Provided by:
Stiftelsen Nordmøre Museum
Welcome to Dolm! In this audio guide you will get to know Hitra's ancient history related to the surroundings around the Dolm church . You can experience all this through good narrator voices with pictures and text as you approach the different places.
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Welcome to Dolm! A cultural landscape with a rich history and many traces from the past. The name “Dolm” probably originates from the old Norse word “dølgje’ which means shielded or hidden. And in this sheltered part of Dolmsundet there is a lot of hidden history. Dolm is both a cultural landscape with exciting botany and ancient monuments, but first and foremost Dolm is a Church town. Here you can find Dolm Church – the most important cultural heritage site in Trøndelag, south and west of the Trondheim fjord. You can also find many traces from the prehistoric ages in the area. Dolm is often described as a cultural historical pearl. As here, you can find cultural monuments from the Stone, Bronze, Iron and Middle Ages side by side.
This has been an unanswered question for a long time. For many years, it was claimed that the church dated from the 13th century. This theory was based on a connection to an Irish Saint called St. Columbanus. Today, we can say with high probability that the Church dates from the late Middle Ages, most likely from the start of the 16th century. Both the architecture and written sources point to this. There are many things that are worth mentioning regarding the construction of Dolm Church. Originally the south wall of the Church was completed using wood and not stone. Perhaps the reformation of 1536-1537 put a stop to the construction? There is much to suggest that that was the case, but we can never know for sure.
Today Dolm may seem a little remote, but for much of its existence Dolm was the centre of power on Hitra. Dolm was the centre of Hitter Parish which covered the areas that are today known as Hitra, Frøya, Hemne, Heim and parts of Orkland. Dolm Church was the main Parish seat and at all times there was a Priest and a Chaplain living here. As you can probably gather, this was a large Parish and as such had a good income. Fishing in particular provided a large part of the Church’s income. After the reformation, Dolm Church eventually became Royal property and by the middle of the 18th century the Church was sold into private hands. Amongst others, one of the owners of the Church was the wealthy Parelius family who operated on Hopsjøen over the strait. We can still see remains of what was the Parelius family tomb on the east side of the Church. The Church was finally bought by Hitra municipality in 1873 and has remained in their ownership ever since.
It is said, that since ancient times there was a monastery here at Dolm. But that it was wiped out by the ravages of the black death in 1349. Can you see the stones that are sticking out from the walls of the church? These inexplicably protruding stones have been the source of much speculation. Today, we know that it is not a possibility. However, it was at one time speculated that the stones could have originated from an unfinished vestry. A room which was meant for the storage of valuable objects and documents…maybe…but there is something with this theory that didn’t hold true. As the dimensions don’t fit. A new theory is that perhaps work on the Church began further north, so that you would now be standing in what was originally intended as the nave. Then a message was received to expand the Church, so it had to be built further towards the south. The wall that was intended as the Church’s southside was therefore instead used as the northside. The protruding stones could therefore be the remnants of the walls that were demolished when the Church was moved.
Can you see the big old Oak tree standing on this side of the graveyard? Down by the trunk you will also find a horizontal gravestone with the name Stub on it. Here rest three siblings, all of them children of the Priest. Infant mortality rates were high in times gone by and here we can find a stark reminder of the trials faced by people during those times. The Oak was planted at the same time as the grave was dug and you can see that the tree has divided itself into three.
They say that lightning never strikes twice….apart from in Dolm. Here a lightning strike and subsequent fire have destroyed the Church not once but twice. But what is most remarkable about this is that not only did lightning strike in the same place, but also on the same date. On the 3rd February 1848 lightning struck the spire and set the whole church ablaze. It was possible to save some things from the burning church, but when the next morning came, there were only stone walls left. The church was rebuilt not long afterwards. But worse was to come, in 1920 lightning once again struck the spire and started a fire. But this time the wind was too strong and the blaze so fierce that nothing from the interior of the church could be saved. After much debate amongst the residents of Hitte, it was agreed to build a new Church on the other side of the sound – Hitra Church. But, the locals were not willing to give up Dolm Church and over a long period of time, the Church was restored and returned to its original state. The Church was once again consecrated in 1992.
It is difficult to say exactly when the Vicarage Garden in Dolm was landscaped. The eldest tree is close to 200 years old, and we can estimate that the garden was laid out some time around the middle of the 19th century. Surveys from 1925 show that the garden was constructed in a baroque pattern with gravel paths: this garden would have been a sight to behold for many from the surrounding islands. When the vicarage burned down, the garden was no longer maintained, but after many years work the Coastal Museum together with locals have restored the garden to its former splendour. You are now standing in front of the memorial park. The sculptures are copies of statues from the Fredensborg palace garden in Denmark. There are carved sculptures portraying subjects of the Danish-Norwegian King and these two statues were carved based on Hitte residents. The memorial park is to remember and reflect on the lives of all those who have lost their lives at sea through the ages.
It is uncertain when the vicarage was established at Dolm, but it was probably at the same time that the Church was founded. In the year 1800 the old vicarage was demolished in favour of a new statelier vicarage. The Priest lived here together with his family and their servants and even after the Church burned down in 1920 the Priest continued to live here. However, on the 7th of July 1963 the beautiful main house was destroyed in a fire. There was a wedding that day and it was the Priest’s own daughter who was getting married. The reception was being held in the vicarage and there was probably an overload on the electrics which caused a short circuit. There were not enough extinguishers at the vicarage, and the helpless wedding guests could only watch as the beautiful vicarage went up in flames. The only thing that now remains are the foundations.
It is not so difficult to imagine where the name “Skredderøya” which means “tailor island” comes from. It is obviously because there was a tailor who lived here. Who that tailor was, however, is not so easy to work out, but it is likely that he arrived here at some point in the 17th century. The foundations from the house on Skredderøya still remain, back in time it would have been one of many small holdings that belonged to Dolm vicarage. The path out towards Skredderøya is a well signposted cultural walk which leads you not only through an exciting cultural landscape, but also past a dam, ruins, and old cart roads.
Right up until the start of the 20th century it was usual to take the sea route to the Church. There were few who arrived by road. The quay here on Dolm was therefore the most common access point for those who attended Dolm church in the past. The quay is suitable for receiving simple rowing boats, but if for example there was a funeral and the mourners and coffin came with a barge or other large boat, then they had to dock at the ‘morgue’. That is the promontory that you can see behind the boat shed. The coffin and its entourage had to make their way to the church from there, and that is how it obtained the name ‘likberget’ (morgue).