Church environment

Ås Church is located adjacent to the eastern main road about 5 km from the southern tip of Öland and is the island’s southernmost church.

Both the church and the cemetery is located just inside the wide and high wall, “Karl X’s wall”, which cuts across the island and separates Ottenby “Kungsgård” (Kings demesne) with the rest of the Ås parish.

The environment around the church is made up of meadows and the Alvar heath, and from the tower you can see the sea. A little farther to the west lies Ottenby “Kunsgård” (kings demesne) and the church is located on the so called King farm lands. East of the church on the same side of the road is the local folklore societies cottage in Ås, moved there from Näsby.

The church

The first church in Ås was built in the mid 12^th century. The church was consecrated to the saint St. Catherine and during its first two centuries its name was Ottenby church.

In the 14^th century it got its current name. The church consisted of nave and a tower in the east.

In 1773 the church was ecpanded. Then the nave was extended to the west and a porch were added, builder was Henrik Wermelin. With its wooden barrel vault, Ås church became Ölands first Hall church. It is also Öland’s only preserved east tower church.

The top floor was rebuilt in 1820 and was then given the lantern for the bells. The reconstruction was led by master mason Johan Petersson from Kalmar. The church’s exterior was plastered for the first time, and the church was fitted internally with a wooden barrel vault.

In 1787 the church was painted inside. The church has two wood sculptures from the 18^th century and in the ceiling hangs four brass crowns three of which are from the same century and one is from 1980. The most recent renovation was performed 1992 and it was then an exterior renovation.

Memorial grove

The memory grove is located in the middle of the north long side of the cemetery and opened in 2001.

It consists of a semicircular pavement of limestone with planting. In the plantation is a cast iron cross from 1860 with an angel and to the right of the cross there is a small wooden sign with the text”Minneslund” ( memorial grove). A blue glass ball is placed on the wall behind the memorial grove. Shrubs grow on both sides defining the grove to the east and west.

Buildings

In the cemetery’s northwest corner are two buildings. One is the former materials shed and it was built in 1807. In 1959 it was converted into the morgues. Today it is no longer in use as a morgue, and parts of it have been converted to public toilet.

The house is built of stone and has a plastered, whitewashed façade and tiled roof.

The smallerbuilding to theright of thematerialshed isa storage room,withunknownyear of construction. Ithas awhitewashedfacade andatin shed roof.

Both buildings have red-brown wooden doors.

Other

In the porch is a medieval grave slab, adorned with a cross, inlaid in the floor. The stone is probably from the 13^th century.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Vickleby church is located up on the edge of the fault line, just west of the western main road. From the cemetery you have a view of the barren “stora Alvar” (the Great Alvar) in the east and the fertile valley with Vickleby village in the west.

East of the cemetery is “Vickleby bygata” (Vickleby village street) with its dense settlements. Here you find among others Bo Pensionat and Capellagården.

In the 1930-40s became Vickleby a popular residence for many prominent artists. Many of them lived in the village, including Arthur Percy.

Right beneath the church to the east is Vickleby vicarage situated which still retains its original function. North of the cemetery is the former Vickleby church school, for long an exhibition hall connected to Capellagården, but is now privately owned.

The church

Vickleby church belongs to the small group of churches on Öland that is wholly or to most parts preserved since the Middle Ages.

Its believed that the current tower was built connected to a wooden nave in the late 12^th century. The present nave in stone was built in the 13^th century.

Under the leadership of the master mason Anders Törnberg from Kalmar was the medieval chancel and apse demolished in 1778-79, and the nave was extended to the east and a new chancel was added. In 1818 the tower was given a four-sided lantern.

Memorial grove

The Memorial grove is located outside the actual cemetery, in the north-east corner of the park-like area in the west.

It is defined by a semicircular free-standing hedge of spiraea, and a planting with pink flowering shrub roses. It consists of a lawn and in the middle stands a waterfall of metal, and an inscription plate. There is also a tall black-painted light fitting with glass spheres

Buildings

At the cemetery is no additional building but well on the other side of the main road in the east. There stands a building of limestone with roofs covered with older tiles, several tiles has the stamp of Värnanäs brickworks. It was probably erected in 1766 and was then called “redskapshus” (tool shed), the exterior walls were originally plastered, but is now just the masonry. In 1957 the southern part was furnished to a preparation chapel and the north as tool shed.

