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Old Graveyard

Rasmus Jørgen Winther

Rasmus Jørgen Winther (1749-1799)

Priest of South Streymoy Parish. He launched a series of initiatives for the benefit of the parish including: á Svínaryggi Cemetery (1782), a new church at Bryggjubakki (1788), and Sandagerð Vicarage (1790). His grave in á Svínaryggi Cemetery is quite distinctive.

Rasmus Jørgen Winther died during an epidemic in his home, the Sandagerð Vicarage, in 1799. He is said to have fallen ill after administrating the last sacraments to infected parishioners in Kirkjubøur. His last wish was to be buried á Svínaryggi, even though the new Bryggjubakki church had a cemetery. In his own words: ‘I wish to rest among my sheep’. According to a source from Nólsoy, men from Nólsoy Island carried him to his final resting place.

The priest was laid to rest in a tiled burial chamber. The beautiful tombstone was cut from reddish sandstone and adorned with marble sculptures. It was probably created in Denmark. It may have been sponsored by the merchant Niels Ryberg (1725-1804), who had originally arranged for the priest to come to the Faroe Islands. 

In his work Rasmus Winther greatly improved the church’s condition. When he moved to Tórshavn in 1780 the town had no vicarage, but the priests appointed to Tórshavn held the Sandagerð farm as tenants. So Rasmus Winther had the farmhouse in Sandagerð repaired and converted into a vicarage. The priest moved in with his household on 1st September 1790.

The old church and cemetery in Reyn had both become too cramped for the population of Tórshavn. Rasmus Winther therefore decided to raise funds for a new church. He was very successful and the new church was built at Bryggjubakki. It was consecrated by Dean Andreas Djurhuus on the third Sunday in Advent in 1788.

Rasmus Winther also took the initiative to the á Svínaryggi Cemetery, which he consecrated on Ascension Day 1782. The first person buried there was a woman identified as Jacob Hansen’s wife from Tórshavn. She has no tombstone, so the location of her grave is unknown. She was buried on 21st May 1782, and was said to be the daughter of the Skælingur siblings, who were executed for incest in 1706.

Sources:

Dahl, Sverri. Havnar Kirkja. 1968. Gøta.

Dahl, Sverri. Rasmus Jørgen Winther sóknarprestur 1780-1799. In: Kirkjutíðindi no. 4, 1982. Tórshavn.

Kirkjur í Havn. Nær verður Havnin kirkjubygd! In: Sosialurin 15th December 1988. Tórshavn.

Nolsøe, Jens Pauli. A. & Jespersen, Kári. Havnar søga II. 2004. Tórshavn.