Bøður – (Video) (Summer)

Bøur is a small village on the west-side of Vágar on the north side of Sørvágsfjørður, Faroe Islands. It has views over the sea and the rocky islet Tindhólmur with its many peaks, Gáshólmur and the two “drangar”, (tall, pointed clifftops sticking up from the sea). This motif is known on many paintings and photographs.

The old houses in the village are bunched together with narrow lanes between them, and at the western end stands the cosy church, which was built in 1865.

Bøur is an ancient settlement and is mentioned in the so-called Dog Letter dating from 1350 AD, but it is probably older. The village is also mentioned as having a church in a document dated 1710, but it is not known when the first village church was built.

Sørvágur (Danish: Sørvåg) is a village on the island of Vágar in the Faroe Islands.

It is located at the landward end of Sørvágsfjørður. Sørvágur is the largest village in Sørvágur Municipality.

The name Sørvágur translates to “The Bay of Sør”. While the second half of the name makes sense given the fact that the village is located at a bay, the first half is more mysterious. Legend has it that the first man to settle at this place was called ‘Sørli’ and hence the village was named in honour of him. Another explanation on the origin of ‘Sør’ comes from the old-Norse ‘Seyr’ which is a word for sand (seyr is also a word for foggy rain). Sørvágur has quite a large sandbeach in comparison with other Faroese villages and towns, and therefore it was speculated that the original name of Sørvágur was Seyrvágur, and during the course of time, Seyrvágur became Sørvágur. During the first half of the 20th century, local people in Sørvágur tried to correct this historical injustice and used the name Seyrvágur instead of Sørvágur. However, this trend died out again. One reason may be that there is no proof in the Faroese historical records that justifies the name Seyrvágur.

Sørvágur is considered to be one of the oldest villages in the Faroe Islands. In 1957, the locals decided to build a new school, and during the preparations to build the school’s gymnastic hall, they excavated an old Viking settlement. Sørvágur – alongside Leirvík, Tjørnuvík and Sandur – is one of the few places in the Faroe Islands where archaeologists have been able to find substantial proof that these places were built during the first 100–150 years after the Faroese Landnám in 825.

Even though the village is old, there is no mention of it, or the island of Vágoy, in the old Faeringa Saga from the thirteenth century.