Identity area
Type of entity
Corporate body
Authorized form of name
Barnafossar í Hvítá
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Description area
Dates of existence
874-
History
Barnafoss er foss í Hvítá, í þrengingum við jaðar Hallmundarhrauns rétt fyrir ofan Hraunfossa. Þar er steinbogi yfir ána, en engum er ráðlagt að reyna að fara yfir hann. Sagnir eru um annan steinboga á ánni á þessum stað sem nú er horfinn. Bogarnir neðan fossins hurfu á sjötta og sjöunda áratugnum, en boginn á gömlu fossbrúninni er alltaf þurr nema í flóðum.
Sjálf fossbrúnin er komin tugum metrum ofar en áður og er nú iðuflaumur þar sem áður var aðalafossinn. Erfið aðkoma er að steinboganum sem hefur alltaf heillað ofurhuga og stökk þar yfir aðkomumaður um miðja síðustu öld og síðast varð þar banaslys árið 1984.
Til eru heimildir fyrir því að fossinn hafi áður verið nefndur Bjarnafoss. Svæðið var friðlýst árið 1987.
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Mandates/sources of authority
Sagan segir að steinbogi af náttúrunnar hendi hafi áður fyrr þjónað sem brú yfir Hvítá. En á jólum, endur fyrir löngu, hélt heimilisfólk í Hraunsási til kirkju á Gilsbakka í Hvítársíðu, sem er bær hinum megin við fossinn. Tveir ungir strákar voru skildir eftir á Hraunsási. Þeim leiddist og veittu heimilisfólkinu eftirför. Er þeir komu á steinbogann litu þeir niður, misstu jafnvægið og féllu í ána. Eftir það lét húsfrúin að Hraunsási höggva bogann niður.
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
The meaning of this waterfall translates into "Children's waterfall", but the signs here indicated that there was a saga describing why it got this name. The saga said that there were two children in the Hraunsás household who were supposed to stay home while the parents went to church for Christmas Mass. When the parents returned from mass, they discovered that the children had disappeared (possibly because the children got bored and decided to go out).
They then followed the children's tracks to this waterfall at the stone natural bridge where the tracks disappeared. The mother concluded that the children must have fallen into the river and drowned. Then, the mother had the arch destroyed in order to ensure no one else faces a similar fate. I've seen some accounts say it was by spell or curse, which induced the bridge's collapse by earthquake. In reality, natural bridges usually collapse over time, and given the powerful erosive forces from the rapidly moving river that undercut whatever was supporting the bridge, that could very well have been the fate of the natural arch here.
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Related entity
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Related entity
Identifier of related entity
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IS HAH
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Status
Final
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Language(s)
- Icelandic