Thvotta Farm (Þvottá)
Thvotta Farm (Þvottá)
Þvotta means 'washing river' and this farm by the side of the road takes its name from the river that flows by it.
The name is unusual and has nothing today with laundry! It originates from the settlement times when in the late 900s, King Olav I of Norway sent a missionary named Þangbrandur to Iceland to convert people to Christianity.
Þangbrandur spent his first winter in this area and succeeded in converting Hallur, the farmer at Þvotta. Hallur and his household were baptized in the river.
In the year 1000, Iceland's National Assembly at Þingvellir decided that the whole island would become Christian, a mass conversion that was both peaceful and widely accepted.