Kirkjubæjarklaustur

A convent was founded at Kirkjubær in 1186. Little is known of the background to the foundation of the convent. The first abbess was Halldóra Eyjólfsdóttir. She appears to have had a personal connection with Bishop (later Saint) Þorlákur Þórhallsson, under whose authority the convent was founded: Halldóra is believed to be the daughter of pastor Eyjólfur Sæmundarson, in whose home Þorlákur was raised. The convent was abolished at the Reformation, when Catholicism gave way to Lutheranism.

Cartularies list the assets of the Kirkjubæjarklaustur convent. No description is given of the convent buildings themselves. But 20 glass windows are listed; glass was an expensive luxury in the 14th century, and this indicates the magnificence of the convent. A cartulary of 1397 states that Kirkjubæjarklaustur owned 25 landed estates, as well as rights in many more, and in addition priceless ecclesiastical treasures of gold and ivory, and the finest of vestments. Research was carried out in 1995-2003. In 1995 research on the site of the Kirkjubær convent began. Ground-penetrating radar was used to explore layers of human habitation on the site. These readings continued in 1998, 2000 and 2002. In the summer of 2002 magnetic and electrical resistance surveys were carried out. It did not prove possible to pinpoint the location of the convent site.

The convent stood to the south of Kirkjuhólar. Research revealed that the convent did not stand at Klausturhólar (Convent Hillocks), which had in fact been the site of outhouses through much of the middle ages. In 2002-3 excavations were made on an area of about 100m² to the south of Kirkjuhólar (Church Hillocks). Remnants of three (convent?) buildings were discovered there. The two more recent structures were investigated in 2002-3.