vegaøyan world heritage
Other islands in the world heritage area
Here you will find some of the history of several of the islands in the World Heritage Area that are not mentioned with their own pages. The overview below is organized in alphabetical order.
BUKKØY AND OLDERØY
The land registers of 1886 and 1907 list Bukkøy and Olderøy under the same farm number, with two farms on Bukkøy and three on Olderøy. The farms on both farms had summer barns on Risøya, Mellomøya and Vesterøya. There was originally one farm on Bukkøy, which was divided between two brothers in 1886. Slåtterøy was a homestead under Bukkøy/Olderøy and was probably settled from 1890 until 1955-56. This was the last homestead to be bought out in this island area. Today there are no buildings left on the island. A crofting family also lived on Skjæret for a few years before Olderøy was divided into three farms in 1883.
Olderøy was the main island of the two. It is mentioned in 1567 and was then called Olderøenn. In 1647, the part was called Aalderøe. The king owned the island until it became an Irgens estate in the 1700s. There were then two occupants on the island. In 1885, there were three neighbors on the island and 35 inhabitants. The population remained stable until the post-war period. Olderøy was vacated in 1955 when the last residents moved to Bukkøy. Today there are only buildings on Bukkøy. TTS started regular calls at Bukkøy in the 1950s. In 1952, the owners started buying dry seaweed. Boats came to the island to collect it. Trawling and shelling have been important secondary industries for the people here. Bukkøy was vacated in 1974. The farmhouse and outbuildings are still standing on both farms.

BURØY
Burøy is located just outside Nes on Vega. There has been an old settlement on Burøya. The property is registered in a land register from 1567. In 1637, a mercenary lived there. The 1865 census recorded 23 inhabitants on the island, 12 cattle, 20 sheep and two pigs. There were three farms, Sørgården, Nordhaugen and Salthåjen with four farmhouses. The fourth family lived around 1900 on the inner part of Burøya, called Øya. At that time, Durmålsholmen was also inhabited, called Boldholmen in the census. Burøya is a grassy island that provided fodder for eight cows and several sheep. The settlers had a common harbor (pasture) on the islands. They fished from separate boats and delivered fish to Nes or Kirkøy on Vega. The last people to live on Sørgården and Nordhaugen moved to Vega in 1969. Today there are only houses left on Sørgården.

ENGELSØY
Engelsøy is located just outside Vega. The nearest towns are Hongset and Vegstein. The island is mentioned early in the sources. It was part of the Danish-Norwegian king's Hegeland estate in 1650. Originally there were two farms on the island, Sørgården and Nordgården. The 1769 census lists two households with a total of nine people on Engelsøy. In 1865, there were 14 residents on the island, 11 cattle, 20 sheep and two pigs. On Nordgården, two houses have been inhabited by two generations. Sørgården was eventually divided into three farms. In 1949, the family on Nordgården moved with four generations to Vega. The farm was taken over by a child-rich family from Sandvær in 1950. By then there were five families left. Today, the settlement only consists of a cabin that has been set up on Nordgården.
As on the other islands, the people of Engelsøy engaged in fishing and farming. 15 islands belonged to the landowners on Engelsøy, they were jointly owned and used for grazing in the summer. One of them, Jonsøya, is larger in area than Engelsøy.
The school was located at Hongset in Vega. Even though it's a short distance away, the children couldn't live at home when they went to school. The nearest shops were in Hongset and Vegstein.

THE FLESH
Flæsen or Flæsa is located in the far north of Vega municipality, five quarters of a mile west of Sandvær and consists of several islets and small islands located in a cluster. The name comes from fles, which means flat reef. None of the original houses remain on the island. The short distance to rich fishing grounds meant that people settled out here on this bare islet. The island also has a good harbor that provided shelter for boats in all kinds of weather. There was good halibut fishing here before the Second World War, so many boats sought out the island. Down and eggs provided an important secondary income.
Været was used as a fishing village in the 18th century. The first inhabitants probably settled here in 1794. Flæsen was a homestead under Lånan, which was a tenant farm under Tjøtta. The rent was paid in the form of money, down and eggs - or by working for the tenant at Lånan. The census of 1865 mentions one household in the weather, they had two cows, four sheep and a pig and planted two barrels of potatoes that year. There was no water at Flæsen. Rainwater for the animals was collected in rock pits and bog holes. In stormy weather, these were filled with seawater. Drinking water had to be fetched from Alstenøya, but good fishing opportunities and down money meant that the people of Flæsen lived well by the standards of the time.
The old farmhouse was located on the highest point, three meters above the flood level and furthest away from the sea. The house was quite large, with a large living room at each end and seven attic rooms with plenty of space for lodging fishermen. 30 men could sleep on a flat bed up here. During the breeding season, the fishermen's hours were adapted to the eider duck so that it would not be disturbed.
Inde and Ytre Flæsen have always been important egg and down areas. The people out here harvested down from up to 700-800 eider ducks. 100 of them nested under the cabin, and the large railway was built so that it functioned as both an e-house and a sea house. Seabird eggs were also an important source of income. They were stored in sawdust in a cool place until they could be sold.
The last family lived in Flæsen until 1942. Then the farmhouse was demolished and moved to Sandnessjøen. A small cabin was built from the remains.
The pictures below show what it looks like in Flæsen today. The pictures are taken by Seløy Coastal holiday.
HALMØYVÆR
Halmøyvær is located southwest of Vega and consists of 96 islands and islets. Slikbraken and Fuglværet are parts of the weather, which lies in very unclean waters. The weather is difficult to access and is not recommended to visit without an expert. As far as we know, only Halmøy in Halmøyvær has been inhabited. The island was probably previously called Holmøy, a name it was given because of all the islets around it. Mounds have been found on both Langøya and Islandsøya, but none of these have been registered or dated. Været is first mentioned in written sources in 1614. In 1865, according to the census, 11 people lived there.
At this time, one large and several smaller arches were built and rented out to fishermen and bob shooters. Halmøy was a protected cobbe forest and had a large population of sharks and harbor seals. On several of the islands, stone walls had been built from which the seal hunters hunted. During the Second World War, four families lived in Halmøyværet. The last residents moved from Halmøy in 1948.
The Halmøy people had a good income from eggs and down. Around the time of the First World War, around 1,500 eider ducks nested in the sky. When people moved away, mink were allowed to roam freely and the population was greatly reduced. After the war, the number was down to 400 eiders. Mechanical seaweed cutting also destroyed the birds' breeding environment. In 1995, Aud Halmøy restarted eider hunting on Halmøy.

