Descriptions of hofs do survive in the sagas and in various other sources from the middle ages. One common feature is that they seem to all have been constructed of wood. One possible example was excavated in Northumberland and is considered to be from the seventh century which places it in the Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian period. It measured 11 x 5.5 m. and had inner walls. The doors were in the center of the longer walls and there was a second building which scholars belief may have served as the kitchen, as many animal bones were found there. The skulls of these animals were not found there but in the main building in a pit. The main building had three post holes as well. (15) The temple at Mære as well as the temple at Uppsala were also described as being made of wood and post holes were found at those sites as well. (16) Although there is little doubt that there were smaller hofs constructed archaeologists have been unable to uncover any evidence or any large buildings or the outlines of such under churches. The elaborate descriptions we find in the sagas and buy such accounts as come to us from Adam of Bremen may be influenced by accounts of temples in Christian literature or from the large medieval churches built of stone. (17)

Thórólf Mostrar-skegg's ("Moster-beard") hof is described in Eyrbyggja Saga, in chapter 4:

"There he let build a temple, and a mighty house it was. There was a door in the side-wall and nearer to one end thereof. Within the door stood the pillars of the high-seat, and nails were therein; they were called the Gods' nails. There within was there a great frith-place. But off the inmost house was there another house, of that fashion whereof now is the choir of a church, and there stood a stall in the midst of the floor in the fashion of an altar, and thereon lay a ring without a join that weighed twenty ounces, and on that must men swear all oaths; and that ring must the chief have on his arm at all man-motes (Things).

On the stall should also stand the blood-bowl, and therein the blood-rod was, like unto a sprinkler, and therewith should be sprinkled from the bowl that blood which is called "Hlaut", which was that kind of blood which flowed when those beasts were smitten who were sacrificed to the Gods. But round about the stall were the Gods arrayed in the Holy Place.

To that temple must all men pay toll, and be bound to follow the temple-priest in all farings even as now are the thingmen of chiefs. But the chief must uphold the temple at his own charges, so that it should not go to waste, and hold therein feasts of sacrifice."

Hofs were often constructed either close by or made to include natural holy landmarks. These could be holy groves and/or holy trees or springs or standing stones to name a few. (18) In Hörd's Saga Thorstein Gullnapr has a "sacrificing house" in which is a stone which he venerates. In the Saga Thorstein sings this song to the stone:

Thou hast hither Before the sun shines,
For the last time The hard Indridj
With death-fated feet Will justly reward thee
Trodden the ground; For thy evil doings.

Hörd's Saga chapter 37

It was also common for smaller individual shrines or personal hofs to be built. The Old Norse word for this was stalli or stallr, meaning altar or support for an idol. (19) One example of one is the "temple" that Thorolf of Helgafell built next to the holy mountain. In this hof or stalli was kept the holy ring of the god and the hlautr bowl used to catch the sacrificial blood. (20) The stalli was considered as distinct from the hörg. (21) It is also possible that the larger hofs were specifically for larger gatherings, such as a district who, when they came together would have need of a larger hall and that the smaller hofs were personal hofs or no more than a covering for personal stalli. (22)

The hofs were built in such a way that they could be disassembled and moved if need be. There are examples of this in the lore such as Landmánabók and Eyrbyggja Saga. In Landnámabók Thorhad who was an old hofgothi (temple priest) in Thrandheim in Mœri, decided to move to Iceland. He carried with him the temple mould (dirt) and the altars and settled in a place called Stödvarfjord. He rebuilt his temple there and the whole fjord was considered holy from that time on. (23) The bringing of dirt from the foundation of the temple to the new location seems to have been a common practice as we find it done in what is probably the most well known example of a temple being moved, in Eyrbyggja Saga. Here Thórólf Mostrar-skegg ("Moster-beard") sets out for Iceland after disassembling and bringing most of the his temple with him, including the two high seat posts. (24) The mould brought was said to be specifically from under where Thorr had sat. (25) When Thórólfr neared Iceland he took the two high seat posts, one of which had the likeness of Thorr carved on it, and threw them overboard. He said that he would land and make that place his home where the pillars came to land. It was said that the pillars immediately began to drift toward a ness much faster than most thought was normal and it was at that ness that Thórólf landed and named Thorsness. (26)

The post holes mentioned so often most likely have a more practical purpose. This practical purpose could have very well been put to ritual and/or holy use as well, as in the case of Thórólf who carved the likeness of Thorr into one of his high seat pillars. To understand the practical use of the posts in hofs you must know a little about how hofs and Stave Churches were built. Although there is no proof that hofs were built in the same fashion as Stave Churches, I would postulate that to be the case. H. R. Ellis Davidson discusses this method of building in her excellent book "Myths and Symbols In Pagan Europe." Instead of the walls and pillars being set in the ground and surrounded with stone, which, according to Davidson does not last very long, the Stave Churches were built on what are called 'groundsills'. These were four massive lengths of timber laid down in the form of a square. From this a series of masts or pillars rose, which supported the walls and roof of the structure, rounded at the foot like the masts of a ship. The post holes found in so many sites by archaeologists were possibly there in order to 'anchor' this groundsill. (27)

Stave Churches

Before moving on I should take a few lines to describe the Stave Churches. Anyone who has seen a picture of these beautiful churches is well aware of their uniqueness. There is much debate as to whether or not these represent true Northern temples that were later used by the Christians or if they are basically Christian in origin. There are about 31 of these churches that have survived from a period between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries in Norway. There is nothing like them anywhere and they are no where close to the heavy stone and brick constructions found in England and Germany. As mentioned above these Stave Churches were built in a way that allows them to last a very long time. The masts or pillars that anchors them to the ground is also the way in which they are described, i.e, a one-mast church for those with one central pillar rising from the center of the groundsill, or many-masted church for those like the one in Borgund where "the sleepers forming the sill are arranged to form a square inside a rectangle, and the masts are set round the square. At Borgund there are as many as six different levels from the ground to the central tower, and a series of roofs of different heights are grouped around the central sanctuary." (28) The strongest argument for the theory that these churches are examples of Northern hofs comes from the fact that they had been brought to a "standard of perfection" as early as the 11th century. The development of such a beautiful and intricate style that has never been duplicated elsewhere could not have happened in so short a time if they were Christian inventions and must have come from a long tradition native to Norway. (29)

The earliest Stave Churches have many elaborate carvings on their walls and pillars that are obviously from Norse lore, which shows the likely possibility that these churches were converted Northern hofs. Dragons protrude from the gables in the same way they would have from the prows of the Viking longships. According to Davidson, who quotes Lorenz Dietrichson, there is an obvious link between the building techniques of the Stave Churches and ship-building. He points out that, "'A row of arches, upside down, is placed between different rafters, just as it was between the ribs of a Viking ship. In the ship these ribs were not attached to the keel, and similarly the rafter arches and the beams are separate from the ridge beams of the church…. The entire church is strengthened throughout by elbow joints and brackets, just as the Viking ships are.' Inside the churches it is dark and mysterious, and the fact that the roof rises in the center gives an impression of narrowness and height, drawing the gaze upwards. A building of this kind would emphasize the centrality of the holy place, while the series of different levels would be in accordance with the picture of the world of the gods and men and supernatural beings grouped vertically and horizontally around the World Tree." (30)
It is my opinion that the Stave Churches were, as Christianity has done with so many other aspects of our tradition, appropriated and that they are genuine examples of what pre-Christian hofs would have looked like in Norway. It is my hope that one day I will be able to visit those churches personally. It is also my hope that one day we will see one constructed, with the same techniques, here in America, for Northern use.