Elverum - en bygdebeskrivelse, vol. 2: Bygdens almindelige historie, institutioner og embedsmænd, 1921. p. 179-188 as translated by Elin Galtung Lihaug in 2001

In the account of king Christian V's travel in 1685 it says that the fort itself has only a low wall around it , some places only parts of bulwarks, as the localization and the rocks have permitted it to be established, since no attack is to be expected at that place. Therefore, it could apparently be asked why a fort was ever established at that time since it was thought that there was little need for it. Inside the mentioned wall, on an area of 100 by 150 alen, a large tower was erected on the top of the hill for cannons which could cover all directions. Underneath were vaults for ammunition and beside that there were blockhouses and warehouses. When it is mentioned in king Christian V's travel report of 1685 that the tower "had a circumference of about 100 alen and had room for 30 units (i.e. cannons) or more", then this corresponds as poorly with the probable situation, which is evident from the map on the previous page, as does an account of 1701 where the fort is said to have 18- and 12-pound (weight of cannonball) cannons, whereas there in 1695 were only 3 small "falkonetter" (falconettes? – type of cannon) and later no heavier weapons than 8-pound "digere".

Christian V was, however, very satisfied with the fort when he inspected the fort on 14 June 1685, and as a proof of his goodwill he declared that it was to be renamed to Christiansfjeld. After that he went down from the fort to the parading troops which consisted of colonel Bülow's mounted life guard, a reserve company of dragoons, and 3 companies from Opland's infantry regiment wearing their beautiful red uniforms. "These troops were all equipped with everything that was needed and were in good condition."

In 1684 the fort was directed by a commander and in 1686 the staff consisted of 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, 1 sergeant, 3 corporals, 1 drummer, 1 blacksmith and 24 privates - 32 men in total. In the following year, 1 doctor, 1 fireworkers (transl.?), 2 constables and 4 workers were added, totally 40 men; in 1690 there was a need for 2 lieutenants. The total garrison in Christiansfjeld, Elverum fort and the nearby establishments is in 1689 given as 1000 men, or exactly the same forces as those which were located at Kongsvinger, in Bergen and in Trondhjem and half the size of the garrison at Fredrikshald.

After the outbreak of the Great Nordic War in 1709, Christiansfjeld was upgraded to a large extent and at this time an outer wall with bastions was established on an area of 270 by 350 alen which is shown on the map on the preceding page. In 1715 the batteries are given as: the battery of the tower, Østerdalen's battery, Skarpenord (i.e. Escarpe du Nord), Hedemark's battery, Solør's battery and the battery in the retrenchment (tr.?), and the ordnance (tr.?) consisted of 3 8-pound, 4 6-pound, 6 4-pound and 4 1-pound cannons, 1 64-pound mortar, and 2 5-pound manual mortars as well as 50 guns; the ammunition consisted of 2103 round bullets, 154 "rundskraa", 124 grenades and 62 "centner" of gunpowder. The suspicion that the Swedes would try to attack the fort to get across the Glommen river lead in 1716 to the addition of 264 men to the garrison (a number which, however, in 1718 was again reduced, first to 160 and finally to 100 men).

At the same time it was regarded as absolutely necessary to replace the old fort wall which had been built as a provisional wall, i.e. only of separate stones, by a new wall with good foundation. A sum of 560 riksdaler was granted for this important work but since this could not be accomplished without first destroying the standing wall and since the enemy might be approaching the border soon, this was postponed to a more suitable point in time. A passage behind the rampart with stone pillars was, however, established as well as battlements which until that time had been missing on the fort, and the barracks were renovated which was highly necessary "since the garrison this winter had been housed at various farms in the area and some of them up to 10 kilometers (7 miles) away".

Two new batteries were set up in the retrenchment, and - which was of utmost importance - it was decided to blast the rocks except for those immediately outside the walls of the fort, especially the rocks in the angles where the enemy could enter the fort with only little effort. For this work an amount in excess of 800 riksdaler was used in 1718 and the work was continued during the following years so that the fort in 1720 had become quite strong with 4 batteries more than in 1715, namely: the ravelin, the "donsion" or dungeon, Kamperhaug and Kikut.

The exit from the inner fort was on the west side and just outside the gate the road divided into two roads, one of which leading through the outer wall to the north and the other likewise to the south until they met the old road from Trysil which joined the king's road to Solør near the church. The area in which all the fort was located had been separated from the parsonage as state property, and all the building material of stone and wood had been found on the property.

