Norðoyri (Settlement) – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

Norðoyri has 109 inhabitants and covers 24 merkur, of which 17 merkur and 12 gyllin are copyhold land, and 4 gyllin are freehold land. The copyhold land is divided between four copyhold tenants. The sheep herd consists of 330 animals.

The village was first mentioned in 1463, but is considered to have been inhabited in the Viking Age, as evidenced by ruins in the village. In 1745, one of the village’s farms was destroyed by an avalanche.

The sheriff Samuel Michael Matras lived on the farm Uppistovufestið from 1813 until his death in 1857. He kept a detailed diary of all agricultural activities on the farm. The diary, which is kept at Tjóðskjalasavnið – however, a small part of it at the archive in Klaksvík – is a unique source of the country’s agricultural history.

Further reading