Sylling is a village in Lier municipality, in the county of

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. Sylling is located 27 kilometres west of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. The settlement has 707 inhabitants as of 1 January 2016.

Location

Sylling is located on Holsfjorden, the southeastern arm of

Tyrifjorden Tyrifjorden (Lake Tyri) is a lake in Norway. It lies northwest of Oslo and is the nation's fifth largest lake with an area of 139 km2. It has a volume of 13 km3, is 295 meters deep at its deepest, and lies 63 meters above sea level. T ...

. Sylling is known for agriculture, particularly the cultivation of fruit. Local farms have a long history of cultivation of strawberries and vegetables. The good soil is due to gravel after the Last glacial period including Sylling-moraine. Its population is about 1700.

History

Pilgrims' Way The Pilgrims' Way (also Pilgrim's Way or Pilgrims Way) is the historical route supposedly taken by pilgrims from Winchester, Hampshire, Winchester in Hampshire, England, to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury in Kent. This name, of compa ...

(''Pilegrimsleden'') must have passed Sylling and stopped at the local Olav's spring (''Olavskilden''). The pilgrims arrived on foot or they could travel by boat across Holsfjorden. During the

Civil war era in Norway The civil war era in Norway ( no, borgerkrigstida or ''borgerkrigstiden'') began in 1130 and ended in 1240. During this time in history of Norway, Norwegian history, some two dozen rival kings and pretenders War of succession, waged wars to clai ...

King Sverre Sverre Sigurdsson ( non, Sverrir Sigurðarson) (c. 1145/1151 – 9 March 1202) was the king of Norway from 1184 to 1202. Many consider him one of the most important rulers in Norwegian history. He assumed power as the leader of the rebel party ...

and the Birchleg forces overcame the

Bagler The Bagli Party or Bagler (Old Norse: ''Baglarr'', Norwegian Bokmål: ''Bagler'', Norwegian Nynorsk: ''Baglar'') was a faction or party during the Norwegian Civil Wars. The Bagler faction was made up principally of the Norwegian aristocracy, clerg ...

forces of Magnus V at the

Battle of Hørte Bridge A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

(''Slaget ved Hørte bro'') during the Summer of 1178. The victory was the first of many for Sverre. Subsequently, during autumn, the Birchlegs went north to

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

and won control of

Nidaros Nidaros, Niðarós or Niðaróss () was the medieval name of Trondheim when it was the capital of Norway's first Christian kings. It was named for its position at the mouth (Old Norse: ''óss'') of the River Nid (the present-day Nidelva). Althou ...

Sylling Church

Sylling Church (''Sylling kirke'') is a church constructed in a rectangular shape. There has been a church on the same site since the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. The church has a cemetery and next to it is the old rectory. The structure is of stone and brick and the church has 370 seats. Sylling church was built in 1852. In 2001, there were major renovation. At that time some old gravestones with inscriptions and some other items were found which were of interest to the National

Cultural Heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

(''Riksantikvaren''). The church was re-opened for normal use again in December 2001.''Sylling kirke'' (visitnorway.com)
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References

Other sources

* Krag, Claus (2005) ''Sverre, Norges største middelalderkonge''

External links

Sylling.noSylling IFLier kommunePictures of Sylling Church
Villages in Buskerud Lier, Norway {{buskerud-geo-stub