Outside the fort area proper, a large area was cleared in 1683 to make shooting easier. On the map this has been marked with dotted lines x…x…x. These properties were owned partly by the farm Gaarder and partly by the parsonage. On this area, which formed the so called esplanade of the fort, soldiers and warrant officers were permitted to build cottages and clear fields for growing grain. Thus the Leiret was established and this was divided into Northern Leiret and Southern Leiret according to the location of the cottages.

As can be seen from the map (not included here) drawn in 1727, the whole area between Northern Leiret and Glommen was still only partly cleared (lower parts of trees which had been cut in 1683 were still left on the ground) and the area was thus not yet fit for growing grain. The fields to the north owned by Gaarder and used for growing grain are marked on the map with the figures 9 and 10. Another specific detail on the map is that the location of Elverum's oldest church is given; it was located on the west side of the king's road of that time and about 10 meters east of today's road crossing at Gaarder (see p. 84). Just beside Ole Hansen Rønne's house, number 3 in Southern Leiret, a small pond can also be seen. This was originally two small fish ponds, dug in 1688 by Lars Borch for his brothers, the parson Mr. Jens Borch and the county court judge Mr. Leiv Borch, who from this pond could get fish for their dinner. In 1703, Commander Flor let a field for growing grain be cleared around the ponds - the ground was hard and dry sand with no green grass at all. He got permission from the parson and the user of Gaarder to grow this field and thus erected a fence around the ponds and the field. After that time, the field was used by the following commanders without getting new permissions from the land owners until 1728 when there was a court case related to the ownership.

As mentioned above, the commanders had given their warrant officers and the soldiers permission to build small cottages on the esplanade of the fort, and as long as they were serving in the military the parson and Gaarder as land owners did not interfere. Gradually, these homesteaders started to take firewood and feed for their cattle on the property of the parsonage and Gaarder and also had a small extra income by serving beer, which probably was partly ruining the innkeeper, and this sloppy behavior to say the least lead to frequent quarreling between the land owners and the commanders on the fort who constantly argued that the land around the fort was owned by the king and they would not tolerate any interference from civilians. As long as the homesteaders continued to be serving in the military, it was not possible for the land owners to change the situation, but when they after some time were dismissed from war duty and still kept living in their cottages the case was taken to court, the land owners claiming to get the cottages cleared.

After having heard statements from various witnesses the county court judge Bendix Heide on 30 June 1714 pronounced the following sentence: Since most of the defendants who have homesteaded near Christiansfjeld fort previously have been employed by the Royal Majesty … and make their living well by having cattle and selling beer and take firewood and feed on the property of the offended land owners without compensation or right, but from the land owners' properties take wood both for houses, fences and so on, and since these are poor people who in this way have managed to get a small cottage for themselves and their families, however, they were in the Royal Majesty's service, then one does not ask them to leave their cottages but only that they shall refrain from having cattle and stop taking firewood and wood for housing and fencing in the land owners' forests - unless they have explicit permission from the land owners - and unless the cattle etc. do not belong to the land owners. With regard to those who are still in the Royal Majesty's service, there is no charge against them, but this issue is being brought to the attention of the supreme authority (the king) asking for a gracious exemption, so that they, even though they are employed by His Royal Majesty, they nonetheless offend the land owners on their properties and for this they must pay taxes and duties to His Royal Majesty.

By this very cautiously pronounced sentence at least one thing was evident: the parsonage and Gaarder were the land owners of the controversial lots and fields and thus also of the esplanade of the fort. The commander still refused, however, to pay any lease duty for the grain field and the fish ponds, and since several of the buildings in Leiret with their corresponding grain fields at the death of the former military residents were inherited by their families, the land owners felt - encouraged by the sentence - obliged to make every such homesteader pay duties.

The commander, Aamodt, still refused to pay and suggested a royal committee to be established to investigate the ownership of the land. By royal order dated 26 January 1728 such a committee was finally established and the generals Hartvig Huitfeldt and Johan Wilhelm Oetken had to decide in the case. Already on 7 September they were finished and made the following decision: the controversial grain field is a part of the parsonage and Gaarder for their use and ownership. With regard to the lots, it was already stated in the sentence dated 1714 that these belonged to the same land owners and thus the lots are still to be regarded as parts of the parsonage and Gaarder; but since it is necessary that the fort for its esplanade has the most suitable terrain, we decide that the land within a distance of 50 alen from the fort's wall in all directions is to be added as the fort's circumference since the fort is situated on a high rock and does not need more land for its defense. - This decision was read for the parties in the presence of witnesses at Gaarder on 5 October 1728 and thus a case had been decided which both at that time and increasingly later on under the prosperity of the Leiret was of great importance for the parsonage and Gaarder."