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Ask is one of the oldest farms at Askøya, known since the 600s. During the unification Ask became one of the king’s farms that Harald Hårfagre took possession of. In the late Middle Ages the farm belonged to Bergen bishopric, and the city’s last catholic archbishop, Olav Torkildsson, lived here from time to time.

After the Reformation Ask again came under the crown and the king, who in 1628 sold the farm to the law officer Mauritz Bostede, in spite of the fact that the king’s officer at Bergenhus opposed the sale and claimed that the court could not manage without the provisions from this large estate. In 1642 Ask was bought by Axel Mowatt, who left the estate to the large collection of estates managed by his son-in-law, baron Ludwig Rosenkrantz at Rosendal. Even in 1865 Ask was by far the largest farm at Askøya.