Skei Church


Skei Church is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Steinkjer municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Ogndal. It is the main church for the Ogndal parish which is part of the Stiklestad prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros. The white, wooden church was built in a long church style in 1664 by an unknown architect. The church seats about 290 people.

History

Name Skei suggests that the place may have been a meeting place also in pre-Christian times. Skei means "contest or the event center," which probably suggests something about the use, even if the site is not known as a place of worship.
It is impossible to determine when the first church was built at Skei, but in historical records from 1490 "Skeide Sokn" is mentioned, and Olav Engelbrektsson has in its Domesday Book from the 1530s referred to the farm "church Skeiid". Skei Church is mentioned in connection with the will of the Crown by the Reformation.
In 1725, the church was sold at auction, and the first private owner, Colonel Claus Janus Gedde who also bought Mære Church and Henning Church. Over the next 75 years, the church was owned in turn by Casper Heirich von Westerwald, Andrew Bull, Jorgen Melbourne Westerfwaldt, Theodore Bergmann Holst, and David Andrew Gram.
In 1803, the local congregation bought the church for 3,150 rigsdalers, and then on 1 January 1901, the local municipality took over the ownership of the church.