KVALHOLMEN
In the tax register for 1637 it states: "Qualholm, inhabitant Trond - debt 1 pd - the King builds". The name refers either to the shape of the island or to the fact that a whale once stranded here. The island had three households with a total of 22 residents in 1865. The last inhabitant was Emelius Knoph Mathisen (1892-1971). You can see clips of Emelius in Kvalholmen on nrk.no when he was a guest on the program "Saturday night with Erik Bye" i 1971.

LISØY
Lisøy is a long, flat island with poor harbor conditions. It was almost impossible to dock in bad weather. Up to five neighbors have lived here. In the county accounts from 1567, the name is written Liisøenn, and in 1647 Lysøen is mentioned with resident Peder as a taxpayer with "1 wog fish - 33 ort". In the 18th century, the island had two neighbors. The censuses of 1801 and 1865 recorded around 20 people, and in 1900 the number increased to 29. The cadastre in 1886 recorded two farms on the island, but these were divided and in 1907 there were four. Two homesteads were located under Lisøy: Lamholmen (inhabited from the 1870s to around 1915) and Elsbuøy, which was probably inhabited around 1830.
The people who lived on Lisøy were hit hard by accidents and shipwrecks. In 1849, five boats with 200 men from Tjøtta and Vevelstad went down during the Lofoten fishery. One of them came from Lisø. On Christmas Eve 1853, two house fathers were shipwrecked on their way home from Christmas shopping in Skålvær. They were never found. During the Second World War, two brothers drowned. After a fire in the fall of 1950, people began to move from Lisøy. The last people moved in the late 1970s. Today there are two houses and a couple of cabins on the island.

NAUTØYA
According to written sources, the first people settled on Nautøya in the 1600s, and their descendants lived there until 1928. Nautøygården was a tenant farm under the Tjøtta estate. Beneath it again lay the homesteads Store- and Lille Emårsøy and Sevaldøya. Later there were also homesteads on Rognan and Stakkøtya.
The farm was relatively large, the agricultural census in 1885 recorded 11 cows, 22 sheep, two pigs and seed of 4 barrels of grain and 15 barrels of potatoes. In 1966, the last resident moved from Nautøy.
ROGNAN
Rognan is a low island with large rocks that the ice once left behind. The island became a new homestead under Nautøya in 1872. The first couple to live on the island died on the way from Kilvær and froze to death on "Hans Anderso-skjæret" north of Rognan. A new family moved there, and in 1881, Nordhaugen and Sørhaugen were separated as separate farms. Inderhaugen was a third party.
In 1947, the island was vacated. The land is still used for sheep grazing. Shell middens, remains of foundation walls and a ditch indicate that several families once lived on the island.
SEVALDØYA
No one knows who Sevald was, the man who gave his name to the island. The soil is poor and not very suitable for agriculture. The first family probably came here around 1850 and the island was inhabited for a hundred years. In 1949, the inhabitants moved to Lisøy, and the houses were demolished and rebuilt there. Today there are only tufts left on Sevaldøya.
STAKKØYA AND MAGNETHOLMEN
Stakkøya was probably inhabited in 1873 and was also a homestead under Nautøy. A single family lived on the island, and bought it in 1916 for NOK 400. They farmed and fished, and the man of the house was also a skilled shoemaker for the islanders. The last resident moved from the island in 1966.
Magnetholmen was not settled until 1918. The new farm was called "Nyheim". The farm included the islands of Ravallen, Oterholmen and Flatøya. Twelve children grew up in this living room. The last residents moved from Magnetholmen in 1966.

SØRVÆR
Sørvær is located north of Vega, on the border with the neighboring municipality of Herøy. The weather is said to have given the name because some of the islands were used for grazing by farmers in Sandvær, Herøy municipality. Sørvær is located south of Sandvær. When they were going there, they said they were going "south in the weather".
In 1865 there were 23 people living in Sørvær. They had 9 cows, 23 sheep and one pig. In the spring, they sowed one barrel of barley and planted eight barrels of potatoes. In 1900, the population had increased to 42 people. While there was a public school, Lånan and Sørvær shared a teacher, who commuted between the two communities and taught for periods of two or three weeks.
Settlement in Sørværet ceased in the 1960s. In recent years, a cabin has been built on the island. The other houses are used during the summer.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Following this link will take you to a page with further recommended reading.
SOURCE
"Vegaøyan World Heritage. Cultural history travel book." by Inga E. Næss and Rita Johansen.
