Brattby/Gubböle

Summer Slope

Summer Slope (Sommarbacken) was the end of the road for several hundred years. The road inland stopped here. Waggons had to be left and stored on Sommarbacken while the journey continued by boat, foot or horseback. Several trails could be taken from Sommarbacken, over cleared wetlands along the river or through the forest, to reach Vännäs or further. One trail, the Vännfors Church Trail, was used by residents of Vännfors to visit the church in Umeå until 1834, when Vännfors was transferred to Vännäs Parish. There was also a trail to Sandån, where there was a wharf, a ferry, and a tar barrel harbour.

Vännäs residents still wanted a road for waggons across Brattbyrödningarna and a miserable road to Vännäs was built, based on what one Prof. W. von Schubert wrote when travelling it in 1817: “For a short period, a road has connected Brattby and Vännäs, but it is quite nasty.” In 1837, the road was in slightly better condition and it was reclassified as a parish road.

Häradsvägen road followed the same route until the early 20^th century. The steep hill Brattbybacken was known to be a troublesome passage.

The gradient was 1 in 7, or a 1-metre rise over 7 metres. Much of the hill was excavated away when the “new” road was built in the 1930s.

Many incidents occurred on the hill. A particularly noteworthy one was the time a truck loaded with cheese tipped, and all the cheese rolled down the hill and into a ditch by the railroad. The young boys from the village helped the driver roll the cheese back up the hill. This took place the year before the new road opened in 1932 (1933?).

About Gubböle

Gubböle is characterised by undulating hilly terrain and is 100–120 metres above sea level. This rich and varied landscape has low and high hills, valleys and flatlands. The farmland is south of the village road and the community comprises two areas along the old Vännäs road/parish road/village road.

The oldest village area, between Ilbäcken and Gubbölebäcken/Kvarnbäcken, is still agricultural in character, while the newer area became increasingly dense in the 20^th century. The word “böle” in Gubböle means residence/settlement. Gubb probably originated from a name, Gudbjörn.

In the 19^th century, there were as many as 13 watermills in Kvarnbäcken/Gubbölebäcken. In Pehr Stenberg’s Umebeskrivning (Ume Description), you can read about Gubbölebäcken and the mills. In the 19^th century, Dickson & Co had a coarse-blade sawmill in the stream by the river. Today visitors can walk on a path around Kvarnbäck and the surroundings.

In the early 19^th century, the village had four farms; by the 1850s, there were seven. There are now 32 properties in Gubböle.

In its inventory from 1982, Västerbotten Museum outlined two areas and certain buildings in Gubböle that are particularly worthy of protection for historic reasons.

Tar barrel harbour

A tar barrel harbour is used to float tar barrels as a way of transporting them. Transporting loaded tar barrels was a way to make additional money in Brattby, Gubböle and Svallet.

Tar was an important commodity for many centuries. In the 19^th century, tar burning expanded in inland Norrland. Before the arrival of the railway, long-range transports of tar occurred via waterways. Tar was distilled in tar kilns. The tar barrels were filled, placed in frames, and wrapped together with branches to form a raft. Then the barrels were floated down the river. Some were taken ashore in Brattbybacken; others went down to Gubbölebäcken or Svallet, where there were other tar barrel harbours. Skilled river workers were required to float the rafts through the rapids at Bergsforsen, a dangerous and not always successful trip.

When the barrels were brought ashore, they were unloaded onto horse-pulled and sometimes ox-pulled “tar waggons”. These were long waggons with a pair of wheels in the middle. The frames had spots for five barrels that kept them secured during transports.