The site of the last execution in Iceland. Sometimes travel isn’t just about taking photos of magnificent scenery, visiting well known landmarks and staying in exotic places. Sometimes it’s about learning about the past, meeting people who have lived before and how they shaped the present and feeling a sense of wonder (and relief) at how times have changed over the centuries.

One of our stops on our way to Akureyi was at Þrístapar. Set in a wide, open valley it was the site of the last execution in Iceland. The bus stopped in a small parking bay, the signpost directed us to a path but there didn’t appear to be much to see.

However, along the path were small terracotta plaques telling the story of Natan Ketilsson (born 1792), Agnes Magnusdottir (born 1795), Sigriður Gudmunsdottir (born 1811) and Fridrik Sigurdsson (born 1810).

On a cold day in January 1830 Agnes Magusdottir and Fridik Sigurdsson were beheaded at PristaÞar. Their heads were placed on pikes and their bodies buried at the site.

They had been sentenced to death for the murder of Natan Ketilsson, the harsh landowner of the farm, Illugastaðir, and Petur Jonsson, a man who had been looking after the farm while Natan was absent attending to patients who were in need of his homeopathy skills.

Natan lived with Agnes, Sigriður and a small child of Natan’s. Some reports say Natan and Agnes were lovers, but the terracotta signs state that Natan demanded that the teenage Sigriður occupy his bed whenever he felt like it.

Fridik, who coveted Natan’s weath, was very taken with Sigriður and visited the farm often to court her.

The signs say that two years previously Sigriður and Fridik had plotted to kill Natan. Agnes became aware of the plan and on a dark, cold night she and Fridik took action while Sigriður took the child outside . They attempted to cover up their crime by setting fire to the building. However, neighbours quickly quenched the flames only to find Natan and Petur had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death.

Agnes and Fridik were arrested for the crime and eventually beheaded on a hill in the cold valley of Þristapar. Sigriður was also sentenced to death but was eventually given a reprieve and sent to prison in Copenhagen where she died in 1839.

Natan’s brother performed the execution, with everyone in the district ordered to attend as a warning to those whose behaviour was causing problems. Over a century later, in 1934, their remains were removed and reburied in consecrated ground.

Agnes has the dubious reputation of being the last person in Iceland to have been executed.

Þristapar is a windswept, bleak site in an open valley surrounded by mountains. The history is poignant but is well written on the terracotta plaques which line the path to the execution site.

But like so many other historic events all we can do is speculate on the real reasons for the actions of Agnes, Sigriður and Fridik on the two men, Natan and Petur.