Bremsneshula

Bremsneshola

Useful Information

Location:	Bremsnes kirke, 6530 Bremsnes. Southern side of Bremsneshatten hill, Averøya island. From Trondheim E39 west to Bergsøya island. Turn right on 70 to Nordlandet, 64 to Averøya island. Parkin on the right before reaching Bremsnes. 2.6 km hike out-and-back. (63.0794110, 7.6460392)
Open:	no restrictions. [2025]
Fee:	free. [2025]
Classification:	Sea Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=80 m, W=12 m.
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Bremsneshula, Bremsnes, 6530 Averøy, Tel: +47-70-23-88-00. E-mail: Averøy Municipality, Bruvollveien 4, PO Box 152, 6538 Averøy, Tel: +47-71-51-35-00. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1960	arrowhead found at the back of the main chamber.

Description

Bremsneshula or Bremsneshola (Bremsnes Cave) is often dubbed "Norway’s largest cave". This is nonsense, the cave is a single passage which is 80 m long, it starts quite spacious, some 12 m wide and 25 m high, but soon it becomes narrow. There is a wooden ladder leading up in a narrow passage which requires some stooping to reach the end. It’s probably a misunderstanding, because the portal is quite impressive. It other words, it is actually more like a shelter with a small passage at the end.

More impressive is actually that it is also a famous archaeological site. 10,000 years old remains of the Fosna culture have been found here. For a long time the locals knew about the remains in the cave, but they actually believed that they were remains of outlaws and people who had been shipwrecked. In the area around Bremsneshatten several settlements from the Stone Age have been found. A few years ago a cultural trail was established which connects a number of older and younger settlements from the Stone Age. An arrowhead, which was found at the back of the main chamber in 1960, was dated to the Bronze Age, 1800-900 BC. It is made of reddish-brown jasper. The arrowhead is of a type called Sandbuktpil, which is common in Northern Norway. There is a theory that it was put there as an offering or sacrifice. Despite all these archaeological discoveries and several random excavations over the past 300 years, there was actually never a scientific investigation of Bremsneshola. There is a rumour that human bones were found in the cave, also animal bones, but it seems all those finding are lost.

As often in Norway, this cave is a sea cave which was formed by the erosion of the waves. Skandinavia was much lower during the cold phases because the plate was covered by 3.5 km of ice. After the glaciers were gone the uplift started. The cave was formed at that point and then uplifted to its current position. This is quite common in Norway.

In ancient times, when the Bremsneslandet, which is now connected to Averøya by a narrow isthmus, was separated from Averøya, it was called lille Sandøy, while Averøya was Store Sandøy. Jetten Bruse and his mother lived in Bremsneshulen, and his sister in Steinsvikhulen. Asbjørn Prude came to challenge him, but Bruse defeated and killed him. Asbjørn Prude’s foster brother, Orm Storolfssøn, avenged his death. He asked Jetten’s sister where he lived, and then killed both Bruse and his mother.

Steinsvikhulen seems to be another cave on the hill, but it’s not accessible, at least not easily. Above legend is originally from the Flatøybok an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It was a part of Olav Trygvasson’s saga in this book, an old Norwegian legend. It was attributed to Averøya by Gerhard Schøning in the 18th century. In Sagas and in the Edda poems there are a number of references to caves, often connected to hell or the Jötns. In Norse mythology Jötns were representatives of the primeval forces.