Provided by:
Stiftelsen Nordmøre Museum
Welcome to Herøy! In this audio guide you will get to know Herøy's ancient history related to the surroundings around the Herøy old church . You can experience all this through good narrator voices with pictures and text as you approach the different places.
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Reuse is not a modern day concept. In the past, when a boat was no longer sea worthy, the wood was resued as building materials on land. Boat timber found in the walls of boat houses and moorings made it possibe to create a full reconstruction of the Sunmøre sailing boat ‘Anna Olava’. These sailing boats sailed along the coast from the Middle Ages and for many hundred years after. It is said that it is these boats that made it possible for people to live here in Havlandet. They sailed to Bergen with goods such as herring, dried fish, cod liver oil and roe, skins and furs. And came home again loaded with corn, salt, wine, textiles and other goods. This boat was named after Anna Olava who was married to Sivert Olsen, a tradesman on Herøy Farm. She was a housewife at the trading post for 14 years and had responsibility for a large household. She therefore needed many of the goods that the Sunmøre boats came with!
In the beautiful cultural landscape on the most easternly part of Herøy lies Herøy old Church town. The wide view of Flåværleia is still similar to what our ancestors would have seen back when the coastal path was the most important traffic route in the country. The path you are travelling and the harbours that you visit, are the same as the travellers or pilgrims would have used in earlier times either on their way here, or to the national holy place of Nidaros. There is a legend attached to the island connected to a monastery that was supposedly located on a marked mound in the middle of the island, which is known as monastery mound. At the mound you can still see signs of the small building that stood there at one time. On Herøy hill there were two churches. The newest stood on the hill for only sixty years. The former, for almost 700 years, which was a stone church partly built in marble. Now you have arrived at Herøy’s pilgramage and holy site. Where the church once stood you will find a very old altar table in stone which was used in ecclesiastical acts. The stone church was devoted to the Virgin Mary – the foremost of all the saints. Here you will find hope and peace in the same place that travellers for hundreds of years have been coming to give thanks and lay down their burdens.
I stand today, here at Herøy old Church town and see many traces that testify to your presence God – and that your salvation has been preached here for generations. Thank you for your grace every new day. Thank you for always being close and that you are with me on my journey. When I look out over the islets, clouds and sea I am reminded of your great creations God. Help me and all who travel here to take care of them for future generations and for your honour. Amen
«One of the best historic plays in the country», according to the famous Norwegian actress Agnes Kittelsen after she played the main role in the Herøy play ‘ The King’s Ring’. The play is both theatrical art and the world’s most beautiful Viking musical, but it is also so much more. When 200 actors come together on the stage along with 100 other workers behind the scenes, they form a community that creates magic. The childrens’ sparkling eyes when they get to be a part of the performance, and join the community, is golden for the public and also for the future. Snorre first told the story in his Royal Sagas. But since 1992 ‘ The King’s Ring’ has been performed here on the first weekend in July. An orchestra with 17 musicians and a large choir amplify the action with music. The actors, both adults and children, amateurs and professionals, bring to life the magic of the ‘play by the sea’. And the audience are captivated year after year by the story of the Chief’s daughter Unna who is caught up in a choice between following her heart and choosing the charming Viking rebel Møre-Karl or following tradition and choosing the suitor that her parents had picked. Each of the men had their own entourage and there were battles and strife, then Saint Olav arrived to keep the peace in Havland. The play is set on the island of Herøy with its powerful sea backdrop and where the Lord is the Master of the light. Before and after the play, people gather to eat and talk at the Herøy Coastal Museum just as the people of Herøy have done for hundreds of years. There is a Viking camp for the children, cultural walks, and outdoor church services.