Other

Older tombstones removed from the cemetery are on display against the northern wall’s western section.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Ventlinge cemetery encircles the church on the slope of the western fault line just east of the western main road, not far from Grönhögen. From the cemetery, you can see the Kalmar Strait in the west.

The area between the cemetery and the main road consists of a small park which also houses the memorial grove. In the east, just outside the cemetery wall its arable land. South of the cemetery is the old teacher’s apartment.

The church

Ventlinge church was built during the first half of the 12th century. The church was at this time a church without a tower in the Romanesque style and was dedicated to St. Lawrence.

The church had a rectangular nave and a lower and narrower chancel in the east ended with a semicircular apse. The tower was built around 1200th

During the centuries the church underwent many minor changes. In 1812, a comprehensive repair and extension and the church was performed and the church then lost its medieval character.

The chancel and apse were demolished and the nave was extended, and at the eastern gable was a sacristy built. The rebuilding to a modern hall church was led by Johan Petersson from Kalmar.

A lantern designed by JAC Wilenius was built in 1825 by Håkan Göth, from Seby and the church bell was moved up in the tower. A church porch was set up in the medieval defense tower in 1880 after the drawing of Otto August Mankell. The altarpiece is from the 18^th century.

Restorations and repairs have been carried out in 1925, -52, -68, -84 and 1999.

Inside the church is a baptismal font foot from early 13^th century.

Memorial grove

A memorial grove was built and inaugurated in 1998. It was built just outside and adjacent to the cemetery wall to the west of the so-called Church Park.

In the fund against the wall is planted rhododendrons and around the stone with the word “Minneslund” (Memorial grove) engraved grows blue shrubby juniper. Otherwise it is planted cherry laurel that separates the grove to the north and south and in front of the plantation are added limestone tiles.

Buildings

Outside the cemetery, in the south-east, is a large building that houses storage room and toilets for the public.

Other

On the cemetery wall is a pair of fragments with inscriptions probably from the early 19^th century. Except from a “tumba” (a stone sarcophagus) just south of the church, the cemetery lacks today older tombstones.

The “Tumba” is for Jacob Brunnerus and his wife Anna Elisabeth Reuter. Brunnerus was in the 18^th century the vicar of Ventlinge and Ås congregations. He died in 1794, a year after his wife.

Not far from the church’s southern entrance is since 1952 the fiddler Gotthard Sjöman buried. He is the author of “Kruspolska, Kvarnpolska” and “Brudmarch till far (Bridal march to father)”

Poet Anna Rydstedt is buried on the south side of the church. On her tomb is a beautiful line engraved ”jag är också född och vuxen till det enda, att vara Anna i världen” (I was born and grown up to the one, to be Anna in the world)

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

The church and the cemetery have a central location in Southern Möckleby village, the main road towards Ottenby in the south and Färjestaden the north passing west of the church and along the road are a few shops including a grocery.

West of the cemetery is the Church park that was laid out in 1957 after plans by Kalmar läns södra Hushållningssällskap (Kalmar County south Housekeeping society). The area was formerly part of the school.

The first school building, built in 1850, is still standing south of the church. The house is considerably rebuilt, partly in connection with the entry into service as town halls when Södra Möckleby became the seat of Ottenby municipality. The building now houses a library and an open preschool, and here was earlier a couple of additional school buildings which was demolished 1965th

North of the cemetery, since 1989, is the parish hall and since 1991 also the parish registrar’s office. Around the cemetery in the east and south is an area with single family houses of different age. The vicarage was earlier located in “Gårdstorp” north of södra Möckleby village but was sold as a new vicarage was built in the village in the 1960s, but is no longer in the parish possession. From 1938, and a number of years forward, were “Södra Möckleby” parish a part of “Kastlösa” parish which also included “Smedby” parish. Nowadays is Södra Möckleby the center of the South Öland parish.

Södra Möckleby has since the 1800s been greatly affected by various industrial activities with alum, lime kiln and cement factory as the most prominent examples. The good harbor location, Degerham, and the access to raw materials made the place ideal.

Öland alum mills or “Södrabruket” gave rise to a whole community with manufacturing plant, workers quarters, mansion and farms. As an example, “Södrabruket” in 1822 had 322 employees, including 116 children. Öland Cement AB was created in 1886 and had in 1920 about 350 employees.

