Þvottaá

The farm Þvottá is the southernmost farm in Álftafjörður. Around the year 1000 the renowned Saga personality Hallur Þorsteinsson, or Síðu-Hallur, lived there. He received the priest and missionary Þangbrandur, who spent the winter with him. Síðu-Hallur and his whole household were baptized in the river by the farm and since then it was named River Þvottá (The Wash River). The farm gets its freshwater supplies from the so-called Þangbrandur Well, where the missionary probably held services at St. Michael’s Mass with the people of Þvottá attending the day before they were baptized. A ruin by the well was declared inviolate.

Þvottá was a church site until 1754 and a parsonage for a long time. The old cemetery is still visible. Mt Mælifell (487m) is closer to the sea and north of it are Sellönd (Summer Pastures).

The whole area is rather colourful because of the rhyolite intrusions and quite a few basaltic dykes decorate the landscape. These formations were created by the ancient and extinct central volcano, which has now mostly disappeared under the Álftafjörður Bay. Traces of several minerals were discovered in the area, gold, platinum etc.

By Þvottaá, there is a monument to the adoption of Christianity and the area is vell suited for outdoor activities.