Strendur (Settlement) – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

With its small marina, the neighbourhood við Sjógv in Strendur with Kirkjan við Sjógv and the cemetery is located as an enclave between the old village road and a new road along the beach. SIMON M. NORDENDAL, 2018

Strendur has 923 inhabitants and covers 40 merkur and 2 gyllin. 19 merkur and 14 gyllin are copyhold land distributed between four copyhold tenants, and 20 merkur and 4 gyllin are freehold land. The sheep herd consists of 400 animals.

Strendur comprises the four býlingar Við Sjógv, í Selvendi, á Heyggi and Gerðar. The name Strendur was first used as a common designation in 1732 but does not feature regularly in the church registers until the period 1833‑54. In The Dog Letter, the place is referred to as Raktangi, which is also the name of the southernmost tongue of land at the entrance to Skálafjørður.

There are several small port and boat facilities along the fjord. At Hulkur, at the northern end of the village, lies a large quay facility where the fishing company Vaðhorn is located. Other companies in the village include Snældan, which processes Faroese wool into various types of knitwear.

The road tunnel that connects the village with Runavík on the other side of the fjord and with Tórshavn comes up at í Selvindi. The tunnel has shortened the road to Tórshavn from 75 km to 14 km.

The church við Sjógv was built in 1834 and is a traditional wooden church with a turf roof. It was built by David Petersen from Kollafjørður. The altarpiece, Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, is a copy of Carl Bloch’s work of the same name, painted by Anna Wesenberg.

The first school opened in Strendur in 1887. A new school was built in 1969 and expanded in 1984 and again in 2011. It now has a swimming pool and is the central school in the municipality. The Home Mission has had great impact on the settlement.

The first mission house was built in 1936, and in 2018 a new and larger mission house was opened. Stranda Blákrossfelag, which is part of the Christian aid organisation Blue Cross, is very active and organises an annual Blue Cross party.

The village has had an integrated day-care facility since 2006, which was expanded with an after-school facility in 2008. An assembly or communal house built in 1979 was taken over by the municipality in 1996 and is now the venue for several social and cultural activities such as dancing, music, choir singing and Christian meetings. In 1981, the orchestra Tønsikt set a Faroese record selling 6,000 copies of the cassette tape Har bylgjan leikar.

The village’s pensioners’ association was founded in 1996 and offers many activities from its premises at the port. The museum association Sjóvar Fornminnafelag, founded in 2009, owns four old houses in the port area á Høvdanum. The association has also taken over Turkihúsið, a fish drying house from 1950, which today serves as a local museum.

The sports association Stranda Ítróttarfelag (StÍF, founded in 1942) focuses particularly on handball. The youth and sports club Strálan, founded in 1989, is mostly active in rowing. There is also a judo association, which was founded in 2011.

In 1976, a memorial was erected on Raktangi, commemorating those in the municipality who have perished at sea. Their names are engraved in the stone, and a ceremony is held on 1 November each year. The outlying village of Innan Glyvur between Strendur and Skála was established in 1884. The parish’s new vicarage was built there in 1971.

Military installations during World War II

During World War II, Strendur, which is located at the entrance to Skálafjørður, had great strategic importance both for shipping traffic and for the protection of the important oil reserves at Søldarfjørður. The British established a military base with guns and other artillery in the area úti á Bergi, where they stationed about 100 soldiers, and smaller military installation with guns and artillery in Innan Glyvur, where barracks were also built for soldiers. Clear traces of the military installations can still be seen.

Military installations during World War II

Further reading