Tvøroyri (Settlement) – Trap The Faroe Islands

© Styrelsen for Dataforsyning og Infrastruktur

The prefabricated church in Tvøroyri is located on a ridge and can be seen from most of the village. ÓLAVUR FREDERIKSEN, 2020

The outlying village of Tvøroyri emerged in 1836, when the first branch of the Royal Trade Monopoly was established on the sandy isthmus (oyri) at the outlet of Tvørá on the outfield of the Froðba markatal settlement. The village currently has 859 inhabitants.

In addition to an area for building plots, a trøð was also fenced off for the employees of the trade to cultivate for their own use. During the monopoly trading period, the establishment consisted of the factor’s and assistant’s living quarters, warehouses, lighter (wide and open ship), boat house, jetty and guest house from 1843 for customers who needed overnight accommodation.

Map of districts and municipalities. KF.FO AND PEDER DAM, 2022

In the first years, population growth was insignificant. When Suðuroy got its first doctor in 1852, his official residence was in Tvøroyri, and the sheriff moved from Hvalba to Tvøroyri in 1854. The parish church moved from Froðba to Tvøroyri in 1856. The first post office outside Tórshavn was established in Tvøroyri in 1884. Suðuroy Várting (spring council) moved from Ørðavík to Tvøroyri in 1895. At the same time, a police station and prison were established. The first hospital was built in 1904 and was expanded in both 1953 and 1995. Føroya Banki opened a branch in 1922. The first pharmacy was established in 1931 and had new premises in 1964. A retirement home was built in the 1930s, and later the island’s Customs and Tax Administration (TAKS) and Almannaverkið (social security office) were added. Today, the headquarters of Strandferðslan (SSL), the Faroe Islands’ public transport administration, is in Tvøroyri, just as Føroya Tele on Suðuroy is also based in the town. In this way, Tvøroyri has developed into the administrative centre of the island.

Several merchants settled in the village after the abolition of the monopoly trade. When sea fishing using larger ships began in the 1870s, merchants also became shipowners. Fishermen and workers – both men and women – found work in the production of dried cod, and many settled in Tvøroyri.

The boom lasted until the early 1920s. The financial crisis in 1929 also led to bankruptcies and subsequent stagnation in the 1930s, and the trade unions in Tvøroyri took the initiative to establish cooperative enterprises: Ísvirkið in 1929 and AT in 1936. In 1953, a filleting factory was established which N.J. Mortensen A/S took over in the period 1955‑75. The cooperation Tvøroyrar Flakavirki built a new filleting factory at the port in 1975.

After the banking crisis in 1992 and the decline and reorganisation of the fishing industry under Føroya Fiskavirking, new players have emerged, including Delta Seafood, which has produced salted and frozen fish since 1995. Varðin Pelagic started in Tvøroyri in 2012 and has built large production facilities in Tvøroyri’s old port facilities.

After some simple and modestsize jetties, the country’s first actual concrete quay structure was built in Tvøroyri in 1924. It was extended in 1953 and a pier was added. During an extensive expansion of the entire port area in 2014, the quay facility was extended by 300 m to a deep-water port.

The old church was moved here from Froðba in 1856, and in 1908 it was again taken down and moved, this time to Sandvík. In the same year, Tvøroyri got a new large church that could accommodate 500‑600 people. The land was donated by churchwarden Daniel Mortensen, and the church itself was donated by A/S J. Mortensen Eftf. It was designed by Viggo Bertram and was prefabricated at Strømmen Trævarefabrik in Norway, from where it came as a construction kit of timber, later covered with iron sheets; the roof was also made of iron. The church rests on a solid foundation of basalt stone. In 1953, the choir windows were decorated with stained glass by Ernst Trier, except for the painting in the upper window, which was painted by the brother Holmer Trier in 1988. During a renovation in 1980, new wooden cladding was fitted and the church was repainted both outside and inside, and in 2017 it got a new steel roof. The church clock and church bells date from 1908. The church got a grand piano in 1980 and a new pipe organ from Marcussen & Søn with 18 stops in 1986. Baptismal font, altarpieces, church silver and chandeliers are gifts to the church, which has also received several votive offerings.

In the past, the villages in the parish each had their own school. In 1884, a school was established in Tvøroyri which served as a community school in the period 1884‑1905. It was expanded in 1915 and in 1927, lastly with S.J. Hofgaard as an architect. In 1958, a gym was established and in 1964 a swimming bath.

In Tvøroyri, as the first place outside Tórshavn, it became possible to take the middle-school examination in 1924, and the following year, it was also possible to take the qualifying examination. A technical college was established in 1932 and a business college in 1935. The latter two are the first colleges of their kind in the Faroe Islands. The municipal school’s last expansion was in 1974, when the higher preparatory examination (HF) were offered as a programme. More recently, a continuation school, afterschool facility and nursery and kindergarten have been established.

