Jarlabankestenarna: The Memorial of Jarlabanke, Bridge-Builder in Fällbro

Jarlabankestenarna, or the stones of Jarlabankes, is a collection of runestones in Fällbro, Täby socken, Täby kommun, Southeastern Uppland. The most notable among them is Runinskrift U 142, a 1.55-meter-tall stone that stands as a memorial to Jarlabanke, a man believed to have been instrumental in bridge-building during the 1000s after Christ’s birth. The runestone is adorned with ornamentation in the Urnes style and was crafted by runemaster Öpir.

The inscription, written in Swedish, translates to: Ingefast let resa stenen och göra bro after Jarlabanke, sin fader och Joruns son, och Kättilö let [resa stenen] after sin man. Öpir ristade. This suggests that Jarlabankes son Ingefast erected the stone during his father's lifetime.

Approximately 100 meters south of Jarlabankes stone, there are two run-hällar with inscriptions that also tell of bridge-building. Run-inscription U 145, located nearby, reads: 'Torkel and Fulluge let carve this stone and build the bridge after Sten, their father. Olev carved.'

Run-inscription U 146, found in 1946 near a Viking-era gravefield southwest of Fällbro gård, reads: 'Ingeborg let carve the stone and build the bridge after Holmsten, her husband, and after Torsten, her son' The run-häll found in 1946 let Vig, Utrygg and Balle carve after their father Rodger and is adorned with a man figure.

The run-häll can be considered the oldest depiction of a täby man. See also the alphabetic list of run-hällar, the Jarlabankestenarna, and the List of Upplands run-hällar.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons