Until January 1, 2007 Ørbæk Municipality was a municipality (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

: '' kommune'') in the former

Funen County Funen County ( da, Fyns Amt) is a former county (Danish: ''amt'') in central Denmark, comprising the islands of Funen, Langeland, Tåsinge, Ærø, and approximately 90 other islands, of which only 25 are inhabited. The county was formed on 1 Apri ...

, on the east coast of the island of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

, in central

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The municipality covered an area of 138.34 km², and had a total population of 6,916 (2006). Its last mayor was Kaf Refslund, a member of the Venstre party. Ørbæk Municipality bordered

Nyborg Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 17,525 (2022). It is the easternmost settlement on Funen. By road, it is located 34 km east of Odense, 35 km north of ...

and

Ullerslev Municipality Until January 1, 2007 Ullerslev Municipality was a municipality ( Danish: '' kommune'') in the former Funen County, on the east coast of the island of Funen, in central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 54 km2, and had a total popul ...

to the north, Årslev Municipality to the northwest,

Ringe Municipality Until 1 January 2007 Ringe municipality was a municipality (Danish, '' kommune'') in the former Funen County on the island of Funen in central Denmark. The municipality covered an area of 154 km2, and had a total population of 17,177 (2005). I ...

to the west, Ryslinge Municipality to the southwest and Gudme Municipality to the south. The municipality ceased to exist as the result of ''Kommunalreformen 2007'' (the Municipality Reform of 2007). It was merged with Nyborg and Ullerslev municipalities to form a new Nyborg municipality. The new municipality belongs to

Region of Southern Denmark The Region of Southern Denmark ( da, Region Syddanmark, ; german: Region Süddänemark, ; frr, Regiuun Syddanmark) is an administrative Regions of Denmark, region of Denmark established on Monday 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Munici ...

History

In the Middle Ages, when Denmark was divided into hundreds, the area of Ørbæk Municipality were under the hundreds of Vindinge and Gudme. In 1662 counties were established, and Ørbæk came under

Nyborg County Nyborg is a city in central Denmark, located in Nyborg Municipality on the island of Funen and with a population of 17,525 (2022). It is the easternmost settlement on Funen. By road, it is located 34 km east of Odense, 35 km north of ...

. It merged with Tranekær County in 1793 to form

Svendborg County Svendborg County () is a former province in Denmark, located on the southern half of the island of Funen in central Denmark. Svendborg County was established in 1793 and abolished in 1970 when it merged with Odense County forming the new Funen Coun ...

. In the

1970 Danish Municipal Reform The 1970 Danish Municipal Reform was an extensive administrative reform in Denmark which on 1 April 1970 reduced the number of Danish municipalities from 1,098 to 277 and the number of counties from 25 to 14. The reform also abolished the last le ...

Svendborg County was merged with

Odense County Odense County ( da, Odense Amt) is a former province in Denmark, located on the northern half of the island of Funen in central Denmark. Odense County was established in 1806 and abolished in 1970 when it merged with Svendborg County forming the ne ...

to form

. After the 2007 municipal reform Funen County came under the

. From 1842, where parish municipalities were created, and until 1966 the area of Ørbæk Municipality consisted of seven parish municipalities. They were merged in 1966 to form Ørbæk Parish Municipality, which then became Ørbæk Municipality in the 1970 Municipal Reform. In the Municipality Reform of 2007 Ørbæk Municipality was merged with

and

to form a new Nyborg Municipality. It was in 2005 suggested that Ørbæk should not only be merged with Nyborg and Ullerslev, but also with the municipalities of

Munkebo Munkebo is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality in the Region of Southern Denmark on the island of Funen. It was also the site of the municipal council of the abolished Munkebo Municipality. The town had a population of 5 ...

Langeskov Langeskov is a town in central Denmark, with a population of 4,222 (1 January 2022),Kerteminde Kerteminde (nickname: ''Min Amandas by'', i.e. ''My Amanda's town''), is a town in central Denmark, located in Kerteminde Municipality on the island of Funen. The town has a population of 6,042 (1 January 2022).

to create one large Eastern Funen municipality. The reason was that the new Kerteminde Municipality would have too small of a population to function properly. In the end, Nyborg and Kerteminde weren't merged and became two separate municipalities.

Historical divisions

Towns

Nearly half of the population of the municipality lived in small villages or rural areas. Approximately a fifth of the municipality's population lived in Ørbæk, which was the largest town in the municipality. The remaining population lived in the other five larger settlements in the municipality, these being Refsvindinge, Måre (including Herrested), Frørup, Tårup and Svindinge. Smaller villages in the municipality included Kullerup, Øksendrup, Tårup Strand and Langå. Ørbæk was located centrally in the municipality, with Refsvindinge, Måre and Frørup spread out around Ørbæk. The town of Ørbæk is well known for its brewery. The brewery originate from 1906, and also acts as the headquarter for the Naturfrisk Group. Below are the populations from 2006 of the six larger settlements of the municipality.

Politics

Municipal council

Below are the municipal council elected since the municipality's creation in 1970 and until 2001, which was the last election before the municipality was dissolved.

Mayors

Since the creation of the municipality in 1970 and until it was dissolved in 2007, the mayors of Ørbæk Municipality were:Danskekommuner.dk
"Ørbæk Kommune" Retrieved 1 October 2020

Parishes

The municipality consisted of nine parishes and nine churches. *Ellested Parish ( Ellested Church) *Frørup Parish ( Frørup Church) *Herrested Parish ( Herrested Church) *Kullerup Parish ( Kullerup Church) *Langå Parish ( Langå Church) *Refsvindinge Parish ( Refsvindinge Church) *Svindinge Parish (

Svindinge Church Svindinge is a village in central Denmark, located in Nyborg municipality on the island of Funen in Region of Southern Denmark. History Svindinge is first mentioned in 1376 as Swinninge, but likely originates from the Iron Age. Svindinge Churc ...

) *Øksendrup Parish ( Øksendrup Church) *Ørbæk Parish ( Ørbæk Church)

Symbols

Ørbæk Våbenskjold (Lokalhistorisk Arkiv)

Ørbæk Municipality's coat of arm was ten yellow church bells, placed in a reverse pyramid. The bells represented the churches of the municipality. The background was blue. The coat of arms was designed by Palle Aagaard and Henning Terndrup.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ørbæk Municipality Former municipalities of Denmark