BJARKØY HISTORY
It's A Long Story . . .
The island's name comes from the Old Norse: Bjarkarey. The first element of the name is the genitive case of bjørk which means "birch" as in the tree. The last element is øy which means "island" but we don't know what the original inhabitants called it. There is evidence for habitation and burial during the Early Stone Age from 4500-1800 BC. It is possible to take a hike from Nergårdhamn to Austnes and see stone grave mounds.
During the Iron Age, around 200 AD, evidence has been found for the island to have been a power center. One of the treasures found on the island was a bronze cauldron. It is today housed in the Trondnes Historical Center in Harstad.
A large bronze cauldron found on in a bog on Bjarkøy dates from 400 AD.
The Viking Tore Hund
Tore Hund was an influential man in the area of Hålogaland, his home being the island of Bjarkøya in Troms. He belonged to the upper class among the Norwegian coastal chiefs. He was both strongly independent and a devout pagan. He was a member of the Bjarkøy clan, one of the more powerful families in Northern Norway during the Viking Age. He was an accomplished viking, leading several expeditions towards Russia and the White Sea. He traded in Bjarmaland, today the area of Arkhangelsk in northern Russia. Read more about this complicated historical figure.
Arkeologisk utgraving i Nergården på Bjarkøy ved stornaustet til vikinghøvdingen Tore Hund.
Bjarkøy Batteri
During WWII, Bjarkøy was occupied by German soldiers and was used at an important location to protect Harstad harbor from invaders. The battery was first designed as a near shore battery to later be upgraded to a naval shore battery. This shows a continuity in the occupying power's plans for the rearmament of the Norwegian coast as part of the larger Atlantic rampart.
Bjarkøy battery is probably one of the most northerly German coastal batteries that were allowed to stand dry after the occupying power withdrew from Finnmark in 1944-45.The coastal battery is therefore an important cultural monument with a unique, national history from the last phase of the war in the north.
Lundgård house in Nergårdshamn was used as officers quarters and Russian prisoners were used as forced labor to build the bunker system inside the local hills.
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Today, the system of paths and bunkers still exists and is an amazing place to go exploring. There is even a canon with view of the waterway to experience. For photographers, this is a must visit location.
One of the cannon positions on Bjarkøy that kept an eye on the shipping traffic.
