Skáli (Settlement) – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

The shipyard in Skála began its operations in 1904. Since then, it has been expanded and rebuilt, and it has had several owners. The shipyard has the Faroe Islands’ only dry dock and is today owned by the MEST group, which also owns the shipyards in Tórshavn and Vestmanna. ÓLAVUR FREDERIKSEN, 2016

Skáli, mentioned in Hundabrævið, has 739 inhabitants and covers 40 merkur divided into 27 merkur and 15 gyllin of freehold land and 12 merkur and 1 gyllin of copyhold land. The copyhold land is divided between three copyhold tenants. The sheep herd consists of 1,022 animals. It stretches from Innan Glyvur to the bottom of Skálafjørður, where it borders Funningur, Elduvík and Syðrugøta.

The highest mountains in the village are Halgafelstindur at 758 m and Reyðafelstindur at 766 m. The distinctive peak on Reyðafelstindur is an offshoot of the Eysturoy sill.

The shipyard is one of the most important workplaces in Skáli. Its history goes back to 1901 when two shipowners from Tórshavn, Jens í Dali and Søren Müller, bought an old slipway in England, which was put into use in 1904 under the name Kongshavn Shipyard. The shipyard was taken over in 1941 by A/S J.F. Kjølbro in Klaksvík, which for many years also had several companies within fishing and the fishing industry in the village. In 1997, the shipyard was acquired by Tórshavnar Skipasmiðja, and it is today part of MEST, which has shipyards in both Tórshavn and Vestmanna.

Another large company is EL-Service P/F, which was established in 1988 in J.F. Kjølbro’s old fish drying house. With around 30 employees, the company mainly works with electricity on board ships and in tunnels.

The village has a convenience store and a bakery, Bakaríðið á Skála, which also supplies other villages with goods. Until 1940, the inhabitants of Skáli used the church við Sjógv in Strendur.

After 1940, the village had its own church designed by H.C.W. Tórgarð and built of concrete with an eternit roof. It has since then been restored. A parish hall was built in 1960. The Baptists’ hall Neria is from 1979.

In 1965, a school designed by Lamhauge & Waagstein was built, and a new building was commissioned in 1990. Skála Skúli has classes from 1st to 7th grade, after which the pupils continue at the central school við Løkin in Runavík. Barnahúsið Sillan is an integrated institution. Eldrasambílið á Skála is a relief care home for people with dementia, which is part of the municipal collaboration within old-age care at Skálafjørður.

A football club was established in 1965, and the village also has rowing club. The village has a football field and a sports hall with an assembly hall. In 2013, the association Fornminnisfelag fyri Skála og Skálafjørð was established, which runs a local museum.

Further reading