Steninge Coast – an Enchanting Nature Reserve with a Dramatic History

Steninge Coast is the new name for the former nature reserves Stensjöstrand and Steninge. Here, you’ll find coastal heathlands with rocky beaches, sand dunes, shingle fields, cliffs, and small patches of deciduous trees. Icelandic horses and grazing sheep roam the pastures. On a warm evening, you can pick your own cliff and enjoy a magical sunset. In autumn, you can wander the windswept beaches and feel the salt spray on your face. The nature reserve has its charm in every season.

The Halland coast may be peaceful and idyllic, but it also harbors a dramatic history. Let us journey back to October 1675. A month earlier, Denmark had declared war on Sweden, in what would later be known as the Scanian War. The question was whether Halland would remain a Swedish province or if the Hallanders would once again be under Danish rule after the war. When soldiers and boats were spotted from afar, it was unclear whether they were Swedish or Danish. Guard duty could mean the difference between life and death. At Stensjö, men from the area were hastily posted to watch. However, putting untrained farmers on this duty could be a challenge, traces of which we can see in the court records.

On October 5, 1675, the sheriff Sven Persson in Lynga read out the names of a long list of men who were to stand trial at the Årstad district court. All these men had been posted as guards at Stensjö. However, discipline among the farmers was not the best. We can suspect they relied on alcohol to stay lively and awake. In the middle of the night, they started shooting and shouting. This led General and his men at Stensjö Manor to first believe the Danes had arrived! The General sent out men to admonish the guards to “keep quiet,” but despite this, the men continued to make noise and fire their guns.

The summoned farmers vaguely responded that they would answer the charges at the next court session. This never happened, and the case faded away.

Text: Andreas and Anna Karlsson