The mills had ups and downs in different periods, and between 1867 and 1926 about 400 parishioners emigrated to America. They were a large percentage of the parish’s population and most of them were young people who had difficulty finding livelihood opportunities at home. The various mills in Degerhamn has greatly influenced the community’s and the parish’s history.

The church

During the medieval times, perhaps as early as the 12^th century a church was built in Södra Möckleby. The first known images shows a church with a powerful tower with tent roof, rectangular nave with saddle-back roof and a slightly lower chancel with a semicircular apse.

After lengthy discussions during the 19^th century the whole church, except the tower, was demolished, and in 1851 a new church was finished. The drawings were drawn up by Johan Fredrik Åbom and builder was Peter Isberg. The church became a typical neoclassical church with a bright and airy church room.

The church has undergone major interior renovations in 1909 and 1951. In the 1951 renovation, the chancel windows was taken away and clogged, and in 1982 a reconstruction of the altarpiece that existed in the Church in the 18^th century was made with the re-use of older parts as well as additions of new ones

The exterior of the church has been restored several times. The biggest change is the clogging of the chancel windows and the cladding of the lantern with sheet metal.

Memorial grove

The memory grove is located in the eastern part of the block 3. The place is small and surrounded by cypress hedge. A limestone rock with the word “Minneslund” (Memorial Grove) marks the grove together with a planting area with shrubs and perennials. There is also a sofa and a stand for flowers.

Buildings

The Morgue with the façade plastered and painted in white. The roof is covered with domed tiles, doors and bargeboards are painted brown. Windows are facing west, three narrow side by side. Airing hatch is facing east and entrance to the south. Above the door is a smooth plastered mark in the facade, as if there previously existed an opening.

Other

The old limestone tombs in the museum is worn and overgrown with bryophyte and lichens, inscriptions are therefore difficult to read, but in the right lightning the text still appears.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Stenåsa church and the cemetery located along the eastern road between Föra in the north and Ottenby in the south. The parish lies between Sandby and Hulterstad parishes in height with Resmo on the west side. The church is located in the northern part of the village. East and west of the church spreads the agricultural landscape out and beyond the alvaret in the west and the Baltic Sea in the east.

The church

When Stenåsa church was renovated in 1956 they found, under the church floor, remains of a wooden church with mud floors that dated back to the 11^th century. This was the first church on the site. In the middle of, or possibly by the end of the 12^th century this first wooden church was replaced by a stone church.

During the 13^th century the stone church was expanded to be twice as long as the original building. During the 18^th and early 19^th century the population of the parish increased, making the old medieval church too crowded.

In 1831 a new church was completed which had been built as a shell outside the medieval church. The drawings were made by Samuel Enander and three builders, P.Isberg, P. Ekholm and H. Goethe, was involved in building the church.

The church is characterized interior and exterior of the neo-Classical features.

Memorial grove.

A memorial was built in 2000 in the southwest of the cemetery. The grove is facing and opens to the north, and in the south defined by a hedge of jasmine, along the hedge is a bench.

In the center is a planting lined with red limestone, here are perennials and summer flowers planted. There are also places to set flower vases and candles. In the middle of the planting stands a cast iron cross. The Cross was originally marking the burial place of P. Olsson’s wife, Ch. Jonsdotter who died in 1870. Her data is still on the back of the cross.

Buildings

In the cemetery’s northwest corner stands a tool shed. It has red-tiled roof and standing wood paneling painted in a gray-green tone, window frames and bargeboards in white.

Other

Adjacent to the shed, along the cemetery north wall, are a number of older tombstones that has been removed from the cemetery on display.
In the northern part of block B is a sundial of more modern date.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Smedbychurchis slightlywest of the westerncountry roadandfrom the cemeteryyou have a view of theKalmar straitin the west.Around thechurchin the south andeast isagricultural land.

To the west lies a red wooden building that was built in the 18^th century butin a different location. In 1848it was moved toSmedbyand became thevicarage,whichit wasuntil 1929, on the plot isalsostorageand barnbuiltin stonein 1917.North ofthe cemeteryisthe churchpasture.

In the northeast corner of the cemetery wall is an old whitewashed building used as a storage area and where there is a toilet and the former elementary school is located just north of the church.

