"A Cathedral in the Middle of Nowhere"

(Tuesday 6 August, continued) 

Seglora Church, Västergötland, Sweden

 

Not very far from Rydal (previous post), in an agricultural area named Seglora,  this impressive church can be seen from far across the surrounding fields. It is not really a cathedral (i.e. not the seat of a bishop) - but it does look more like it would belong in a big city rather than out in the countryside. It was built in 1903 and originally had no less than 800 seats. In connection with a renovation in 1967, that was reduced to 480 - but that is still a lot for a countryside church.

Before this church was built, there had been three wooden churches on the same spot. The first one was destroyed in a fire back in the 1500s. Another wooden church was built to replace it in the 1600s. In 1729, a third wooden church was built - but that one soon became too small, so that already in the 1860s they began to discuss building a larger one - resulting in the decision in 1901 to build this very impressive one, finished in 1903.

Seglora Church at Skansen, Stockholm

After the new church had been built in Seglora, the wooden church from 1729 was moved (1916-18) to the open air museum Skansen in Stockholm , where it is still popular, and used for weddings and concerts etc. (And I'm mentioning this because that one is a lot more famous than the big one above.)

Seglora Old Church at Skansen, Stockholm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seglora

 

To increase our impression of the extremely rural location for this huge church, close to where we had parked the car, there were sheep grazing... The blackheaded one "baah-haa"-ed at us, so we went over to say hello to them before we left.

"The grass always looks greener on the other side..."
 

And those are the last photos from my August holiday week with my brother.
After lunch the next day, he left and drove back home to Karlstad.

Graveyards

(3 August, cont.)  

Before we left the village of our paternal ancestors, we also made a stop at the church and churchyard where we have our family graves on dad's side of the family.

Fristad Church (built 1850)

The only graves we have left there now that are our responsibility are those of our parents and paternal grandparents, plus that of my grandfather's grandparents (but that one is just a flat stone lying down in the lawn and requires no special care).

I don't know what the practice is in other countries, but in Sweden, nowadays, either family look after their graves themselves, or pay an annual fee to have that done by churchyard staff. (As we don't live nearby, we pay for the service).

If there is no one to continue to care for a grave any more, it goes back to the church; which means that the spot can be reused by someone else (but not until after 25 years after the last burial there). 

My grandmother came from a large family, and most of her siblings were buried in this churchyard too. My parents in their time used to care for three or four more old graves here. But after dad died, we returned those to the church - and by now, they have been reused. (I made that decision before I started digging deeper into family history myself - and perhaps that was just as well!) There are still another two or three graves that belong to cousins of my dad, though. Nowadays I normally only visit once a year or so; but when I'm there, I usually still walk around to those that I still remember where they are.

Back in 2011 (the same year my dad died) there was a tragic accident in another churchyard in this part of Sweden, where a child was killed by a heavy old headstone falling over it. After that, there was a national decree issued that every headstone in every graveyard in the whole country has to be checked regularly. If a standing stone does not pass a certain pressure test, it is laid down on the ground; and if you want to have it raised again, you have to pay to have that done in a secure way. 

One result of this is of course that you see more old headstones laid down on the ground these days. But another is that many old church yards also look more "alive" and well cared for now than they used to. 

(PS. The stone on the grave of my great-great-grandparents was always lying flat, I think.)

Three Churches

(Alternative titles: "Lost and Found" or "Tower Power")

On our recent trip to the coast, we did not get the opportunity to "properly" visit any church (as we have often done on other holiday trips). However, we did find church towers rather helpful for orientation in an unknown landscape (vs the map)! 

On the second day of our trip, we found ourselves stopping at three different countryside churches because of feeling a bit lost, and needing to (re)establish our position on the map. 

I have afterwards found that all three of them belong to the parish of Munkedal. If you click on the links to each of them below, you will also be able to have a look inside them on the parish website - even though my brother and I did not get to do that IRL. (I did try the door at each on them, but they were all locked.) 

With the first one, the time stamp on my photo tells me that we stopped there around 10:11 - on our way to Bovallstrand. I've now (re-)identified it as Bärfendal church - dating back to the mid 1100s; but the wooden tower added as late as 1868.

10:11 - Bärfendal Church

An  old wooden shed close to the church above

The next two were our way back from Smögen the same afternoon.

 

 

16:05 - passing Håby Church

Håby church, near Munkedal: We had already driven past this one (without stopping) at least three times - twice when looking for our hotel on Wednesday evening, and again on Thursday morning... And just after 4 pm on Thursday afternoon we passed it again. We did not intend to stop there, so I just took the opportunity to take photos from the car...

However, shortly after that we managed to miss a turn somewhere, had to have a full spin around a roundabout, and then found no place to safely turn around again until back at Håby church. Where we then parked for a few minutes to try and get our bearings straight - again.

This church too goes back to the 1100s, with the wooden tower added in 1869.

16:14 - parked at Håby Church...

16:16 (a side door)

16:17

 

However, as there was more than one confusing roundabout to get through in this neighbourhood , we also ended up at a third church that we had not really intended to visit.

16:34 - Foss Church

 

Foss church, also close to Munkedal. Yet another one going back to the 1100s, with the tower added much later. (This seems to have been "standard" in those parts...) 

 

Once we got past Uddevalla, we were finally back on more familiar roads. But still with another two hours or so to drive back to Borås... (phew)  

We only made two more short stops. The first one at a motel somewhere after Uddevalla for coffee/tea. (Coffee for the driver, tea for me.)

17:00

 The second at the church and graveyard in the village just outside Borås where our parents and paternal grandparents (and some other ancestors) are buried - just for a little walkabout to check on our family graves, this time!  

From the one photo I took there (19:05),  I conclude that we must have arrived home (at my flat) around 19:30 or so. Tired, with two long days behind us... but also quite a lot to look back on!

 

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."
- Henry David Thoreau