Not many people know that the Norwegian Seaman’s Mission, or the Norwegian Church abroad, began its work in Tjørvåg in Herøy in Sunnmøre. Sevrine Klungsøyr visited Bergen in the summer of 1864 and discovered that there was a need for a Norwegian Seaman’s Mission. Sevrine was quick to act, and when she returned home, women gathered for the very first meeting of the Norwegian Seaman’s Mission, before the organisation was officially founded. With her husband and five sons at sea, Sevrine knew all about what it meant to have her loved ones absent – and what it meant to lose them. Three of her sons died at sea. Outside Inner Herøy Church is a memorial to Sevrine Klungsøyr. Another memorial has been erected to commemorate the sea as a hard master and the tragedy in the Arctic Ocean. 79 people from Troms and Sunnmøre died when seven fishing ships sunk in Vestisen in a violent hurricane in 1952. One of the ships was MS Pels from Tjørvåg. The ships went down, and the entire crew disappeared. The church also has a monument dedicated to those who gave their lives for their country in World War II.
The island of Herøy was a Church town, but the brutal truth was that the churchyard had so little earth, that the coffins were not buried deep enough. The smell in the summer was downright nasty. And in the end the Priest moved to Raftenes in Stokksund. The vicarage at Raftenes has had several famous occupants. One of them was Magdalene Thorsen. Later, she and her husband moved to Bergen, there Magdalene became a renowned author. She moved in circles where she was surrounded by people such as Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen. In fact Magdalene was Ibsen’s mother-in-law, and Ibsen’s wife Suzannah also grew up in Herøy. Some have even claimed that meeting the stong fisherwomen of Havlandet inspired Magdelene a great deal, and that it was she who pursuaded Henrik Ibsen to write the suprise ending of «A Doll’s house», when Nora went against her husband Helmer in violation of 19th century etiquette. Maybe it is just a good story, but the fact that Havlandet raised strong and independent women who managed the work and family life on land whilst their husbands were at sea is completely true. Here at the vicarage, Ivar Aasen also came to visit the Thoresen family, to receive teacher training. It is no wonder therefore, that the people of Herøy recognise themselves in the song «Between hills and mountains and out to sea» which has been voted Norway’s second National Song.
The fjord is long and the church road was tiring, for those who sailed in on open boats with oars and sails. It was therefore preferable to build a church in the home village. This was the case on Leikong beyond the 19th century, and when they heard that a new church was to be built in Ørskog north of Ålesund, the people of Leikong seized the chance. They bought the old church in Ørskog, and moved it with the help of volunteers. Despite the volunteer’s efforts to raise money, it was not cheap to obtain a church. What consultation they took with the Lord is unknown, but the story in the book ‘Churches of Sunmøre’ tells that two fishing crews in the village were very lucky with their herring haul. This earned them great fortune, and the villagers feasted and the money for the church was in place. The church is over 200 years old, a small and beautiful octaganal wooden church with blue walls, colourful paintings, and several tablets and carvings. The Altarpiece is from the 17th century and is a masterpiece of Norwegian art from that time.
Legend tells of three sisters who drifted out to sea, helplessly lost after a shipwreck. They promised that if they made it to land alive, they would build a chuch in the place that they came ashore. One of the sisters made it to Kinn, another to Giske and one to Herøy. These are three places along the coast with churches dating from the early Middle Ages. The building of the marble church on Herøy could have begun as early as the 11th century. The church was devoted to Mary and was built in the same style as churches in England and Ireland. In the middle of the 19th century there was an order from the state that churches should have a designated number of seats according to the population. Therefore, the old church was too small and had to be demolished. The stone was used in the foundation wall of the new church, which was built just a few metres away. It was later moved, and now only the walls remain. Within the walls you can see finely carved marble stones from the church that was built there nearly a thousand years ago. On the site of the old church, the outline of the marble church is marked in slate. The altar is there too with a large stone slab from the marble church as an altarboard. In the middle of the stone there is a depression. That is where the relics were placed. The residents of Herøy have been gathering for church services on the island of Herøy for almost 1000 years. And it was possibly a religious gathering point prior to that also. It was usual to build churches at the ancient Pagan places of worship, and many believe the Goddess Frøya was worshipped here on Herøy before the church was built. Today, Herøy is a key point on the stretch of the coastal pilgrim path that runs from Stavanger from Nidaros and pilgrims can get their pilgrim passport stamped in Havlandet.
