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This
church belongs to the Vatnsfiord benefice in the Isafiord deanery.
Unadsdalur is a valley and a synonymous, abandoned farm and a
church site. This now
desolate area was the second westernmost farm property of the so-called
Snaefjallastrond County. Before
it became a church site a prayer chapel with a cemetery stood there.
After a so-called primitive church trail had built from the
westernmost farm of the Snaefjallastrond County, Snaefjoll, the church
there was abolished and farm Unadsdalur became the parish church site in 1867. Its church was
annexed to the Kirkjubol benefice by law in 1880 and served from there
until 1908. Then the Island
Vigur Reverend took over for a decade until the Reverend at Stadur on
the Grunnavik Cove continued for another decade.
After
1928 the Unadsdalur church has been annexed to Vatnsfiord benefice.
Around the turn of the 19th century 350 people were
registered in the county and seven years later their number had dropped
to 150. The present church
was built of wood in 1897. It is situated on a flat spit of land on the estuary of River
Dalsa and has a high steeple. Earlier
churches stood on the old farm ruins inside a cemetery considerably
higher at the edge of the home fields.
Among the valuable belongings of the church are an ancient copper
chandelier from the Snaefjoll church, an altarpiece painted by Anker
Lund (Christ heals the Bartholomew the blind) and the crucifix on the
left in the choir carved by carpenter Gudmundur Palsson (†1888).
In addition the church owns old chandeliers, candlesticks and two
large bells in the steeple, one of which dates back to 1791. |