Runsten, Forshedastenen

It's well worth
stopping for a while, stretching your legs and feeling the winds of history
while contemplating the famous Forshedastenen stone and its runic inscription.

The runestone, which
dates back to the Viking Age, is of gneiss and was erected in the 11th century.

The runestone has
been known since the 17th century, and was first erected by a bridge. The
Forshedastenen stone is one of the oldest written sources on Finnveden. The
runestone is 1.95 metres high, 0.85 metres wide and 0.3 metres thick.

The inscription on
the runestone translates as: “Rolf and Eskil erected this stone after Livsten,
their father, who was killed in Skåne at Gårdstånga, and brought (him) to
Finnveden.”

One interpretation of the
inscription is that there was a battle at Gårdstånga in Canute the Great’s war
against Anund Jakob and Olav the Holy. It is known that the war was fought in
Skåne around 1025, but not where in Skåne Gårdstånga was located.