Fram till slutet av 1800-talet var bönderna ålagda att underhålla soldater för landets försvar. Fyra/fem hemman bildade en rote som försåg soldaten och hans familj med ett litet jordbruk. I Ersnäs placerades dessa jordbruk på de magrare sandjordarna söder om byn. Bebyggelsen i den här delen av Ersnäs, som kallas Svedjan, har sitt ursprung i dessa soldattorp. Med hårt arbete skapades små åkerlappar. Sten, som bröts upp, placerades vid åkerkanten.

Här har vi ett exempel på detta. Några av soldatnamn i Svedjan: Mård, Högmodig, Beställsam, Sik och Rolig.

1. A soldier’s cottage.  Until the end of the 19th century, the peasants were required to maintain soldiers to defend Sweden. Four or five homesteads would form a district, which would be responsible to furnishing a soldier with a little farm for himself and his family. In Ersnäs, these farms were located on the less fertile sandy soil, south of the village. These soldier’s cottages eventually formed the core of Ersnäs neighbourhood now known as “Svedjan”. Thanks to hard work, small patches of arable land were cleared. The stones that were removed were used for walls like this one, along the edge of the fields. Some of the soldier surnames, that those who lived here bore, were Mård (Marten), Högmodig (Arrogant), Beställsam (Fussy), Sik (Whitefish) and Rolig (Funny). These cottages are now torn down with one exception. That restored cottage is rebuilt on Torget (the village square) in the center of the village.