The stone circles and ships of Blomsholm

Blomsholm is located in Skee parish, Bohuslän, Sweden. It is home to some of Sweden's largest stone circles and stone ships, as well as seven Iron Age burial grounds and the mound Grönehög. Unlike most other stone circles, Blomsholm's has an even number (10) of boulders surrounding the center stone, with a diameter of 38 meters. The stone ship is 41 meters long, 9 meters wide, and consists of 49 stones. The stones amidships are one meter high, while the stones in the bow and stern are 4 meters high. There are other ancient monuments in the area, dating from the Stone Age to the Middle Ages.

Blomsholms Manor was founded in 1625 by the North German nobleman Anders Blume. It was sold in 1628 and in 1644, General Sven Ranck became the manor's fifth owner. A memorial stone from the 1660s over Sven Ranck and his wife Anna Bergengren is located in the middle of the stone ship, even though they are not buried there. In the beginning of the 18th century, the manor burned down and was replaced in 1710 by the buildings that still exist on the site.

During Charles XII's war against Norway in 1718, the manor functioned as a field hospital because it was located on Galärvägen. This was the transport route Charles XII used with the help of 800 soldiers to transport twelve ships over land and via the lakes Strömsvattnet and Färingen to Ise Fjord. Today, Statarlängan, built in 1899, is a restaurant and museum. One of the four apartments is decorated in the same way as it was when the last statesman lived here in 1938. Since 2012, Blomsholm's estate has been owned by GLG-fastigheter AB.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons