Stange Church

Medieval church from the middle of the 13th century located on an ancient church site

The church was built on top of an old farm called Stange that gave name to the church. The parish was quite small in the Middle Ages as there were three parish churches only a few kilometres away. The other churches were abandoned due to the Black Death and Stange Church was the only active church in the village together with the annex church in Ottestad. By the end of the middle ages, the whole village took the name Stange, and it later became the name of the municipality after the merging with Romedal in 1964.

It is said in the saga by Håkon Håkonsson that the bells in Stange church were used when the rebel group Ribbungena attacked the village in 1225. The remains of the walls to an older stone church have been found under the floor of the current church.

Stange Church burned after a lightning strike in 1620. The fire destroyed the entire interior from the Middle Ages. The reconstruction work began shorty after, this time they added towers. They also constructed a side ship facing towards north to make room for the growing community in 1703. The windows was changed and replaced to give more light. You can see the traces of the work in the walls of the church.

Opening hours and contact details for Stange Church.

Photo: User: Mahlum / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain