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Äskhult old village

Äskhult is situated in Förlanda parish, south of Lake Lygnern in Northern Halland. It consists of the four farms Göttas, Jönsas, Bengts and Derras.

The name Äskhult (which has been spellt with an E or an Ä) derives from the Danish words esk (ash) and holt (copse). The leaves of the many ashes that used to grow here were good fodder for the many animals, and the soil on the ridge was easily cultivated compared to the marsh on the plain below.

We do not know when people first settled here, but on the fields flint objects from the Early Stone Age have been found. The tax-roll of Förlanda from the year 1600 mentions that the alderman Anders Joenson collected tax from the four farms of the village. From then onward the history of the village is well documented.

The village has more or less the same appearance as in the 18th century. The oldest buildings are from the 17th cen-tury. At the great redistribution of land-holdings in 1825, the land on the ridge was devided into four partitions, but the land surveyor managed to draw the boundaries so that no farm had to be moved out.
At the end of the 19th century, some 35 people lived in the village. During the years 1890-1914, about 20 of them emigrated to America. The last villager died in 1964.

Two of the farms are now open to visitors: Göttas and Jönsas.

Life in the village
How did the villagers earn their living? To each farm belonged 5-6 acres of cultivated land, about 60 acres of forest, pastures, grass enclosures, hayfields and a share in the marshland on the plain below the ridge. People cultivated barley, rye, oats, beans, turnips and, later potatoes, carrots, various kinds of sweet-herbs, hops and flax. The corn was ground in the village mill, which was situ f the village. It was pulled down about 1870.
Each farm had one or two horses, two or three cows, a heifer or a calf, sometimes an ox, some pigs, sheep, goats and hens.

In each farm there were one or two looms. The women wove large quantities of homespun, linen sheeting, towels, head-cloths, cloth for aprons, shirts and dresses. Then they walked to Mark and Gothenburg and sold their cloth.

The countryside around the village
Many vestiges of olden times’ farmers can still be found in the countryside around Äskhult. There are, for example, stone fences, cattle tracks, mounds of stones, and fossil fields. Decades of effective farming and forestry practices in the recent past have, however, resulted in that the old village had become all the more surrounded by a present-day production landscape with large connected fields, overgrown meadows and pine tree plantations.

A few years ago, the village’s former lands were set aside as a nature reserve, and extensive work has now begun to recreate the landscape of the old culture that existed here in the early 19th century. It was a landscape with its roots in prehistoric time, which was characterised by open and uncultivated heaths used for grazing, flower-rich hayfields and small fields with numerous mounds of stones.

On the outlying land north of the village, large areas of planted pine forest have been felled in order to give the heath a chance to spread itself once again. In the moist hollows to the north and south of the village, restoration of the overgrown, damp, haymaking land (side pasture meadows) that previously existed here is in progress. In the area closest to the village, the old mosaic made up of fields, stone fences, mounds of stones, and pasturage meadows will be recreated. Old types of spring-sown rye, oats, barley and flax are now growing in Jönsas and Göttas fields. During the summerseason you will find old swedish breed in the fields.

It will take many years to recreate an early 19th century landscape around the village. From time to time, the land will look a bit untidy, especially after large forest cutting operations. The goal is to reintroduce as many traditional forms of cultivation as possible, such as ploughing with horse and haymaking using scythes. It can be exciting for the returning visitor to follow how the countryside around the village gradually changes character towards the final goal: a landscape that reflects the time when Äskhult was still a living village before the great transformations of the landscape took place and the cultivation methods of the 19th and 20th centuries were implemented.

Guided tours make history come alive!

Äskhult Old Village is open:
May 1st - May 31st from 11am - 5pm
June 1st - August 31st from 11am - 6pm
Weekends in September from 11am - 5pm

Entrancefee:
30 SEK Adult/40 SEK w 26-32
10 SEK Children age between 6-15 /20 SEK w 26-32

Guided tours and prices:
June 26th - August 15th
June - August 1pm and 3pm

20 SEK adult
No fee for children under the age of 15

The coffee house
Open Weekends May-September,
25 June-15 August all days

The coffee house serves home-made bread.
 

Information and group bookings:
The Village, phone +46 (0)300 - 54 21 59 May - August
September - April, phone +46 (0)300 - 83 47 60

For more information, please contact:
Kungsbacka Tourist Information Centre,
tel. +46 (0)300-83 45 95, fax. +46 (0)300-83 45 99
e-mail: tourist@kungsbacka.se

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