Hattarvík is located on the east-side of the island Fugloy.
The village is encircled by high mountains on 3 sides.
Hattarvík was founded in 900.
The stonechurch was built in 1899.
Hattarvík is reachable by a ferry 1-2 times a day and also by a helicopter 3 times a week.
Some old stone-houses are being restored these days. These houses are said to relate to ‘Flokksmenn’.
Tradition says that ’Flokksmenn’ came from Hattarvík:
Three strong men in Hattarvík wanted to seize the power of the Faroe Islands. A fourth man joined them. In the beginning he refused joining them but he changed his mind one morning when the trio entered his home and by force dragged him out of his bed and told him that they would kill him if he did not join them. The gang went to Tórshavn in order to find supporters. They succeded in getting 50 men to join them. Most of these men were from Suðuroy.
They agreed to meet in Gøta later that year. Supporters of the gang called ‘flokksmenn’ should come in boats that were painted black on one side and white on the other.
Flokksmenn ravaged the north-islands but the villagers always hid in their churches where they were safe from the hooligans who didn’t dare harm anyone in the house of God.
The news about the Flokksmen spread far and wide on the islands. The supporters had been arrested and when the men from Hattarvík came to the arranged meeting in
Gøtu there were only the enemy to meet them. They turned their boat and hurried away from
Gøtu as fast as they could.
They were chased by 70 boats. On Svínoy the two parties met in a scrap. The Flokksmenn fought hard but eventually had to withdraw. They hid in the church as they had seen their victims do. Floksmenn did not know that the church in
Svínoy had not been consecrated yet. Thus it gave them no protection. The gang was drawn out of the church then they were executed (thrown of a cape into the sea). |