Kårsta

By Lake Sparren

Kårsta parish lies southwest of Norrtälje, with Kårstaviken bay of Lake Sparren to the north, and around the rivers Kårstaån and Närtunaån. The landscape is an even forested region with smaller flat areas in the north and west.

In the parish lie the localities Kårsta, Ekskogen and Söderhall, as well as the parish village Kårstaby with the parish church.

Land of Runestones

From the Bronze Age there are scattered burial cairns. From the Iron Age approximately thirty grave fields and a fortified settlement, and six runestones have been found in the parish.

The runestone density is typical for Uppland — the region has more runestones than anywhere else in the world — but six in a parish of this size is still worth knowing about if you travel here.

The Name

The name was written Korsta in 1320 and comes from the parish village. The suffix is sta(d), "place". The prefix may contain the grain crop barley.

Things to See

• Kårsta Church — the parish church in Kårstaby.
• The Runestones — six known in the parish.
• Lake Sparren — the lake to the north.

The Line Saved by Poor Roads

Kårsta is the terminal station on one of Roslagsbanan's three branches — the others run to Österskär and Näsbypark. This makes Kårsta one of few places in this part of Roslagen that can be reached by train.

That the branch still exists is partly a matter of chance. The section Kårsta–Rö–Rimbo was closed in January 1981 and torn up the following year. The original plan was actually to close the entire section from Lindholmen — but the roads south of Kårsta were too poor to handle bus traffic, so that part had to remain until the roads were upgraded. Before that could happen, the county council decided on upgrading the entire railway line instead.

The section Lindholmen–Kårsta reopened for traffic on 12 December 2021.

Getting Here

Roslagsbanan train to Kårsta. E18 runs through the eastern part of the parish, on the route Stockholm–Norrtälje, and at Söderhall county road 280 leads towards Rimbo.