The first and oldest football club, Tvøroyrar Bóltfelag (TB), was founded as early as in 1892 and was for several years the country’s only football club. In 1900, a football pitch was built at Sevmýri, which is, however, no longer in use. Today, most sports take place in the new sports facilities and in the sports centre in Trongisvágur.

Tvøroyrar Hornorkestur (originally founded in 1904) plays at most major events on Suðuroy.

Tvøroyrar Bio opened in 1922 and was closed around 1990.

The politician and poet Rasmus Effersøe was born in Tvøroyri, and a memorial to his honour was erected at his birthplace in Heiðunum in 1957. The merchant and author Rich. B. Thomsen, who wrote novelsin Danish, was born and lived in Tvøroyri. Under the pseudonym Gretha Stevns, Eilif Mortansson, who was born and grew up in Tvøroyri, wrote the popular girls’ novels about Susy and Pernille.

From trading companies to worker cooporatives

Harbour area of Tvøroyri from about 1915. At the quay is a sloop and a so-called motor boat. Motorboats were built from 1905. The fishwives are washing and cleaning the salted cod to be dried. NATIONAL MUSEUM OF DENMARK

When free trade was introduced in 1856, the Danish merchant T.F. Thomsen bought the buildings and facilities of the Royal Monopoly in Tvøroyri and started his business. In 1858, T.F Thomsen had a competitor in Johan Mortensen, who also established himself as a merchant in Tvøroyri. He was born in Ørðavík and had previously worked at the Royal Monopoly’s branches in Klaksvík and Tvøroyri. The two merchants became involved in the production of dried cod and invested in fishing vessels. After the turn of the century, about 35 % of the Faroese fishing fleet, 40‑45 ships, belonged in Tvøroyri.

The merchants in Tvøroyri built up a collaboration with local merchants all over the Faroe Islands as goods suppliers and fish buyers. At some point, A/S J. Mortensen Eftf. had 31 fishing vessels, two freight steamers and some 30 branches (úthandlar) all over the Faroe Islands. They were also engaged in banking.

Fishing from ships and production of dried cod in Tvøroyri attracted lots of labour, and Tvøroyri grew explosively, as it allowed many people to create a future for themselves outside the old farming society on their own terms.

The merchant families and their employees constituted a small, powerful local bourgeoisie with a lifestyle that had parallels in similar environments in the Nordic region at the same time. They had big houses and their own club, Tvøroyrar Klubbi, where they could meet, while the workers and fishermen met at the dance venue Tvørátunga.

The weekly newspaper Føroyatíðindi was published by A/S Ásdal in the period 1915‑61, and Edward Mortensen (from 1923 Mitens) from Tvøroyri, who was a politician in favour of independence and a member of the Danish parliament, used the newspaper as a mouthpiece.

The large influx led to the creation of a special workers’ and fishermen’s neighbourhood, Valurin. The men organised themselves in the workers’ association Fylking (1915) and the women in the working women’s association, Fiskepigernes Fagforening (1922). The new Faroese Social Democratic Party gained many supporters in Tvøroyri, became represented in the municipal government in 1926 and won a majority and the office of mayor in 1935. When the party won two seats in the Løgting in 1928, one member of the Løgting, Peter Mohr Dam, was from Tvøroyri.

The economic downturn of the 1920s and 1930s, culminating in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, affected Tvøroyri and led to bankruptcies and stagnation. However, the local trade union movement took several business initiatives. Ísvirkið, a unique and modern cold store company, was established in 1929 with the aim of exporting fresh chilled and frozen fish as a supplement to the traditional dried cod. The company included a new freighter and nine fishing vessels. In addition to the world crisis, several concurring circumstances led to the bankruptcy of the company in 1932. The municipality took over Ísvirki’s building and facilities and rented it out. Fishing vessels, such as sloops and trawlers, came to Tvøroyri to buy ice to cool the fish. The synergies of this created fertile ground for other industries, such as the sale of coal, salt and later also oil.

J. Mortensen Eftf. went bankrupt in 1936. Subsequently, the company was acquired by the local trade union movement and was named Arbejdernes Trawlerdrift (AT), which ran a trading business and housed a consumer cooperative, shipping company and fish processing company. There was also a smaller shipyard, AT, which ceased operations in 1954. With its more than 400 employees, it was the second largest company in the Faroe Islands for some time.

In the period 1941‑71, Arbeiðaranna Kolavirki (AK) was responsible for the extraction of coal in the mines in Rangabotnur and had well over 100 employees at some point.

From trading companies to worker cooporatives

Further reading