Holla kirkeruiner

The old church in Holla was consecrated to St. Mary on Simon and Judas Day on 28 October, year unknown. The church is located in Hollahaugen, in the middle of the settlement, with an exceptional view. You can see the church from parts of Eidsbygda, Ulefoss, Romnes, and parts of Sannesbygda. Valebø can see the church above the lake Norsjø.

It was probably erected in the 1200s and possibly replaced an old pagan temple nearby. It lies in the usual east-west direction. It was built of granite stone from the nearby area and lime was used as mortar in a way the people of that time were familiar with. According to estimates, the church nave was about 50 feet long and 28 feet wide, and the thickness of the wall was about 3.5 feet. The chancel was probably 14 feet in length and 17 feet wide. In front of the church was a wood sacristy on top of stone, about the same size as the chancel.

 Above the sacristy was the bell tower (pyramidal at the top). In its beginning, the church was only half as long, as some of the ruins show. The little church was finished in the 1700s. The priest named Stabel wrote that the chancel collapsed, after which commerce minister Halvor Sørenson Borse helped to get the church built bigger and increase people’s access to services. In his will he stated that some of his funds should be used for the church’s development and for the construction of a new chancel. That is how the church came to be what it is today.