The church

The earliest church on the site was built in the late 12^th century and was a Romanesque apse church with a high west tower which was expanded in the 13^th century..

The current neo-classical church was built in 1851-53 north of the site where the medieval predecessor stood.

Smedby church is a hall church with a narrower ending of the chancel, a pentagonal sacristy in the east and the tower to the west. The tower is topped by a lantern. The architect of the church was JA Hawerman and builder P Isberg. The exterior is virtually unchanged since construction.

In 1952 the interior was considerably changed, mainly in the remodeling of the chancel. A barrel vault and two side rooms were built and the chancel came to be separated from the church room in general. These changes were led by Ärland Noren.

Inside the church is a Romanesque baptismal font from Gotland, dated to the 13^th century and the pulpit is from 1698. In the tower are two bells. The small bell (“Lillklockan”) cast in 1680, the great bell (“Storklockan”) was purchased from the bell caster JP Forsberg in Kalmar 1878.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove is located in the eastern part of the cemetery, in the open lot southeast of the church building. The location consists of a rectangular lawn area. Shrubs of boxwood define the memorial grove in the north and south and in the east by the 110 cm high and 75 cm wide existing stone wall. An elderly black granite tombstone has been reworked and has the word “Minneslund” (Memorial Grove) written on it.

Buildings

Outside the cemetery, and integrated with the cemetery wall is a whitewashed building of unknown age, which is now used as a tool shed, storage room and visitors toilet.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Segerstads church and the cemetery is on the south east coast of Öland at the east main road in the southern part of Segerstad village. Around stretches arable and pasture land and the Alvar out. South of the cemetery is the former vicarage and just north of the cemetery next to the main road is the old school of wood, built 1848.

The church

Segerstads medieval church was the smallest on the island of Öland, only 16 meters long. The ground walls of the small, east tower, church with a strait eastern wall, built in the 12^th century is located under the floor of the today church. One of the pillars carved out of limestone from Gotland that was carrying up the vault, is now with its column capital below the baptismal font, while other parts are found in the plinth to the sun-dial in the churchyard.

The current church is a traditional hall church provided with large arched windows and wooden barrel-vault. Tower to the west is surmounted by an octagonal lantern. Sacristy is located in the east.

The church was built in 1839 by Peter Isberg in free interpretations after drawings by RV Brouhn. After the inauguration in October 1843, in addition to an exterior restoration 1949-51, only minor changes have been made.

The 19^th Century church was fitted with an altar pulpit. The basket that was sculpted in, in 1765 by Clas Wahlberg, was taken from the old church. When the church was renovated in 1949 the pulpit was moved to the north side of the chancel and behind the altar ring was a new altar placed.

Some of the interior is left since the 12^th century and the altarpiece was painted by Einar Forseth, in 1950, and there is also a painting with Öland motifs painted by “solmålaren” (“The Sunpainter”) Per Ekström inside the church.

Buildings

In the northwest corner of the cemetery is an old whitewashed stone building with a tiled roof. Previously it was used as a morgue now only as a storage room.
Outside the cemetery wall to the south is a small wooden building used as a storage room and where there is also a toilet for the public.

Other

At the entrance to the cemetery in the west stands a limestone rock with the inscription: “Wandringsman tänk på ändan 1776.ss Pastor ” (Hiker think of the end) It is a remnant of the former pastor Sven Sahlsten. Sahlsten wanted by the inscription on the hob give the hiker a reminder of his mortality and thus arouse the devotion idea to life.
A sundial stands in the cemetery south of the church. It is partly built of material from the old church. When it was made is unknown.
In the cemetery’s northeastern corner, arranged along the wall, is old gravestones that are taken out of service.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Sandby parish is situated on the eastern side of Öland, almost in level with Färjestaden. The church and the cemetery lies a few kilometers east of the main road that runs along the eastern side of Öland from Föra in the north to Ottenby in the south. Around the church there are several farms still active farm. East of the cemetery is a building that originally was the parish poor house and was built in 1871. The last inherent moved from there in 1929. It was converted in 1953 into a parish hall and functions as such today.

The church

Sandby stone church was built in the 12^th century, then with a nave and a tower in the east. During the 13^th century the western tower was added, which made Sandby church to one of Öland’s pack-saddle churches. In 1782, a major renovation of the medieval church was performed which among other things resulted in that the east tower was demolished.

