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Stenkyrka
Stenkyrka
	The road from Martebo to Stenkyrka
	Stenkyrka
	Coordinates: 57°47′35.84″N 18°30′54.06″E / 57.7932889°N 18.5150167°E
Country	Sweden
Province	Gotland
County	Gotland County
Municipality	Gotland Municipality
Area
• Total	43 km2 (17 sq mi)
Population (2014)
• Total	505
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Stenkyrka is a populated area, a socken (not to be confused with parish), on the Swedish island of Gotland.^[3] It comprises the same area as the administrative Stenkyrka District, established on 1 January 2016.^[4]

Geography

Stenkyrka in the northwest part of the island. The medieval Stenkyrka Church is situated in Stenkyrka.^[5] Near the church is a minor settlement with a few houses. The fishing village Lickershamn, noted for the stack Jungfrun is situated in Stenkyrka.^[6]

As of 2019^[update], Stenkyrka Church belongs to Stenkyrka parish in Norra Gotlands pastorat, along with the churches in Martebo, Tingstäde and Lummelunda.^[7]^[8]

One of the asteroids in the Asteroid belt, 10125 Stenkyrka, is named after this place.^[9]

History

This settlement is where the Stenkyrka spearhead was found. It is incised with the oldest known runic inscription known in Sweden.^[10]

Little Bjärs Grave Field

A bit east of the church in Stenkyrka is one of the largest grave fields on Gotland, the Little Bjärs Grave Field (Lilla Bjärs gravfält). Along one of the oldest roads in this part of the island, now not more than a trail, are more than 1,000 visible graves from the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Most of the graves are cairns and circular tumuli. Bases for picture stones have been found in the field. They have remained after the picture stones have been moved and incorporated in the walls of the Stenkyrka Church. Some of these have later been moved to Gotland Museum.^[11]

The grave field is about 700 m × 500 m (2,300 ft × 1,600 ft) in a general northeast–southwest direction. It contains about 750 identifiable graves above ground, but it is difficult to ascertain the borders between the mounds. A number of the mounds have depressions in the middle, about ten have visible remains of cists made of limestone slabs, about 30 graves have grave orbs. Among the graves is also a stone ship. A large number of the graves have been damaged by modern constructions and farming. The modern road bisects the area in an angle to the old road that the field have been established around.^[12]

Gallery

Stenkyrka

Rauks at Lickershamn, Stenkyrka.
Stenkyrka church.
Ancient fortress at Lickershamn, Stenkyrka.

Little Bjärs Grave Field

Two stone mounds
Grave orb
One of the larger graves

References

^ Carlquist, Gunnar, ed. (1947–1955). Svensk Uppslagsbok (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Malmö: Förlagshuset Norden. p. 67.
^ "Gotland i siffror 2015" [Gotland in numbers 2015]. www.gotland.se. Gotland Municipality. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
^ The exact extent of the socken, now district, can be obtained by clicking on Kartinställningar and check the Socken box in the menu of this map from the Swedish National Heritage Board database.
^ "Förordning om district" [Regulation of districts] (PDF). Ministry of Finance. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
^ Lagerlöf, Erland; Svahnström, Gunnar (1973). Gotlands kyrkor [Gotland's Churches] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren. pp. 242–245. ISBN 91-29-41035-5. SELIBR 7232718.
^ "Lickershamn". www.guteinfo.com. Guteinfo.com. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
^ "Församlingar på Gotland". www.svenskakyrkan.se. Church of Sweden. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
^ "Visby stifts indelning 2018". www.svenskakyrkan.se. Church of Sweden. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". NASA. Retrieved 2008-04-25.
^ Jansson, Sven B. F. (1962). The runes of Sweden. Stockholm: Norstedt. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
^ Brynolf, Lars (2007). Gotland. Turist & cykelguide, 99-1933445-6. Trångsund: Läsförlaget i samarbete med Svenska cykelsällskapet. ISBN 9789179025625.
^ "RAÄ-nummer Stenkyrka 26:1". www.raa.se. Swedish National Heritage Board. Retrieved 21 June 2015.