Brekke is a former municipality in the old

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; English: "Sogn and Fjordane") was, up to 1 January 2020, a county in western Norway, when it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, Buskerud, and Hordaland, the cou ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 has existed two separate times: from 1850 until 1861 and then again from 1905 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the northeastern part of the present-day

Gulen Municipality is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes ...

Vestland Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, where t ...

county. The municipality encompassed about south of the

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

, centered on the Risnesfjorden arm that reaches to the south from the main fjord. The

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

of the municipality was the village of Brekke, located on the southern shore of the

Sognefjord The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, en, Sogn Fjord), nicknamed the King of the Fjords ( no, Fjordenes konge), is the largest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the smal ...

, about a drive from the village of

Eivindvik Eivindvik is the administrative centre of the municipality of Gulen in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the mainland, along the north shore of the Gulafjorden. It is also located about south of the village of Dingja (and the ...

. The main church for the municipality was Brekke Church.

Name

The municipality is named after the old ''Brekke'' farm ( non, Brekka) since Brekke Church was located there. The name is identical to the old Norwegian word meaning "slope". Historically, the spelling of the name was not formalized, so spellings such as ''Breche'', ''Bræcke'', and ''Brække'' were also used.

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 m ...

of Brekke was originally established as a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in 1850 when it was split off from the municipality of ''Evindvig''. Initially, Brekke had a population of 898. In 1861, Brekke (population: 898) was merged with neighboring municipality of

Lavik Lavik is a former municipality in the old county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. It was located in the western part of the present-day municipality of Høyanger which is in Vestland county. The municipality was mostly on the northern side of the S ...

(population: 926) to form the new municipality of ''

Lavik og Brekke Lavik og Brekke is a former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane county in Norway. It is in the present-day municipalities of Gulen and Høyanger in Vestland county. It was part of the traditional district of Sogn. The municipality was lo ...

''. On 1 January 1875, a part of Klævold municipality with 90 inhabitants was moved to

. On 1 January 1905, the municipality of Lavik og Brekke was split (back) into two parts,

(population: 1,182) and Brekke (population: 982). 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. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Municip ...

. On 1 January 1964, Brekke municipality ceased to exist when it was merged with

Gulen is a municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Eivindvik. Other villages in Gulen include Brekke, Byrknes, ...

, the neighboring municipality to the west, forming a new, larger municipality of Gulen. Before the merger, Brekke had a population of 782.

Government

Municipal council

The

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 counci ...

of Brekke was made up of 13 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 f ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Notable residents

The Communist and anti-Nazi Resistance leader

Peder Furubotn Peder Furubotn (29 August 1890 – 28 November 1975) was a Norwegian cabinetmaker, politician for the Communist Party and resistance member during World War II. Early and personal life Furubotn was born in Brekke, Sogn og Fjordane, the son o ...

was born in Brekke in 1890.

References

External links

Weather information for Brekke

Map of the Municipality of Brekke
{{Authority control Gulen Former municipalities of Norway 1850 establishments in Norway 1861 disestablishments in Norway 1905 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway