Toftir

Toftir (Danish: Tofte) is a village in Nes Municipality on the island of Eysturoy, in the Faroe Islands.

Toftir is part of a chain of villages stretching over a distance of 10 kilometres on the east side of Skálafjørður (fjord) on Eysturoy island.

The highest hill in Toftir, called Húkslond, is only 129 metres high, and Nes Municipality is the only area in Faroe, which has no mountains above 200 metres.

The Toftavatn lake area was the first area in the Faroe Islands to become a Nature reserve in the 1980s, and in 2006 Nes Municipality in cooperation with neighbouring Runavík Municipality joined a network of local authorities in the Nordic countries who would carry out specific projects that aimed to halt the loss of biodiversity in their local areas.

Toftir is served by Bus 440 which connects with Bus 400 for Tórshavn at Skipanes Junction.

History

The settlement of Toftir dates back to the landnám (settlement) period. According to local lore, only one woman survived the Black Death (1348-1350) which left the village in ruins; hence the name Toftir, meaning ruins. The village name prior to the Black Death is said to have been Hella, meaning "slope", which refers to the gradual sloping hillside on which the village is built.