Grip () is an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

and deserted

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

Kristiansund Municipality Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of K ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is located about northwest of the town of Kristiansund in the

Norwegian Sea The Norwegian Sea (; ; ) is a marginal sea, grouped with either the Atlantic Ocean or the Arctic Ocean, northwest of Norway between the North Sea and the Greenland Sea, adjoining the Barents Sea to the northeast. In the southwest, it is separate ...

Grip Lighthouse The Grip Lighthouse () is located in the Grip archipelago in Kristiansund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The lighthouse was built between 1885 and 1888 on the high islet of ''Bratthårskollen'', north of Gripholmen. Description ...

, one of the tallest lighthouses in Norway, is located on one of the islands in the archipelago. The historic Grip Stave Church is located on the main island of Gripholmen. From 1897 until 1964, the islands were part of

Grip Municipality Grip () is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. With a land area of only and a population of between 100-200 people, Grip was one of the smallest municipalities in Norway during its existence from 1897 until it merged with ...

, but the islands were merged into

in 1964.

Archipelago

The Grip archipelago consists of 82

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s and

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland *Skerries, County Armagh, a List of townlands in County Armagh#S, townland in Coun ...

about into the

northwest off the town of Kristiansund. The fishing village of Grip (no permanent residents) is located on Gripholmen, which is the largest and only habitable islet. On the south side of the fishing village is the main

harbor A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be moored. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

, protected by two

breakwaters A breakwater is a permanent structure constructed at a coastal area to protect against tides, currents, waves, and storm surges. Breakwaters have been built since antiquity to protect anchorages, helping isolate vessels from marine hazards ...

. The older and northern harbour is smaller and less protected. Other breakwaters protects the fishing village from large

ocean waves In fluid dynamics, a wind wave, or wind-generated water wave, is a surface wave that occurs on the free surface of Body of water, bodies of water as a result of the wind blowing over the water's surface. The contact distance in the wind directi ...

. The highest point is just above mean

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. The Inngripan group of skerries lies about closer to Kristiansund, where a small storm shelter offered protection for

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

ed fishermen. The storm shelter has recently been restored. Since all the turf and vegetation on Gripholmen was removed to provide clean cliffs for drying cod there was little room for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Only a few tiny

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

s remained. The inhabitants could keep one or two cows grazing on the nearby islet of Grønningen, and a few hens and pigs. After being depopulated in 1974, the islands are slowly revegetating.

Fishing village

The first indications of settlement at Grip is from the ninth century, where

fishermen A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishermen may be professional or recr ...

settled close to the fishing grounds. Grip might because of that, be the oldest settlement in the

Nordmøre Nordmøre () is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the Norway, Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. The area comprises the northern third of the county including the List of municipalities of Norway, municipalities of Kristiansund Mu ...

district. Exports of fish from Norwegian fishing villages became important during the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

of the

Hanseatic League The Hanseatic League was a Middle Ages, medieval commercial and defensive network of merchant guilds and market towns in Central Europe, Central and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Growing from a few Northern Germany, North German towns in the ...

. The Grip Stave Church is thought to have been constructed around 1470. The village belonged to the archbishop of Norway until the

protestant reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...

in 1537, when king

Christian III Christian III (12 August 1503 – 1 January 1559) reigned as King of Denmark from 1534 and King of Norway from 1537 until his death in 1559. During his reign, Christian formed close ties between the church and the crown. He established ...

seized all church properties in Norway.

Merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

Hans Horneman in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

bought the islet from King Frederick IV in 1728 and the fishermen and their families became, in effect,

vassals A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerai ...

. The fishermen had to sell the catch to the merchants at a price decided by them later. This arrangement lasted until it was forbidden in 1893. The merchants, becoming

landlord A landlord is the owner of property such as a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate that is rented or leased to an individual or business, known as a tenant (also called a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). The term landlord appli ...

s, also bought most of the private properties.

Storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

s destroyed most of the fishing village in 1796 and again in 1804, leaving only the church and a few other houses. The first

breakwater Breakwater may refer to: * Breakwater (structure), a structure for protecting a beach or harbour Places * Breakwater, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia * Breakwater Island, Antarctica * Breakwater Islands, Nunavut, Canada * ...

s were constructed in 1882 and a harbor capable of landing small ships was not ready until 1950. The new harbour provided excessive materials which were used to create a small Association football pitch, football pitch. The population fluctuated for centuries, following the profitability of fishing, between 100 and 400 people. A now deserted village, it was once a busy place, when 2,000 fishermen could stay there during the height of the fishing season, when fishermen rowed and sailed to Grip from all over, to catch cod. Centralization led to a declining population after World War II, and Grip became deserted in 1974 when Hildur and Kasper Larsen left just before Christmas. After being deserted, the old houses have become popular sommerhus, summer houses, and in the summer Grip has 150-250 residents in 44 housing units, primarily the earlier population and their kinship and descent, descendants in Kristiansund. The harbour is still a popular dock (maritime), dock for small fishing vessels, and the village is a popular destination for tourism in Kristiansund. Beginning in 1895, public transportation between Grip and Kristiansund was established by steamship and in the period from 1914 to 1972 by motorboat. Today a ferry, passenger ferry connects Grip to Kristiansund in the summer season with one or two 30-minute crossings from the town centre every day. When the diesel electrical generator, generator was started in 1950, the population was supplied with electric energy. The summer residents now get their electricity from 7:00 in the morning to 11:00 at night with two generators installed in the local power station, totaling 210 volt-ampere, kVA power. The power station was privatized in 1992. The archipelago has mobile phone coverage from a radio masts and towers, radio tower in Kristiansund. There is no natural source of fresh water, so the residents collect Rain, rainwater, flush the toilets with seawater, and travel to town to do their laundry. Infrared cameras with a complete view of the village are monitored from the fire station in Kristiansund as fire protection. In 2011, the world's smallest fire truck was delivered, and the summer residents were trained in operating the equipment. The old one-room school, schoolhouse has been turned into an inn and post office, and one of the boathouses in the harbour and the temperance movement's lodge serves as community houses.

Etymology

The name is first recorded in 1338 as "Gripar" () which is a plural form of the word (which makes sense since Grip is an archipelago). The etymology of the name is uncertain, but it is maybe related to the Norse verb which means "catch", "seize", or "grip". If this is the case, then it probably refers to the catching of fish here.

Media gallery

File:Grip-Harbour-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The south harbour File:Grip-northside-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, Houses on the north side File:Grip-Power-Station-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, Grip power station File:Gripværingen-Grip-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The community house File:Gripstua-Grip-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The schoolhouse inn File:Grip-Stave-church-Norway.jpg, Grip Stave Church File:Altar-Grip-Stave-church-Norway.jpg, The altar and triptych File:Grip_fyr_3.jpg, Lighthouse with fishing village in background File:Fiskevaeret_Grip.jpg, The fishing village File:Grip_fyr.jpg, Grip lighthouse File:Bremsnesfjorden_og_Grip.JPG, Grip on the horizon seen from neighbour island

Archipelago

Fishing village

Etymology

Media gallery

References

External links