Øvrebø is a former municipality that was located in the old

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

county in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The municipality existed twice during the 19th and 20th centuries. Originally, from 1838 until 1865, the municipality encompassed roughly the same boundaries as the present-day municipality of

Vennesla Vennesla is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vennesla. Other villages in Vennesla include Grovane, Hægeland, Homst ...

. The second iteration of the municipality was only and it corresponded to the central part of present-day Vennesla municipality. The municipal centre was the village of Skarpengland. The small village of

Øvrebø Øvrebø is a rural district and village in Vennesla municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about north-northwest of the city of Kristiansand. The village of Skarpengland lies about east of Øvrebø. The district of ...

is located about west of Skarpengland, and this is where the

Øvrebø Church Øvrebø Church ( no, Øvrebø kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Vennesla Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Øvrebø, a short distance west of the village of Skarpengland. It is the church for ...

is located.

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Øvrebø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 Janua ...

law). It existed as a municipality until 1865, when it was dissolved and split into two: the southeastern part of the municipality (population: 1,103) became the new municipality of

and the remainder of the municipality became

Øvrebø og Hægeland Øvrebø og Hægeland is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1865 until its dissolution in 1896. It was located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of V ...

(population: 1,829). On 1 July 1896 the municipality of Øvrebø was re-created when the municipality of

was divided into two separate municipalities: Øvrebø (population: 888) and Hægeland (population: 843). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWI ...

. On 1 January 1964, the Eikeland area (population: 39) of Øvrebø was transferred to neighboring Songdalen municipality, while the rest of Øvrebø (population: 925) was merged with Hægeland and Vennesla to form a new, larger municipality of

Name

Øvrebø municipality was named after the old ''Øvrebø'' farm ( non, Øfribœr), since the first

was built there. The first part of the name means "upper" and second part of the name is identical with the word ''bœr'' which means "farm" and it is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...

with the

Dutch language Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. '' Afrikaan ...

word ''"boer"'' which means "farmer". The name therefore means "the upper farm".

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Øvrebø, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

senior citizen Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usag ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refer ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or adminis ...

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a s ...

economic development In the economics study of the public sector, economic and social development is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals a ...

, and municipal

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s. The municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elected a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

Municipal council

The

of Øvrebø was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ovrebo Vennesla Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1865 disestablishments in Norway 1896 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway

History

Name

Government

Municipal council

See also

References