New Búkolla documents 600 farms in South Þingeyjarsýsla

The fourth edition of Settlements and farms in South Þingeyjarsýsla has been published, mbl.is reports. The two-volume work spans about 1,200 pages and documents farms, buildings, livestock, residents and rural communities across the region.

The book covers around 600 farms from Svalbarðsströnd to Tjörnes, including Grýtubakkahreppur, Fnjóskadalur, Ljósvatnsskarð, Bárðardalur, Kinn, Reykjadalur, Aðaldalur, Mývatnssveit and Reykjahverfi. Its publication was celebrated at a gathering in Breiðumýri in Reykjadalur earlier this week.

The first edition was published in 1964, followed by editions in 1985 and 2005. The latest edition was released in 2026, although its information reflects conditions on the farms in 2025.

Similar publications about farming and local people have since appeared in many other rural districts. They are often known as Búkolla and are commonly kept on kitchen tables for reference when questions about local history or farm details arise.

“The changes in settlement and society in these rural communities are substantial, so there is a clear need to publish a new Búkolla every 20 years,” editor Sólrún Harpa Sveinbjörnsdóttir told mbl.is.

Sólrún lives in Víðigerði in Aðaldalur and works at the library in Húsavík. She has studied translation and writing and is familiar with the region. The South Þingeyjarsýsla Farmers’ Association selected her to edit the new edition.

Tourism has become an important source of income in the region since the previous edition was published. Many farms now offer accommodation, restaurants, entertainment and related services. At the same time, traditional farming has declined, although the farms that remain are considerably larger than before.

Generational changes have often driven those developments. When younger people take over a farm, the previous residents frequently build small houses near the farmyard so they can remain in the countryside, close to their descendants and the younger generation.

The new Búkolla is organised partly according to the old rural districts, which were smaller administrative and social units than those in use today. Sólrún cited the former Bárðdælahreppur as an example of an area that formed a distinct geographical and social whole. Bárðardalur is now part of Þingeyjarsveit.

Local people from each former district compiled information about the farms and their residents. Farmers and, where appropriate, others then reviewed the material for approval before the farms were documented one by one.