Knappsstaðir is an abandoned farm, church site, and former

parsonage A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, pa ...

Stífla Stífla is an area of the Fljót district in Skagafjörður, Iceland, in the interior of valley. The name originally referred to the group of hills that cuts directly across the valley and was called either or , but the name later came to refer ...

, in the

Fljót Fljót is the northernmost district on the east side of Skagafjörður, Iceland. It is divided into Eastern and Western and extends from river in the west to the county's border with Eyjafjörður county in the east. In the north of , the bou ...

district of

Skagafjörður Skagafjörður () is a deep fjord and its valley in northern Iceland. Location Skagafjörður, the fjord, is about 40 km long and 15 km wide, situated between Tröllaskagi to the east and the Skagi, Skagi Peninsula to the west. Ther ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. It was the homestead of Þórður knappur Bjarnarson and from Hóf in . The farm became abandoned in 1974. A 932-meter-tall mountain called overlooks the farm.

church

There has been a church at since early in Iceland's history where parish priests served. The salary for priests at was always considered to be on the lower side, moreover Stífla is a very snowy and inclement area, although the summers there were beautiful before the Skeiðsfoss power station was built and submerged part of the area under water. On June 12, 1838, the church was severely damaged in an

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

. It was decided that a new church would be built, and it was consecrated in 1840. It is the oldest wooden church in the country and one of the smallest. The church building was, among other things, financed by the sale of the Guðbrand's Bible. The church has belonged to Iceland's

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public library, public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, ...

since 1933. The parsonage in was decommissioned in 1881 and the church fell under the authority of

Barð Barð is a farm and church site in Fljót in Skagafjörður, Iceland. Overlooking the farm is a striking mountain named (sometimes called ) with a steep ridge that faces the ocean. was a large farm with many smallholdings where a noble family, ...

. After the majority of Stífla was abandoned, the parishes merged and two churches remained in the parish. Mass takes place in the church once a year and the service is always well-attended.

References

{{coord, 65.9756, -18.9754, type:landmark_region:IS, display=title Skagafjörður Farms in Iceland Churches in Iceland