Stadsbygd Church ( no, Stadsbygd kirke) is a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

Indre Fosen Indre Fosen is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Fosen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Årnset. Other villages in Indre Fosen include Askjem, Dalbygda, Ha ...

municipality in

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 ...

county,

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 ...

. It is located on the south side of the village of

Stadsbygd Stadsbygd is a village in Indre Fosen municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located at the southern end of the Fosen peninsula in a wide, flat valley, just east of the village of Askjem, along the north side of the Trondheim ...

. It is the church for the Stadsbygd

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

which is part of the

Fosen prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros which covers all of Trøndelag county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery in the diocese. Administra ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

. The white, wooden church was built in a

long church Church building in Norway began when Christianity was established there around the year 1000. The first buildings may have been post churches erected in the 10th or 11th century, but the evidence is inconclusive. For instance under Urnes Stave C ...

style in 1842 using plans drawn up by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Theodor Christian Broch. The church seats about 470 people.

History

The first church in Stadsbygd was located at Lille-Rein. This

stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts a ...

was built during the 1100s and it is mentioned in the

Sturlunga saga ''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlungs, a powerful family clan ...

where it talks about a priest named ''Ingemund'' who served at the church in 1184. Around the same time, there was also an

annex chapel A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...

for the church a short distance to the west at Alshaug (the present location of the church). This smaller annex chapel was also a

design. The main church at Lille-Rein was closed and torn down during the late 1400s or early 1500s, but the annex chapel at Alshaug remained in use serving the parish. After the first church on Alshaug was torn down around the year 1658, the construction of a new church began immediately afterwards. This new church was blown over in a storm before it was completely finished. The construction resumed soon after and the

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

was finally completed in 1660. It had an entry porch on the west end of the building with a small tower on the western end of the roof. A

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

was located on the east end of the building. The church from 1660 stood about south of the old (and current) church site, just west of the rectory, where the site and the cemetery are still visible. Maintenance work was carried out on the church in 1674. On 20 October 1837, the church was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. After the fire, the old church was torn down and plans for a new church were made. It was decided to build the new church on the site of the medieval church, about to the north of the site of the previous church. The new church would be based on standardized church plans made by

Hans Linstow Hans Ditlev Franciscus (Frants) von Linstow (4 May 1787 – 10 June 1851) was a Danish/Norwegian architect who designed the Royal Palace in Oslo and much of the surrounding park and the street ''Karl Johans gate''. Background Hans Ditlev Franc ...

, edited by the engineer Theodor Christian Broch who oversaw the construction. Borch allegedly combined the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

from one church model with the tower from another. The lead builder was Erik Johnsen Trotland. The construction took place from 1840 to 1842 during a period of conflict between the private church owner and the local parish priest. The church was

consecrate Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

d on 31 July 1842. In 1859, the parish purchased the church from the private owner. Until the 1860s, the church had a red-painted nave and a white-painted tower. Since then, the church has been painted white. The church was restored and refurbished several times: 1888–1892, 1962–1963, and in 1992.

Media gallery

Stadsbygd kirke 01.jpg, Stadsbygd kirke fra nø.jpg,

References

{{use dmy dates, date=May 2021 Indre Fosen Churches in Trøndelag Long churches in Norway Wooden churches in Norway 19th-century Church of Norway church buildings Churches completed in 1842 12th-century establishments in Norway

History

Media gallery

See also

References