In the early 19^th century a proposal was brought forward to build a joint church to Gårdby and Sandby parishes. The proposal won no support and the two parishes instead started to rebuild their own medieval churches separately.

In Sandby the work began in 1860. The drawings for the new church were made by JF Åbom and master builder was Peter Isberg and his son Isaac from Algutsrum. The new church was built south of the medieval church. For the new church, among other things, the Baptismal font from the 12^th – 13^th century was transferred. The new church can be characterized, interior and exterior, of the neo-Classical features.

The last major renovation was carried out, 1992.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove was built in 1999 west of Block B. The place is surrounded to the south and to the north by hedges of white cedar. In the northern part is a simple wooden cross.

In front there are plantings and a surface coated with limestone where you can place candles as well as a holder for flower vases. In the south there is a bench.

Other

East of the Church’s chancel is the Patriarchal Cross that was found in 1957. The cross marked with canted limestone’s that are slightly raised above the grass. No one today knows the history of the Cross.

In the southeast corner of the cemetery is a small hill. Here, the temporary blacksmith’s workshop is believed to have been located in the connection to the building of the church in 1860. Here among others was the black smith August Klint working then. He and several other family members are buried here in the so called “Klint hill”.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Resmo church and cemetery is located on the west side of Öland on the fault line overseeing the fertile Mörbylånga valley. West of the church is the former elementary school, built in 1868. South of the cemetery and the road towards Kleva is the old junior school from the 1920s. School and education was moved to Mörbylånga in 1955. To the east is the old blacksmith cottage and with the gable as part of the church surrounding wall is the morgue. Previously there was a poor house east of the church. Outside the cemetery in the north the agricultural landscape spreads out with a spectacular view over the Kalmar strait.

The church

Given the findings of the rune stones and parts of a “Eskilstunakista” found in Resmo, the first church in Resmo should have been a wooden church. A stone church, it is believed, was built in 1070, this of a great man named Sweinu and whose name are on a rune stone found in the cemetery. Resmo church is one of the oldest and best preserved on Öland, since it has retained its fundamental layout from the Middle Ages.

Prior to 1750 the sacristy was added and in 1826 the eastern towers top was demolished while the west tower was erected. Today, the restored Church consists of a chancel with apse and an unusually narrow and high nave with windows in both north and south.

In the 1920s, the church was renovated both internally and externally, and in 1931 the church was renovated once again inside and frescos from the 12^th, 13^th, and the 16^th century were restored. Renovations have since been performed on several occasions, for example, 1966, 1987, and in the 1990s. The medieval altar from the 12^th century was reinstated in the church to the 900 years anniversary in 2000.

Minneslund

Församlingen har fått tillstånd och har under 2006 påbörjat arbetet med att anlägga en minneslund i kvarter 04 norr om kyrkan.

Memorial grove

At Resmo church there is a memorial grove, description will be added later.

Buildings

The former mortuary located as part of the surroundings in the east and has an entrance from the cemetery.
It is a building of whitewashed limestone. Previously, the building had shingle roofs as in the 1980s still, and probably even now, remains below the roof tiles.
The morgue has wooden doors and above the entrance is in plaster shaped cross. The house is currently used as storage facility. The floor is laid out of limestone and it houses among other things an older altar circle, a rune stone fragments and a tomb which before 1965 was located out at the south portal.

Other

Daniel Sabelström was a farmer in the area and he also owned The Inn in Resmo between the years 1842-1870.
A gravestone from the 18^th century to the east of the apse intends the priest Elias Salomon and his wife Maria Cecilia Berghman. During the tapered towering limestone west of it rests dean Israel Ahlqvist, uncle of Abraham Ahlqvist, known for his book on Öland’s history.
Grave location with cast iron fence in the Southeast is for Reverend C Ekvall year 1876th
The cast iron fence around the sea captain Johan Söderlund’s gravesite in the southwestern part of the cemetery is made by Kockums.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Church and Cemetery in Mörbylånga parish is located on the low fertile coastal plain and not, as most of Öland’s churches, on or near the fault line.

Mörbylånga village already existed in the Middle Ages. On the oldest map from 1641, it has been interpreted as the vicarage plot was located a little south of the cemetery, and here should also the medieval vicarage been located.

