Tofta, Gotland

Tofta
Cottage by the Tofta beach Cottage by the Tofta beach
Tofta
Coordinates:
Country	Sweden
Province	Gotland
County	Gotland County
Municipality	Gotland Municipality
Area
• Total	38.19 km2 (14.75 sq mi)
Population (2014)
• Total	508
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)

Tofta is a locality on the island of Gotland, Sweden. Formerly a socken, on 1 January 2016, it was reconstituted into the administrative area Tofta District. It is most noted for its long, sandy beach. In the north part of Tofta is a military firing range, which is also the location of the annual Gotland Grand National, the world's largest enduro race.

History

The village of Tofta dates from Medieval times. The oldest preserved text where the name is mentioned, is from 1304. The name may be related to the Swedish word toft, meaning thwart.

In the greater Tofta area there are a number of remnants from earlier eras. During excavations, Stone Age settlements and a cist has been found. There are stone ships and grave mounds from the Bronze Age, and from The Iron Age there are 23 grave fields, groove stones, stone walls, a picture stone and a hillfort. There are also runes chiseled on a stone in the church. The stone is from 1170–90, and is a more likely to have been a tombstone than a runestone dedicated to a man called Röde Orm ("Red Snake"), a common name at that time.

Geography

Tofta is the name of the small 0.3 km² (0.12 sq mi) village surrounding the mediveal Tofta Church, also known as Tofta kyrkby. The name is also used for the larger surrounding area, Tofta socken. Tofta is on the central west coast of Gotland, situated on a high rocky plateau mostly covered in pine forest, 48%, while 22% of the area is used as farmland.

In the northwest part of Tofta, between the coastline and road 140, is the Tofta firing range (Tofta Skjutfält). It is a military compound, approximately 6 by 2 km (3.7 by 1.2 mi), used for training with live ammunition, tanks, artillery and land mines. Once a year, the Gotland Grand National, the world's largest enduro race, is held on the range.

At the Tofta coast, there are two old fishing villages; Blåhäll to the north and Gnisvärd a bit further south. Blåhäll has several caves and Gnisvärd has some of the grandest stone ships on Gotland. Inland is the Smågårde village. Tofta is most noted for the long sandy beach along the southern coastline. It is the second largest and most visited, on Gotland after the Sudersand beach on Fårö.

Culture

A reconstruction of a Viking village has been made in Tofta, where visitors can try out life during the Viking age.

Gallery

• 

  Tofta Church

• 

  Tank on Tofta firing range

• Vikingabyn-Tofta-Gotland-2010-01.jpg

  Tofta Viking village

• Tofta strand södra.JPG

  Tofta beach

External links

• Objects from Tofta at the Digital Museum by Nordic Museum
• "Röde Orm" runes in Tofta Church