaving the airport, with huge stone blocks with stone heads – stone people – looming over the road sides of Keflavik.

More at
https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/nothing-bc/
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Borgarvirki by FAE on Monday, 07 June 2010
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According to the historical notes on the information sign at Borgarvirki, it is probably a district fortress from the 10th or 11th centuries. There are no historical references, but legends which link Borgarvirki to this time.
The wall was reconstructed in 1949-50 and there are ruins of medieval dwellings and a well inside the fortress.
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Re: Borgarvirki by KaiHofmann on Friday, 16 April 2010
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Iceland was first settled by irish monks in the 6th century. they founded some small hamlets. perhaps this site could also be altered by these monks?
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