The estate closest to the church in the South was in the year 1700 appointed to vicarage, and in the mid 18^th century a assistant vicar residence was built to the assistant vicar Anders Hultenius. The house was moved a bit to the south in 1935, to be used as the parish hall.

At the same time a vicarage was built on the land west of the assistant vicar residence. Next to the assistant vicar residence a low, red wooden building was built in 1988 to be used as the parish office and archives.

The two buildings were connected with an angular building facing down to the vicarage. The vicarage is since 2005 no longer in the parish possession.

The former school building is located south of the cemetery. It’s a yellow-painted wooden building, built in 1915, and characteristic of the period. The former school is now privately owned. Junior school was in the little house opposite the school. The plastered house which is situated east of the church building was for a long period the village common bathhouse.

Mörbylånga urban district was founded in 1820 and came during the 19^th century to grow, while the main village at large retained its old scope. Mörbylånga was for long an annex parish to Resmo. This relationship changed in 1935 when Mörbylånga became its own parish.

The church

Mörbylånga church consists of a medieval tower and a nave and chancel which in 1811 replaced the medieval building elements.

The new nave and chancel was designed by architect Axel Almfelt at the Superintendent’s Office. During the period 1760 to 1860, 23 new churches was built on Öland, of which 16 retained its medieval towers, The exterior of the church represents a typical example of churches rebuilt on Öland in this period.

The church has an overall neoclassical expression with its shallow pitched roof, the large arched windows, the smooth undecorated facades and the highlighted south entrance.

The broad and high tower is perceived as large in comparison with the nave and preserves some of its medieval character with the heavy walls and the ancient portal in the west.

This impression is reinforced by the relatively small windows and the neo-gothic inspired spire – an addition from the 1870s. Sacristy built in 1931. The interior has had major renovations carried out in 1931 (J Fred Olson), 1966 (David Dahl and others) and 2000 (Jerk Alton and others.).

Memorial grove

The memory grove is located in the new cemetery’s northern part. The area consists of a circle in limestone with a lawn in the middle. The area is surrounded by trees and bushes.

In the northern part stands a tall wooden cross with the Lamb of God in metal, and an altar table in gray limestone. The limestone table was added in the 1990s in memory of Maria Svensson Ceorecius which was Mörbylånga parish missionary in South Africa 1960-97. Here is also a light carriers designed by Elwin Brask.

Buildings

The Morgue in northeast.
The morgue has a frame made of bricks and plastered facades colored in light yellow color with gray painted base. Entrance is in both the east and west through the double doors painted in pink-red color with black wrought iron fittings. The windows are made of cast iron and thin lattice. The pitched roof building is coated with roof tiles and the construction Year 1915 written in forging numbers over the entrance to the east. In front of the building, to the east and the west, the ground is paved with limestone. The building is divided into two rooms. The West served as mortuary while the east, now used for storage, held the hearse. The morgue was designed and built by master builder CA Svantesson

Outbuilding in the northwest
Tool shed with plastered facades colored in white and saddle-back roof covered with roof tiles. Doors to the east and the bargeboards are painted blue. The year 1948 is on the facade facing east. The building is not in use nowadays.

Outbuilding in the southwest
Tool shed, etc. built with plastered facades in white color with a saddle-back roof covered with roof tiles, extended later on with a red painted wooden building component.

Other

In the cemetery’s northern part, between the oldest and second oldest cemetery is a well with vats of pink limestone. The well was dug in 1921.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Kastlösa church is located on the eastern fault line near the western country road in the northern part of Kastlösa village. Immediately west of the cemetery is Kastlösa “stiftsgård” (diocesan study center).

When the new church was built in the 1850s, then a new vicarage was also built and the old one was moved to the other side of the road and became the first school in Kastlösa.

In conjunction with the building of a new church in the 1850s, a new vicarage was built and the old one was moved to the other side of the road and became the first school in Kastlösa.

The church

Around the 1850’s the old pack-saddle church from the 12th century had became too small for the parish. The old church had consisted of a nave, chancel and an eastern tower, and a western tower had been added during the 13^th century

The new church in Kastlösa was built after drawings by Adolf Johan Hawerman in 1855 and master builder was Peter Isberg from Glömminge. In the minutes from the parish meeting it is written that the church was built “comparatively cheap because most of the work and the execution were carried out by the parishioners themselves“. It came to be built north of the old church.

