Sponheim

Ulvik church

Odda- The industrial town

In 1908 the new power station in Tyssedal was completed. A/S Tyssefaldene provided power for the carbide and cyanide factory that was built in Odda. This signalled a new era.

Knarrevik

Having passed well over the bridge across to Sotra you pass an industrial plant surrounded by a budding community; the mineral mill of A/S Norwegian Talc. Some of the buildings seem to have been erected in the early part of the 20th century. They are remnants of a grand industrial plant from the former boom time in the country – the economic upswing after WWI.

Tyssøy

B.E.Bendixen, who has written about “The Churches in Søndre Bergenhus Amt”, believed even around 1900 that there was evidence at Tyssøy of the church or the chapel of the Holy Ludvig (Louis). Two large stone blocks had lain in the western wall of the church’s nave, and this wall showed a length of 16 meters in the terrain.

Herdla Church

A letter from the Pope Eugenius 3 in 1146 mentions St. Nikolaus church at Herdla. This church belonged under Munkeliv monastery, which was founded in Bergen by Øystein around 1110. The Herdla Church may stem from this time.

Tysse

As early as 1862 Svein L.Røsseland started a country store and lodging house at Ytre Tysse, and later on he became steamship agent and the first post office manager in Samnanger. However, the decisive change came when F.Mathiessen started A/S Samnanger Uldvarfabrik (woollen factory) in 1886.

Selsneset

Sævareid

Lysekloster- The monks and nature

Lysekloster was the largest agricultural property in the country when it was phased out during the Reformation in 1537. In its prime this cloister encompassed two-thirds of all the farms in Os. The monks introduced and cultivated new plant species and it was probably they who stocked the waters with fish not indigenous to the area. This legacy from the Middle Ages has left a lasting mark.