Founded 1170 Capacity 100 | Country Norway Churchmanship Evangelical Lutheran Functional status Active Opened 1689 | |
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Similar Grong Church, Harran Church, Salen Chapel, Namsen Salmon Aquarium, Salsbruket Chapel | ||
Gløshaug Church (Norwegian: Gløshaug kirke) is a parish church in the municipality of Grong in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Gartland. The church is part of the Harran parish in the Namdal deanery in the Diocese of Nidaros. The wooden stave church was constructed in 1689 and seats about 100 people.
History
The site of Gløshaug church has been used all the way back to around 1160. It originally was a St. Olaf church according to Grankvist. A manuscript from 1597 ("Gaannske Nommedalls Leens Beskriffuelse") calls the church then "Olafshougs Kirke i Hærø fierding", meaning St. Olaf's Church of Harran. St. Olaf is the patron saint of Norway. The first church building on this site was built around 1170, and it was restored in 1433 and 1510. In 1689, the old church was replaced by a new stave church, which still stands today. St. Olaf's church was for centuries the main church for all of the people that lived in the upper inner part of Namdalen (the old "Overhalla" parish).
In the 1800s and 1900s, several Englishmen (some of those were noblemen) owned houses along the river at Gartland, where they lived during their stay in Grong. One was Thomas Merthyr Guest, a man of considerable wealth. He bought two Gartland farms and in 1873 the old Gløshaug Church. Grong municipality wanted to tear down the old church and build a new church for Harran, but instead Mr. Guest restored it. The new Harran Church was put up at Fiskum in the village of Harran. Mr. Guest's widow sold the church in 1908 to a local farmer who in turn in 1910 gave the church to the municipality.