 It descends rather steeply from the central mountain-ridge, 400 to 563 m high, and specially in the SE part there are steep slopes and this outfield is generally regarded as difficult to tend and dangerous, as many sheep are lost there in severe winters.Norðoyri is first mentioned in writing in 1584, but excavations at Islendingatoftir, a few miles south of Norðoyri have demonstrated that this place was already inhabited during the Viking Age.Near these Viking graves on 12 March 1745 a farmhouse was destroyed by a snow avalanche.