Þingvellir — Drekkingarhylur, the drowning pool

OVERVIEW

Þingvellir was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland, from 930 until the last session held here in 1798. It lies in the rift valley where the North American and Eurasian plates pull apart, and is now a national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site about forty kilometres north-east of Reykjavík. Some of the rifts are full of clear water; one, Nikulásargjá, was bridged for the visit of King Frederik VIII in 1907, and visitors began throwing coins from the bridge, so that it is now known as Peningagjá, the coin fissure.

HISTORY

The assembly was a court as well as a parliament, and the places of execution are marked and named. Drekkingarhylur — the drowning pool — is a deep pool in the Öxará river where women were drowned: held under in a sack, for infanticide, for adultery, for perjury. The executions are recorded, and the women's names are known. Men convicted of the corresponding offences were beheaded at Höggstokkseyri; those convicted of sorcery were burned at Brennugjá, the burning chasm.

REPORTED ACTIVITY

No haunting tradition is claimed here and none is needed. The entry records a named, signposted place of execution inside a World Heritage Site where thousands of people walk past every day, and where the National Park's own interpretation tells visitors what happened in the water. Visitors describe it as the coldest place at Þingvellir, and it is.

VISITING

Þingvellir National Park is open at all times and free, with paid parking. Drekkingarhylur is on the marked path along the Öxará below the Lögberg, signposted and interpreted. Route 36.