Gøtugjógv (Settlement)

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur
The altarpiece in Gøtu Kirkja in Gøtugjógv is a glass mosaic by visual artist Tróndur Patursson from 1995. JENS CHRISTIAN TOP/RITZAU SCANPIX, 2017

Gøtugjógv has 44 inhabitants and covers 6 merkur of copyhold land, which is divided between two copyhold tenants. The sheep herd consists of 100 animals.

The place is named after a gjógv (gorge). A farmer’s son from the farm Húsgarður in Syðrugøta moved here in the 17th century, and around the year 1800, the farm was divided into two farms. Later, more people settled in the area. When a bridge was built across the gorge in 1852, Gøtugjógv became the most central place in Gøta where the first school was built in 1890. A new school was built in 1929 and has later been expanded several times, most recently in 2010.

The Bethania mission house was built in 1924 but has been demolished, however, a new one is under construction. In the 1930s, the temperance movement built N.I.O.G.T. (Nordic Independent Order of Good Templars) Glottin. The Filadelfia hall of the Brethren congregation was also built in the village.

Gøtugjógv also has banks, a post office and shops, but future restructuring of the postal service may change this.

The new Gøtu Kirkja, which was built instead of the old church in Norðragøta, was completed in Gøtugjógv in 1995. The church, which was consecrated on 25 June that year in the presence of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Nordic bishops, is decorated with large stained glass paintings by Tróndur Patursson.

Further reading

Read more about The islands, towns and settlements