300 m
House of Ojala-Siipola
Kalajoki
Remember to respect private property!
The house of Ojala-Siipola is one of the oldest in Kalajoki and it is still owned by the same family.
The house has had many purposes over the years. For example, it has worked as an inn, a public whipping place and the scene of many legal courts.
The forefather of the Calamnius-family, vicar Pietari Arctophilacius, is known as the owner of two houses, Siipola and Hietala, in 1607.
The house was inherited by the son of Arctophilacius, Kaarle Kalling sr. His son, Kaarle Kalling jr, devoted his career on farming the lands of their family estate.
In documents from 1846, Siipola is mentioned as one of the inns along the river Kalajoki.
The house also worked as a rest stop for prisoners and their guards, while prisoners were being transported between Oulu and Kokkola. The house still contains old handcuffs and chains as a memento, with which the prisoners were chained to the wall of the house during their rest periods.
In the courtyard, there was also a public whipping place where criminals were punished by whipping. After the punishment, the convicts would run to the riverbank to cool down their burning skin.
The last whipper of Kalajoki was Siipola’s house owner Matti Naatus (1817-1904). He was crippled in the church construction site but could still work as a whipper.
Town meetings were held in Siipola in the mid 1910s, and court meetings were held in the neighbor, Kärjä house, until the 1940s.
Additional info of the Calamnius –family:
Calamnius is an academic and religious Finnish family line, whose history is well documented starting from the 1500s. The family consists also of many writers and poets.
The forefather of the family was the vicar Petrus Michaelis (Petter) Arctophilacius of Kalajoki (1575-1642). He had translated his name in Latin after graduating from his priest studies according to the customs of the time. His original name was Pieti Mikonpoika Mattila, and he was the son of a local merchant, Mikko Matinpoika Mattila.
Image: Sari Alajoki.
Cultural history of Tynkä by bike
“Churches, crime scenes, and landscapes”
The popular biking route, Bridges of Tynkä, has many fascinating sites of local history that even date back to the Middle Ages.
For 500 years, Kalajoki has been an important center for farming and social life, where many different enterprises and businesses have flourished.
The route consists of stories, historical research, cultural heritage, and art. For example: the locations of the first and second church of Kalajoki, historical crime scenes, art, traditional landscapes, antiques...
Route details:
- The route is app. 18 km long.
- The biking route uses a sidewalk almost the entire length of the route. In Tynkä, you have to bike along the “highway” for a few hundred meters.
Places in this collection
