16. Byängen (The village meadow)

Byängen is the area along the gravel road towards the forest – already in the 17th century it was called Norrby byäng. Down at the crossroads was the village fire dam, which was removed in 1995. The fire dam was used to fetch water for the cattle during the extreme dry year of 1947. Just below the fire dam were previously two water mills, so-called squelch mills.

Two old skippers’ farms are located along Byängsvägen. The houses are called Byängen and Asplunds or ’Skepparns’. During the 19th century, shipping grew in Häverö. Many schooners were built in Häverö. The typical Häverö brigs were owned by small cooperative shipping companies and were manned by people from the town. In the first house, Byängen, lives skipper Jacob Oscar Carlsson. In 1898 he is the owner and captain of the brig Emil. In the second house, Asplunds or Skepparns, lives skipper Mats Eriksson. He is a co-owner of the schooner Clara and loses two of his sons in 1889 when the schooner Viktoria sank with all its crew. In the 1930s, the next family of sailors moves in, when sea captain Hjalmar Jansson takes his place in Skepparns.

A story from modern times takes place at Byängen on October 1, 1978: King Carl XVI Gustaf is visiting to inspect a military exercise. It is said that another rare guest in the village – a Golden Eagle – majestically sailed over Byängen during the King’s visit. The visit is described in the village association’s minutes:

”HRH was at Byängen where he leaned against Gösta Flodin’s combine harvester. Byängen should henceforth be rightly called Kungsbyängen!”