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![Støle church](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/190/kvh_187_stole_kyrkje_150.jpg?itok=QkdeOeRd)
Støle church
The stone church at Støle may have been built around 1160 probably as a private chapel for the mighty Stødle clan. It is likely that it was Erling Skakke, the king’s representative and father of king Magnus Erlingsson, who built the church.
![Stordalen](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/304/stordalen_endret_til_rgb.jpg?itok=nn6EunGo)
Stordalen
When the Etne water system was protected in 1994, preservation of the cultural landscape in Stordalen Valley was a a main objective. This is a valley with an exceptional abundance of Different types of plants and animals. In the grey alder forest in Stordalen there are more bird species than in most other places, in fact, denser than one tends to find in a tropical rainforest.
![Dalskarvatnet](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/stord_46.jpg?itok=Alucy1eG)
Dalskarvatnet–Dyvikvågen
Many of the fossils one finds on Stord are related to fossils of the same age found in North America. Scientists thinks this indicates that the bedrock on Stord was much nearer to America at that time than today.
![Hystadmarka, Stord](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/1/kvh_212-1_gravhaug212.jpg?itok=WN_nSl1Q)
Hystad- burial mounds
The biggest collection of prehistoric burial relics in Stord is to be found in Hystadmarka. There are still 16 burial mounds and two stone rings visible here; finds that span from the Bronze Age to the Viking Age in time.
![Spring in the black alder forest of Hystadsmarkjo.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/stord_8.jpg?itok=uKjQ61DI)
Hystad- the black alder forest
One of the biggest black alder forests in the country is in Hystadmarkjo. Along the well prepared trail through the forest you can experience an exceptional nature with an unusual abundance of exuberant plant species. But what has laid the foundation for this richness?
![Ådlandsstova, as it stood at Nedre Ådland, Stord](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/kvh_209-2_sk_414.jpg?itok=cG31Cib5)
Ådlandsstova
The Ådland house is one of the biggest medieval houses still existing in West Norway. It is constructed from unusually large, hard fir wood, beautifully oval-cut. One story links the cottage to the Gildeskålbakken at Orninggård (Lower Ådland); thus indicating that the cottage has been the medieval banqueting hall. The building has been dated back to the 13-1400s by carbon dating.
![Rosemåling](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/304/frette.jpg?itok=NK9-3KWy)
![Foglefonna and Sandvikedalen with Hardangerjøkulen in the distance.](https://www.grind.no/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/bilder/sted/232/etne_40.jpg?itok=QkNKWy9j)
Mosnes
The permanently-protected Mosneselva River, with its meltwater from Folgefonna, runs out into Åkra Fjord by the roadless and uninhabited Mosnes. Those who once lived here were forced to surrender to the ravages of Nature. In the autumn of 1962 there was a flood so great that the people were driven from their farms.