Botne Church

Botne Church, dedicated to St Nikolas, is a parish church dating roughly from around 1200 A.D. It consists of a rectangular nave with a mor shallow and narrow choir. There was made some major changes to the church in 1865, e.g., the ornamentations on the roof were replaced with a tower in the west and a sacristy with a vaulted roof in the eastern end of the choir.

The roof ornaments were rebuilt and repaired several times. One of the builders was the “Tower builder of Tønsberg”, Peder Jakobsøn, before it was too damaged and considered a safety hazard and therefore replaced.

The vaulted ceiling was covered with flat wood panels (which later was removed in 1947), the stone floor was replaced by wooden floors, the wall to the west was given a new gallery, and the northern wall was also given a bigger gallery with new pews.

By the restoration in 1941-47 (somewhat delayed due to the war) the chancel screen from 1911 was removed, the northern gallery from 1865 was removed, but the western gallery was renewed. Moreover, the altar and altar ring were replaced with new ones, and the old chalk murals were revealed. These murals most likely date back to the 15th and 17th century.

After the protestant reformation in 1537 the ownership of the church was transferred to the king. and in 1637, the earl took over the ownership. After two failed attempts at selling the church in 1764 and 1766, he finally succeeded at a third attempt in 1767. The buyers were Ole Heegaard and the parish priest. The church was said to be in an abysmal state by the time of the sale. The church was not restored until the county took ownership of the church in 1859.

In 1984 someone broke into the church and stole the altar silver, including the communion chalice from 1685. These have yet to be returned.