Baggensstäket

Baggensstäket (also Baggarstäket or Södra stäket) is a strait in the , between the island of Värmdö and the mainland (Södermanland).

It is part of the waterway between the firth of Baggensfjärden and bay of Lännerstaviken. The waterway continues northwards through Skurusundet till . The strait is shallow and narrow and can only be traversed by small vessels with up to 3 metre draft. Traffic through the strait is heavy in summertime.

Baggenstäket, like the nearby firth Baggensfjärden, probably was given its name after the naval hero Jakob Bagge, who owned the nearby estate Boo gård on Värmdö.

Baggensstäket, which was known as Harstäket earlier, was since time immemorial the southern waterway between Stockholm and the Baltic Sea. Until the 13th century the main waterway led through Baggensstäket, Lännerstaviken, and Järlasjön to Hammarbysjön; later it passed Lännerstaviken och Skurusundet. Baggensstäket was the main waterway to Stockholm until the end of the middle ages, when the post-glacial rebound made the channel shallower while at the same time ships progressively had larger drafts. It is also probable that the waterway was made more impassable by filling it with rubble. Such filling with rubble may have been done during conflicts between 1518 and 1520. After the Swedish War of Liberation, king Gustav Vasa ordered a clearing of the waterway.

Eric XIV decreed that all ships from foreign countries were to be inspected in Vaxholm and pay toll fees for goods transported to Stockholm. In response, some merchants transferred their cargoes to smaller vessels which were passed in via Baggensstäket, which in this manner became a well-utilized smuggling route. Charles IX decreed in 1602 that a toll station would be placed in Baggensstäket as well. The station was placed at the narrowest point of the strait and is named Knapens hål ("Knaap's hole") after one of the first customs officials, Olof Knaap. In 1680 the toll inspection was moved from Baggenstäket och Vaxholm to Blockhusudden.

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