Leirvik- The trading post

Already in the Middle Ages the good harbour at Leirvik provided a connecting point. Here was a court of law, and a guesthouse was established here in the 1600s. But Leirvik never achieved the status of a trading post or a ship-loading place. In the census of 1865 parts of the farms Nordre Bjelland, Leirvik and Orninggård are mentioned as the “Coastal district of Lervig”. And the community grew around the old guesthouse location early in the 1800s.

Lurekalven

Lurekalven is an unpopulated island of heather moor which is a part of the wilderness belonging to the five farms on Ytre Lygra. Between the two islands there is only a small sound. As late as the 1920s, milking cows were rowed over the sound from Lygra in summer – a form of farming that was adapted to the coastal landscape.

Lygra

The heath landscape on outer Lygra, Utluro and Lurekalven will in future become part of a landscape protection area, to be maintained through traditional activities with year-round outdoor sheep, grazing and burning. The West Norwegian heath country belongs to a large North Atlantic coastal landscape stretching from the Bay of Biscay to the Lofoten islands.

Lyngoksen

Lysekloster- Mushroom flora

The area around Lysekloster is one of the most popular places in Hordaland for picking mushrooms. The large variety of mushrooms probably stems from the varied, old, cultural landscape which has a lot of open grazing areas and several types of fir- and deciduous forests.

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.

Mosterhamn

Mosterhamn is one of the old privileged trading posts situated centrally in the shipping lane, whether the ships sailed on Langenuten, Nyeleia through Fitjar or into the Hardanger Fjord. From prehistoric times Bømlo and Moster were the first landing places when arriving from the west; a landscape with good harbours.

Nes

The farm Nes lies directly inside Mundheim on a forested headland in the fjord between Mundheimsvika and Bondesundet, a farm with an attractive and well-kept cultural landscape.

Neshamn

Neshamn must be an ancient place for meeting and spending the night for travellers. The place blossomed in connection with the times of economic expansion in the 1500s, which to a large extent was linked to the Scottish trade at this time. Neshamn was a loading place for Scottish ships for two hundred years, up to the middle of the 1700s.

Nordvik