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The 1877 stone church at Þingeyrar.
Internals of Þingeyrar showing simple but elegant decoration and smooth, blue star studded roof.
walls of houses, creating field enclosures
and been used as an underlay roofing
material associated with thatch. The range
of turf building block shapes we used in the
reconstruction of the byre at Tyrfingsstaðir
and observed at the various turf buildings
visited were not dissimilar to those
associated with turf buildings in Scotland,
and the generic building techniques would
appear to be remarkably similar. Perhaps
this is not too surprising given that both
countries share a common Norse heritage,
to a greater or lesser degree.
By comparison, in Iceland the transition
from turf and salvaged or imported timber
construction methods to the use of cut
stone only started to take place during the
22 I
late eighteenth century when Iceland was
under Danish rule. We visited the cathedral
at Holar, which was built of red sandstone
quarried from nearby Mt Hólabyrða and
consecrated in 1763. Extensive restoration
was carried out in 1988-90 under the
supervision of Icelandic architect Þorsteinn
Gunnarsson. The internals of the relatively
simple building are decorated with some
THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND
fine historic artefacts, such as the Gothic
altarpiece, believed to be of German origin
and given to the church in the early 16th
century by Jon Arason, the last Catholic
Bishop.
The site at Holar also contains an
example of a typical medium sized turf
house of the northern Icelandic style, which
are characterised by forward facing gables
with the rear building rooms set at right
angles. Built in 1860, the Nyibaer farmhouse
has been in the care of the National
Museum since 1956 and has been
extensively restored.
I was particularly struck by the stone
church at Þingeyrar, which derives its name
from the legislative assemblies held there
during the Commonwealth period (9301264 AD). Whilst the original church dated
from 1133 the present stone church was
dedicated in 1877. As no suitable raw
material was available locally, the stone was
dragged to the site by boat and sledge from
the Vatnsnesfjall mountain range some
15km distant across the nearby lake Hóp.
The stone would probably have been
difficult to build with as the material did not
appear to have cleaved in straight lines,
making each stone unique in shape. The end
result however was impressive, with a
handsomely proportioned main structure
and a bold square entrance tower.
Inside, the simple curved ceiling was free
from any structural members and was
painted a deep rich blue, decorated with
regular gold stars. The effect cre