Bockakyrkogården

From this location, we took the Marialeden and Birgittaways walk. Beautiful area with a large parking lot, also for campers.

Bock CemeterynA STRANGE EXCURSIONnnBock Cemetery is located anonymously on the outskirts of Borghamn. The 80 souls who lie in the anonymous graves are stonecutters who were sentenced to prison from the time when “stone gave birth to Borghamn”.nnBetween 1842 and 1894, the quarry was run by the penal regiment Kronoarbetskåren. When the Göta Canal was completed in 1832, all efforts were put into producing stone for Karlsborg Fortress, the gigantic defense facility on the other side of Lake Vättern. Of the 500 men who worked on the construction, 200 of them were stationed at Borghamn’s quarry. Half of them were convicts who had mainly committed less serious crimes such as petty theft or vagrancy. In the quarry, they were given healthy work instead of a prison cell while they served their sentences.nnAlthough the conditions at the penal regiment were relatively good compared to prisons of the time, there was one concern. A convict was no longer considered to belong to ordinary society and was therefore not allowed to be buried in an ordinary cemetery. Those who passed away before their sentence was served were instead buried anonymously here at Bockakyrkogården. They still lie there today, with only a simple sign on a wooden cross as a memorial.nnAlso take the opportunity to visit the penal regiment's old laundry, which today houses the Borghamns Fiskemuseum.

Beautiful place.