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A fertile green peninsula reaching into the Trondheimsfjord, famous as the ancient seat of the Frostating — one of Norway's oldest law-assemblies.
Frosta is a low, fertile peninsula that reaches into the Trondheimsfjord northeast of Trondheim. In the Viking Age and the Middle Ages it was the seat of the Frostating, one of Norway's oldest regional law-assemblies, which gathered each summer at Logtun; its Frostating Law gave the country the maxim "by law shall the land be built". Beside the meeting ground stands the small stone Logtun Church of about 1190. Long an agricultural district and Trøndelag's smallest municipality by population (about 2,645 in 2024), Frosta today is a green market garden that feeds Trondheim its vegetables and berries.
For a curious visitor, Frosta's importance is out of all proportion to its size. In the Viking Age and early Middle Ages, before Norway was a single kingdom ruled from one capital, people governed themselves through open-air assemblies called things, where free men gathered to make law and settle disputes. The Frostating was the great thing for the whole of Trøndelag and the coast to the north — one of the oldest and most powerful in the country. Each year, on St Botolph's Day (17 July), representatives sailed and rode to Logtun on Frosta and met on a low rise still called Tinghaugen, the "assembly hill", where memorial standing stones mark the ground today.
Out of these meetings grew the Frostating Law, written down in its lasting form around 1260. It is one of Norway's oldest law codes, and its prologue carries a line every Norwegian still knows: "Med lov skal land byggjast" — "by law shall the land be built". The words are carved on a monument at Logtun and echo in the modern Frostating, the regional court of appeal in Trondheim that took the ancient name. Beside the assembly ground stands Logtun Church, a small whitewashed stone church raised late in the 1100s; for centuries it was Frosta's main church, and it survives as a quiet, preserved monument to those meetings.
Beyond its history, Frosta is simply one of the greenest corners of Trøndelag. The mild fjord climate and deep soil have long made this "Trondheim's kitchen garden" — a leading district for strawberries, potatoes, onions and greenhouse cucumbers that fill the city's markets. A visitor today finds a peaceful farming peninsula of open fields and greenhouses, wooded ridges, and quiet lanes running down to the wide, bright water of the Trondheimsfjord.
The making of Frosta
The Frostating
One of medieval Norway's great law-assemblies (things), where free men from across Trøndelag gathered at Logtun to make law and settle disputes — among the oldest such courts in the country.
Tinghaugen
The low "assembly hill" at Logtun where the Frostating met each year on St Botolph's Day (17 July); memorial standing stones now mark the ancient meeting ground.
The Frostating Law
One of Norway's oldest law codes, written down around 1260 and named after this assembly; its prologue gives the famous maxim "by law shall the land be built".
Logtun Church
A small whitewashed stone church built beside the assembly ground around 1190; long Frosta's main church, it is now a preserved historic monument.
The Frosta peninsula
A fertile green peninsula of some 76 km² jutting into the Trondheimsfjord — low farmland and wooded ridges ringed by fjord water, long nicknamed "Trondheim's kitchen garden".
Market gardening
Frosta's mild fjord climate and rich soil make it one of Norway's leading vegetable and berry districts, supplying Trondheim with strawberries, potatoes, onions and greenhouse cucumbers.
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