Avaldsnes
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Avaldsnes is a former independent municipality of Rogaland fylke in Norway, and was founded in 1837 as Avaldsnes formannskapsdistrikt.
[edit] Political development
On the 16th of August 1866 Kopervik separated from Avaldsnes, and became an independent municipality. At this time Avaldsnes had 4 735 inhabitants.
On the 1st of January 1909 Stangaland (Kopervik) separated from Avaldsnes. As a result, the population of Avaldsnes was down to 3 213 inhabitants.
On the 1st of January 1965 Avaldsnes was divided and merged into the municipalities of Karmøy and Tysvær. One part of the municipality with a population of 4 153 inhabitants, was merged along with the municipalities of Kopervik, Skudenes, Skudeneshavn, Torvastad Åkra into Karmøy municipality.
Another part, consisting of the districts of Førre, Gismarvik and Stegaberg with a population of 994, was merged with Tysvær municipality.
[edit] History
There has been an ancient centre of power at Avaldsnes Church, where Harald Fairhair among others, had one of his permanent royal residences in Western Norway. The place is allegedly named after the legendary king Augvald, who allegedly had his seat in Karmsundet. It is without a doubt the shipping traffic of the strait, where the shipping lane is forced into a narrow passage just by Avaldsnes, which has generated power and riches through the ages.
Rich discoveries from prehistory have been made in the entire area. Reheia – also known as Blodheia – is located approximately one kilometre west of the Church, with the only Norwegian example of Bronze Age burial mounds lined up in a row. A ship burial from the time of the Merovingian Dynasty (approximately 680-750 AD) was found here; the oldest ship burial of the Nordic countries.
Grønhaug was another ship burial, situated by Bø lower secondary school, one kilometre north of the church site. It was examined by Haakon Shetelig in 1902, and contained an approximately 15 metre long boat with remains of a man’s grave from the 900s.
Just north of the church, one can see the outline of another great mound; "Flagghaugen". It originally had a diameter of 43 metres and a height of five metres, but it was flattened under the leadership of Pastor Lyder Brun in 1835. The mound turned out to contain Norway’s richest grave from the Roman Period, known as “Avaldsnesfunnet” (literally: the Avaldsnes discovery,) with a neck ring of 600 grams of pure gold, weapons, bandoleer mountings and various roman tubs of silver and bronze.
On the North side of the church stands "Jomfru Marias synål" (literally: Virgin Mary’s sewing needle) a more than seven meter tall standing stone, one of the largest of its kind in the country. There are some historical evidences that there may have been several such stones around the church. The stone slopes toward the church’s wall, and a legend has it that when the “sewing needle“ gets close enough to touch the church’s wall, it will be the end of the world. It has also been said that the pastor at Avaldsnes assumed the responsibility of having a piece of the stone cut off when it got to close to the wall!
According to legend, Olav Trygvason had a church built at Avaldsnes, apparently as a manor chapel for the king’s residence. This has probably been a quite small stave church. The present day church was erected at approximately 1250 AD, on the order of Håkon Håkonsson. It has been dedicated to St. Olav, it was one of the greatest Norwegian stave churches from the Middle Ages, and it was one of the royal collegiate churches. The church was an important station of the pilgrimage route to Nidaros which went along the coast.
Nordvegen historiesenter (history centre) was opened in 2005, in order to raise the profile of the historical qualities of Avaldsnes. The centre is by the church site, and there is a replica of a farm from the Viking Age with several buildings and boathouses, at Bukkøy in Karmsundet.
[edit] Avaldsnes in modern times
As a part of Karmøy municipality Avaldsnes is today an active and flourishing village south of Karmsundbrua (bridge.) Avaldsnes idrettslag (sports club) has some hundred members.
