The Hedalen stave church was built in about 1160. In 1699 it was expanded into the cross-shaped church that you can see in the photo. A bearskin that hangs inside once belonged to a bear shot by two hunters who happened upon that area. As a result of their hunt, the church was rediscovered after a plague had killed all the residents and left the village desolate for 150 years. Legend has it that one of the hunters shot at a bird and missed. The arrow struck a church bell. They must have been surprised to find a church in the middle of a forest. For superstitious reasons, one of the hunters that discovered the church threw his flint and steel over the roof. The ground where it landed was named Ildjarnstad meaning firesteel place.
Knud & Liv Klemesrud were married in the church in 1858, and four years later, they lived on part of the adjacent farm, Ildjarnstad. From 1962 to 1966, they had the north part of a section of land on a hill, so it was called Nordre Ildjarnstad-haugen. Knud served as bell ringer for the church during this time (see the Knud Klemesrud page).
There is a another story about one of the bells being sent to another church, perhaps Bagn, when it fell through the ice at Bergstjernet while it was being transported. The Valdres Samband offers more about the church and its legends.
