Unstad is situated on the northwest side of the island Vestvågøy in Lofoten. The village is surrounded on three sides by steep mountain sides and on the forth northwesterly side is the long beach, Unstad Beach, where the waves are rolling in from the vast Norwegian Sea. Most of the flat land at the bottom of the valley has been cultivated, and looking at the cultural landscape one can see both the present pattern of buildings and fields and the signs of past settlements and cultivation. In spite of the structure of field ownership having been reorganised during the 19th century, there are still many traces of the old mixed field patterns.

Most of the existing buildings date from the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries and there are houses, farmhouses, farm working buildings, a row of boathouses and a graveyard. The farmsteads are lying side by side along and on both sides of the main road and nearly all of them have the gable facing the prevailing northwesterly winds coming in from the ocean.

Many of the farmsteads in Unstad sit on a “gårdshaug” which is a slightly raised platform in the landscape built up of organic matter such as manure and building remains, which is thought to date back to the middle ages. The Unstad “gårdshaug” measures 90m x 400m. Remains of three longhouses and an area of burial mounds dating back to the iron ages tells of the long, long history of this community.

1840-1950

Village

Wood

log buildings

timber stud framework

Juliussen, Jarle: Unstad - ”Unnulvs store og prektige gård i Borge”. Leknes 2007.

Krogtoft, Magne (red): Borge og Valberg bygdebok II. Bodø 1987.