Søndre Spitalen and the Forest Finns

Søndre Spitalen farm was cleared in the 1600s by “Ole finne”, but he leasehold from the inspector at Eidsvoll Ironworks. The king’s common land was located in Stange, and therefore within the 40-kilometer radius area used by the ironwork. Both the ironwork, and the king’s officers protected the fins against the local village population. The local villagers did not like the Finns Slash-and-burn technique, nor the hunt in the areas. This resulted in violent conflicts around the Finnish settlements. In 1699, the villagers from Romedal burned down two Finnish settlements located 10 kilometres northeast of Spitalen. Erik finne was shot and killed in this violence. The Finns kept living in Spitalen into the 1700s.