Bremsnes Church


Bremsnes Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Averøy Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bremsnes on the eastern coast of the island of Averøya, just west of the town of Kristiansund. It is the church for the Bremsnes parish which is part of the Ytre Nordmøre prosti in the Diocese of Møre. The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform style in 1771 by an unknown architect. The church seats about 350 people.

History

Bremsnes has been a church site for centuries. The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to 1589, but in 1533 the parish of Bremsnes is mentioned. It is likely the church was built before that time, possibly in the 1400s. The 1589 church was a long church that was said to be dilapidated by the 1600s, according to historical records. This church was built to replace an even older church, of which nothing is known. In the late-1600s, the nearby ladested of Lille-Fosna was growing, making Bremsnes Church quite important as the parish church for the young town. The nearby Grip archipelago was also using Bremsnes Church as their gravesite since they could not bury the dead on the rocky islands.
In 1770, Bremsnes Church burned down, likely from a lightning strike. Since the church was used by people from the nearby town of Christianssund and the people from Grip, the church was quickly rebuilt in 1771. The new church was a timber-framed, cruciform building.