01. A larder on stilts
The "härbre" is a free-standing storehouse where the farm keeps food, clothes and tools. In summer it often doubles as a bedroom. The type is thought to date back to the late Iron Age.
The oldest still standing belong to the church.
Älvdalen, the 1280s. The timber for the church storehouse is felled in 1285 – the tree rings tell us. It is a two-storey paired storehouse of notched logs, and its doors carry ornament from the early Middle Ages. It is one of Sweden's oldest secular timber buildings.
This is where the farmers hand in their tithe. Rows of carved tally marks run along the back – receipts for the grain they delivered. In 1750 the storehouse becomes a parish granary. You borrow seed corn in spring and pay it back in November, with interest. This goes on until 1822. Marks in the timber show that the building has been moved three times, most recently in 1962.
Older still is the tithe barn at Ingatorp in Småland. Its timber is felled between 1219 and 1239.
On the farms the storehouse looks much the same for centuries. In central and northern Sweden the storage room is raised on posts – hence the name stolpbod, post shed. Many have two or three storeys, and the top floor may project over the one below. Because of the fire risk the storehouse stands apart from the other buildings. If the farm burned, the food had to survive.
Similar buildings exist throughout Scandinavia, such as the Norwegian stabbur. In Sámi culture the storehouse stands on a tall post and is called a njalla.
02. How to spot it
- 1.A small log shed
- 2.Raised on posts or stones
- 3.Often two storeys – the upper one sometimes projecting
- 4.Entrance on the gable end (on the long side in parts of Dalarna and Värmland)
- 5.Set apart from the other buildings
03. The giveaway
The distance. A small log shed standing on its own a little way from the farm, preferably on posts, is almost always a storehouse.
Read the façade
- The posts
- Stones under the posts
- Door in the gable end
- Log walls
04. Where to see it
- The church storehouse in Älvdalentimber felled 1285, listed building since 1985
- Ingatorp tithe barn, Eksjötimber felled 1219–1239
- Torekällberget, Södertäljea loft shed and a post shed
- The njalla in Jukkasjärvia Sámi storehouse
Sources
- County Administrative Board of Dalarna (2023): "Kyrkhärbret och loftboden i Älvdalen"
- Church of Sweden, Södra Vedbo parish: "Ingatorps tiondebod"
- Linderson, H. (2008): "Dendrokronologisk analys av fyra bodar vid Ingatorp och Bellö kyrkogård", Dendrorapporter i Lund 2008:23
- Nationalencyklopedin (ne.se)