Tungusveit is a district in Skagafjörður, Iceland and may have previously spanned the majority of Lýtingsstaðahreppur, but now only covers the spit of land between the Héraðsvötn and Svartá rivers, from Vallhólmur up to the mouth of the Svartárdalur and Vesturdalur valleys. The area is often called Reykjatunga, after the church site Reykir àTungusveit. The region is long and narrow, with a large number of farms.
(Reykir in Tungusveit) is a farm and church site in Tungusveit, located on the bank of the Svartá river. The farm was the location of a manor early in Iceland's settlement.
There is geothermal heat widely available on the Reykir estate and the neighboring properties belonging to , as well as more broadly throughout Reykjatunga, so much so that finding cold drinking water has often been a problem. There are many warm springs all around the farm in Rekyir and there is even geothermal heat in the grave yard, which is said to be one of the only heated cemeteries in the world.
Various historical sources mention the warm springs. The Sturlunga saga states that Gissur ÃÂorvaldsson, Kolbein ungi, and their men soaked in the and springs before the Battle of ÃÂrlygsstaðir.
Sveinn Pálsson, doctor and natural scientist, who was born in in 1762, described Reykir's warm springs in 1792, "Just to the east of the church in Reykir is a cold spring, which has been adapted as a bathing pond. The water can be warmed to anyone's desired temperature by adding water from a hot stream which flows by it."
A wooden church was built in Reykir in 1896 and rebuilt in 1976. It is a protected site.
is a farm in Tungusveit. It was an old manor and the settlement of Kráku-Hreiðar ÃÂfeigsson. Farming was abandoned in in 1943, but the property was then distributed into several new farms and a small urban area has now built up there.
There is a lot of geothermal heat available in and the neighboring property of . There has long been an old washing pool there called , which almost all of the area made use of. Sveinn Pálsson, a doctor and natural scientist who was born in in 1762, described the pool in 1792, stating "A short distance south from Reykir is the enchanting , which is was not so hot as to be uncomfortable to bathe in. Therefore, it has become a washing and fulling location for just about the whole area." Páll Sveinsson, silversmith in and father of Sveinn, built a watermill by the stream leading to the pool.
In 1822, Jón ÃÂorláksson Kærnested began offering swimming classes that would have been in , although others say that these may have taken place in Reykir. It is very probable that the authors of the journal Fjölnir, or at least some of the authors, had been among Jón's students there because Jónas HallgrÃÂmsson and Brynjólfur Pétursson were studying in Goðdalir and Konráð GÃÂslason's home was nearby. After that, swimming lessons were offered sporadically, then every spring starting in 1890. The pool in was finally lined with stones and became the first public pool in Skagafjörður County. In 1925, work began on lining the pool in concrete, and it became the county's first concrete pool. The current pool was came into use in 1980.
In 1949, a school was built in to serve the area and, until 1976, it had a dormitory as well. Instruction there was stopped in spring 2003 when the students began moving to the school in VarmahlÃÂð. Now the school building is used for tourist services. The community center was inaugurated in 1974.
Many new farms, industrial farms, and residences have been built on the original property, including the service tourist center in Bakkaflöt. There are also a number of summer homes.