The new church is made up of rectangular structure, divided into three naves, with chancel in the east, the sacristy in the north and a tower in the west.

The whitewashed walls are covered by a pitched roof and the tower is crowned by a lantern with a short spire. Almost one hundred years after the consecration of the church was major interior renovations performed for the Jubilee.

The nave was transformed in a uniform manner, and got among other things, a flat inner ceiling. Bench interior, the gallery and the pulpit are from the same date.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove was opened in 2000 and is built on the north side of the church. It is defined by a circular hedge of white cedar with an opening in the west.

From the beginning it had an opening on each side in the north and the south, but has later been changed to get a more confined area.

In the eastern part of the grove there is a planting and an older limestone cross. In front of the planting is a stand for vases and to the left a bench where you can sit down.

Buildings

In the northeast corner as part of the cemetery wall is an older materials storehouse, built around 1805, with whitewashed facades and tiled roofs. The house has over a period been used as a morgue but now it’s only storage.

Other

Outside the materials storehouse west wall has a place for older gravestones been arranged, and the oldest one is from the 17^th century.

Smidesgrindarna från 1856 skall vara av den öländske konstsmeden Jonas Peter Dahlgren som under 1800-talet svarat för många vackra kyrkogårdsgrindar på Öland. En ättling – Lars Peter Dalgren – smed från Bredinge malm sover lugnt på kyrkogården.

The Forging Gates from 1856 is believed be of the blacksmith Jonas Peter Dahlgren from Öland, who in the 19^th century produced many beautiful cemetery gates on Öland. A descendant – Lars Peter Dalgren – blacksmith from “Bredinge” rests peacefully in the cemetery.

In Block A south of the church is a well made of limestone’s.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Hulterstad church and cemetery is located on the south eastern side of Öland, at the height of Kastlösa on the west side. The road from Föra in the north to Ottenby in the south which connects villages and communities on the eastern side of Öland goes through the village.

The church is located in the northern part of the village Hulterstad, which holds several active farms. West of the church is it not far to the “Alvar” (the typical moor of Öland) and to the east stretches the arable land out.

South ofthe church is thevicarage, today a private resident.

Between the church and the cemetery is a building that has probably been the vicarage wash/brew-house. Today the building is owned by the church. The house has been recently renovated and there are now toilets for the cemetery’s visitors as well as storage.

The Church

The first stone church in Hulterstad was built in the first half of the 12^th century. It is believed that the stone church was preceded by a wooden church, but remains after one has not been found.

The stone church was built with three naves with a broad west tower surmounted by two smaller towers, a so-called Twin Tower.

During the 13^th century the church was re-built, like so many other churches on Öland, to also act as a defense facility. One of the changes was that the tower was rebuilt.

During the 18^th century the parish’s population increased, which made the medieval church crowded, and a decision was taken to demolish the medieval nave.

The new nave, chancel and sacristy were finished in 1803, and the tower had got a new lantern. The building was designed by architect G af Sillén and the builder was J Söderström and H Wermelin.

During the 19^th and 20^th century, the church has been renovated several times, among others 1950-51 and most recently in 1983, and in the church are several fragments of rune stones kept.

The church nave is characterized interior and exterior of classical stylistic features while the tower despite the lantern from 1803 has an older character.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove is situated in the northeastern part of block D. The grove is marked by an archaic limestone cross.

The cross was earlier heading the tomb of the village blacksmith Lindström who died in 1870. His personal data remains on the back of the cross while a new text “Minneslund” (memorial grove) is carved into the front of the cross.

Around the Cross is a flower bed, a stand for flower vases and limestone tiles to place candles on. The grove is surrounded in the north by a low hedge.

Buildings

In the northern part of the cemetery is a building formerly used as charnel house and then as wood and tool shed. In 1957 the building was re-built to the morgue, the plans for the reconstruction was done by the builder Henning Johansson.

The facade is plastered in white except for a portion of the gable in the north that has standing panel in black. The roof is tiled. All windows and doors have black carpentry.

The northern part of the building is used as storage while the south is a devotion room. The ceiling in the devotion room is covered with tiles, walls are plastered and painted in white and the floor covered with slabs of limestone.

The north wall has a painting by artist Rune Söderberg, and here is a catafalque and a small stone altar.