It is almost too strange to be true, but on the small islet next to the island of Herøy, people were beheaded and their heads set high on stakes, to both warn and scare people. The name ‘Stegleholmen’ tells about their barbaric methods. Stegle is another name for a pole, and these poles were used to attach heads to, or to fasten the victims to cartwheels, which they were strapped on to as a form of torture. In Norway public beheadings were the usual method of execution for many hundreds of years. One execution that we know about in Havlandet, took place in the middle of the 17th century. At that time there was a war between Norway-Denmark and Sweden. The Swedish forces withdrew from Sunmøre, but 5 swedish scouts were captured. They were beheaded and their heads set on stakes, most likely at Steglehomen. The last beheading in Herøy took place in 1700. The condemned was a Herøy man who had killed his neighbour’s wife. Again it is most likely that the beheading took place on Stegholmen.
He did not like to stand out, and the bust of Bjarne Rabben that is on display at Herøy Coastal Museum is not showy either. But the work of Bjarne Rabben is great, and his legacy rich. Rabben was born at Moltustranda on Herøy in 1907. He was a Mason, author and historian. He was the driving force in the Herøy historical association for 36 years, and edited the year book of the association for 50 years. Before he died, he gifted the whole of his local history archive to the historical association, so that the work could continue. He started his career as the travel secretary for IOGT and the Norwegian Total Abstinence Society, and stayed there until he retired. At the same time, he worked diligently on texts and book projects. He published poetry collections, hymns, and other works of fiction. Not to mention the long list of various local history books. Eight volumes of Herøy sagas have been produced and secured for posterity. He published ‘fishing tales’ of Sunmøre and Romsdal in three volumes. Altogether, he has over 30 books in his bibliography, and Rabben received the King’s medal of merit in both silver and gold for his efforts. The people in Havlandet owe Rabben great thanks. Even though he himself had a modest relationship with honour and glory. One of his verses reads like this: When you put high worth in honour, And enjoy the good words, Send thanks to Heaven And keep yourself fixed to the ground
The island of Herøy has been a gathering point in Havlandet for over a thousand years. And this is how the municipality gained its name. Viking Kings arrived here on the small island with their ships. And the Arch-Bishop came here in the 15th century when Herøy was a great church power in Sunmøre. At that time there was a Court House, and people gathered to attend church and to trade here. Then cars arrived and people moved from the coastal roads inland. Herøy Farm was forgotten, and eventually fell into disrepair. The Borgstova which may have been built in the 14th century, was demolished right after the war. Everything was falling down. Just in the nick of time, the historical society in the municipality took hold of the buildings. Now the yard at the old trading centre of Herøy farm is the centre of the Herøy Coastal Museum. The stately farmhouse, the house by the sea, boathouses and stores, kitchen and potato cellars, tell us about the lively trading centre and the households that lived here. The house and interior were taken care of, but as always in Havlandet the boats always held a special place in the heart and were high on the priority list. A Museum boat team both restore and build traditional open wooden boats. These beautiful creations lie moored like jewels at the Coastal Museum. Together with the Sunmøre Sailing boat ‘Anna Olava.’ The island of Herøy invites you on a walk through a thousand years of history. It is well signposted but feel free to take a tour and become better acquainted with the history and people that have lived on Herøy. In addition to the historical walk there are also good opportunities for nature walks both on the tarmacked path that goes over the island and on the adopted nature trail around the island.
It remains vivid in the memory of those who experienced it. The horror when fire and flames shot up from the roof of the old wooden church. People ran in and out of the church, to try and save the church’s art and whatever else could be salvaged. But those who stood next to the church on that fiery night during the Christmas time of 1998, remember also that the tower of the church dived down in a shower of sparks. Then the people were reminded of the old hymn «The church is an old house, that stands though the towers fall». The church is a building made of living stones, and those living stones set about building a new church house. They raised many millions of kroner from everything from collections and lottery sales to large gifts from private individuals and companies, and just four years after the fire the new Herøy church rose from the ashes. Now you can once again see the church tower rising high over the parish. Inside the tall tower there is a sky light that spills light into the church and it is popular for children and confirmants to challenge themselves by trying thier hand at climbing all the way to the top of the tower.