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Ellidaey Island

Region: West Iceland
Coordinates: 65.357868° N 22.623779° W

About Island Ellidaey

This is rather a large island to the northwest of the town Stykkisholmur. Its highest point is Mound Bjargholl. Just north of it is the shear Pagan Cliff, which was left unblessed by bishop Gudmundur the good for protecting ghosts, elves and other beings. The cliffs teem with birds and the lighthouse was built there in 1951. The island looks like the rim of an old crater, which it probably is not. Fishing outfits were scattered over the island in the past, but in 1702 only one remained with the three farms, where 17 people lived. A century later only four people occupied the island, in 1845 they were 15 and in 1920 only five. During the period 1914-29 Olafur Jonsson’s family was among the first fox-breeders on the islands. The island was totally abandoned in 1960. Just southwest of the Farm Mound are the foundations of the first lighthouse at the Breidafiord Bay (1902), where cow manure was spread and dried for fuel.

Sagas of Iceland According to the Book of Settlements, the settlers Geirmundur thick-skinned, Steinolfur the short and Thrandur the slim kept their vessels sheltered in the save harbour of the island during their exploration of the Skardsstrond area and the northern part of the Breidafiord Bay for their settlements. The Eyrbyggja Saga tells us about Thorarinn Mahlidingur seeking shelter there with the assistance of the chieftain Arnkell, when he and his companions were fleeing the wrath of the chieftain Snorri at Helgafell. When Eric the red went to seek Greenland to settle there, he enjoyed the same assistance from his friends Eyjolfur Aesuson and Styr the Slayer.