Other

In block E is a monument to those who died aboard the man-of-war and flagship “Kronan” that was sunk during the “Skånska” War in 1676. The monument consists of a large black painted anchor, four square blocks of stone with iron rings at each corner and a small memorial plaque in stone with the text ”Tappra svenska män ombord Stora Kronan i slaget vid Öland 1676”, (Valiant Swedish men onboard “Stora Kronan” in the battle of Öland 1676)

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Gårdby church and cemetery is located where the road which runs along the eastern side of Öland from Föra in the north to Ottenby in the south, meets one of the roads to Törnbotten and Färjestaden.

Here has a small community of detached houses emerged. In the community were earlier service functions as the country shop, railway station, telegraph station and smaller workshops. Today, most of it is gone, but still left is the school.

In Gårdby is also Eksgården with restaurant and conference facilities, and east of the church is the parish hall.

The Church

It is not known when the first stone church in Gårdby was built, but in the 13^th century there was a church building in the Romanesque style. The church had a nave, chancel and apse. The tower must have been one of the most powerful on Öland with base dimensions of 9×10 meters.

In the early 19^th century a proposal to build a common church for Gårdby and Sandby parishes was raised. The proposal was not accepted and instead a new church for each of the parishes was built.

In Gårdby, was the walls of the medieval church partially used in the new church building and the work were finished in 1841. The Architects were T Edberg and N I Löfgren and builder Peter Icebergs from Algutsrum.

The Church Interior and exterior is characterized of classicist stylistic features. The Church has been renovated several times, last time in 1989.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove is located in the southern part of the area A. It is open to the north and shielded in the south by a thuja hedge.

The memorial grove is marked by a wooden cross, and around it is a flower bed bordered with limestone. There is also a rack for vases. In both ends of the thuja hedge stands bird bath made of stone.

Buildings

To the east of the cemetery stands a building that houses storage room and workshop. It has white painted concrete walls and gable truss in red painted standing panel, tiled roofing and carpentry in white.

Other

Tombstones that have been removed from the cemetery are placed along the cemetery wall in the south. A small collection also stands along the wall south of the entrance to the east.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com

Church environment

Gräsgård church in the south-east of Öland is like many of the churches in the east of Öland, located on the east fault line, consisting of beach ridges formed during the various stages of development that the Baltic gone through.

On the eastern fault line is the main road and along this the church site in Gräsgård, just about in the middle of the parish. The Church has been located here since the early Middle Ages.

In the parish are prehistoric relics from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. Most prominent is the traces from the Iron Age with the Eketorp fortress

Immediately south of the church and the cemetery is the former vicarage, which since 1991 is no longer owned by the congregation.

Just south of the Church was a school building which burnt down to the ground in 2006, what now remains is the former junior school building from 1926. The church and cemetery is surrounded by several farms with active farming.

The Church

The church has a medieval origin, which today is partly preserved in the tower and the east wall of the chancel, and in the porch and the first floor of the tower are several medieval arches visible.

In the church exterior much of the expression it received in connection with the renovation in 1884 has been preserved. The tower spire design has been simplified yet retaining its neo-gothic character.

The Interior has during the renovations in the 20^th century slowly been peeled off from the big style renovation in 1884. The change of benches 1952-53 and the gradual removal of wall painting are the biggest changes.

Today the experience of the church room is most affected by the new color scheme the church got in the renovation 1980-81.

Memorial grove

The memorial grove is located in the extended portion of the west and laid out in the early 1990s. Previously the area had been used as a ceremonial site.

The area is bounded by a tall Thuja hedge and adorned by a high, almost monumental cross in limestone from the early 1960s.

Buildings

In the northeast corner of the cemetery is a building that was moved there in 1814. It was built of materials from an old parish hall or materials shed and was made so high that it could accommodate the parish magazine on the upper floor.

The house is plastered and painted white with a tailed pitched roof.

Other

Along the northern churchyard wall, there are many tombstones removed from their original locations on display.

Primarily it is limestone tombs from the late 19^th century and smaller tombs in black granite from the early 20^th century. These tombs are not that common anymore in the churchyard, and it’s therefore a great historical value in that the tombs are on display for visitors to the cemetery.

Close to the church, on the south side, there are two limestone tombs from the late 1870’s on display.

Source: Kalmar Läns Museum, Kalmar County Museum

Translation: Visitoland.com