Sollentuna Hundred


Sollentuna Hundred was a hundred of Uppland in Sweden. It encompassed the present-day municipalities of Järfälla, Sollentuna, and Sundbyberg as well as parts of Upplands Väsby Municipality and Stockholm. All are now part of Stockholm County. The hundred had three köpingar—Sollentuna Köping, Sundbybergs Köping, and Hässelby Villastads Köping—and a number of municipalsamhällen. Most of the hundred is now part of the urban area of Stockholm, but the larger part of in the remainder is in Upplands Väsby. The total area was around 197 km² and the population in 1916 was 20,727 people.

Geography

Sollentuna Hundred was located directly west of Stockholm, in the borough of Bromma between Ulvsundasjön, Görväln, and Edsviken. Its easternmost parts lay in present-day central Stockholm. The geography is characteristic of the Mälaren Valley area: fertile clay soils in valleys divided by ridges of glacial till, and lakes such as Norrviken and Edsviken. The hundred was crossed by the Stockholmsåsen esker, which also serves as the watershed between Mälaren and Östersjön. The area is still noted for its natural beauty, particularly in the Järvafältet area, from whence the Bällstaån stream flows into Bällstaviken. Sollentuna Hundred was bordered to the south by the fjards of Näsfjärden and Lövstafjärden in Mälaren, with Färentuna Hundred located across the lake. Bro Hundred lay to the west, Ärlinghundra Hundred to the north, Vallentuna Hundred and Danderyd Ship District in the east, as well as Stockholm City and Svartlösa Hundred to the southeast.

History

Sollentuna Hundred was one of the "eight hundreds" that composed the mediaeval Uppland folkland of Attundaland. The name, similar to that of neighbouring Vallentuna Hundred, was written as Sollendahundæri in the 14th century; the -enda- in the name signifies a place at the end of a lake. Sollentuna Church is indeed located by Norrviken lake, but it is also entirely possible that Sollenda paraphrases a much older word, perhaps meaning swamp or marshland, altered to imitate the name of the neighbouring hundred. The local ting originally met in Granby in Spånga Parish, but moved to Barkarby in the 17th century, and finally to Rotebro in the 20th century. The hundred was long an important area for local and regional commerce. Roads leading to Bergslagen, Uppsala, and Roslagen crossed the isthmus between Norrviken and Edsviken. The lakes were crossed by important shipping routes, and there was also a harbour since the Viking Age.
In the 12th century, churches were founded in Sollentuna, Järfälla, Spånga, and Bromma. The hundred grew around these churches, growing from a few lone farms to a number of small villages. The majority of the population worked in agriculture until well towards the end of the 19th century. At that time, the Mälaren Line and Northern Main Line railways were built, and a number of station towns cropped up within the hundred, many of which today are part of the suburbs of Stockholm: for example, Sundbyberg, Bromsten, Jakobsberg, Tureberg, Rotebro, and Upplands Väsby. Sollentuna Hundred's proximity to the capital had a profound effect on its development and expansion in the first half of the 20th century. In 1916, Bromma Parish and its towns were incorporated into the city, and Spånga Parish followed suit in 1949.

Parishes

Sollentuna Hundred was originally composed of five parishes:
The hundred was part of Stockholm County since 1715 and also between the periods that it was part of Uppsala County.
The parishes in the hundred were part of the following bailiwicks:
The parishes were also part of the following domsagor, tingslag, and tingsrätter :