24. Kollsá

According to legend, the early settler Kollur took th land at the Kollsá river. Another explanation for the name is that it comes from woods used for making charcoal which existed at that time. The settler Kollur is said to have had Hildur as his wife, who is said to be buried at Hildarhaug, the highest peak of Seljafjall mountain. There are allegedly precious items buried in her coffin. Stories say that attempts to dig up the coffin have failed, and the last time that it was tried, it almost succeeded. At that point one man said that the coffin was coming up whether God wanted it to or not. Then the coffin fell back into the grave, killing a man in the process. On the other hand, a ring from the coffin remained above, which is the same ring that now hangs on the church door at Stadur.

At Kollsá there were five residents in 1703; the land was first mentioned in the 17th century. There are few resources there, but it is a short distance to the fishing grounds. In Jardabók it ways the land had been abandoned after the epidemic. It's clear that it was deserted for quite a time, because no one was registered as living there in 1801. By 1845, though, six people made their home there. Above the field at Kollsá lies a trail up along the Kollsárgil gully up to the Höfdastrandaheidi heath. It's a short distance from the Kollsá river to the Höfdaströnd coast, over a bumpy stretch below the cliff ridge called Katlar. Hidden people were thought to have lived there. Ragnheidur Jónsdóttir, a midwife at Nedribær on Höfdaströnd, said once that she helped a hidden woman from Katlar with a difficult birth. Kollsá was abandoned in 1957.

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