Heddal is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Notodden Municipality. The

administrative centre 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 is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

was the village of Heddal where the Heddal Stave Church.

History

Notodden heddal Ryen nedre RK 86715 medieval IMG 9916

The parish of ''Hitterdal'' (later spelled ''Heddal'') 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 January ...

law). The municipality originally consisted of two parishes: Hitterdal with the Hitterdal Stave Church and Lilleherred with the Lilleherred Church (the spellings of the churches and parishes have varied historically). On 1 January 1913, the newly-designated

kjøpstad A (historically: ''kjøbstad'', ''kjöbstad'', or ''kaupstad'') is an old Scandinavian term for a "market town" that was used in the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway for several hundred years. The name comes from the on, kaupstaðr. Kjøpstads were ...

(town) of Notodden (population: 4,821) was separated from Heddal to form a separate self-governing town as an

enclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

within Heddal Municipality. This left Heddal with 2,890 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Heddal Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality: *most of

Gransherad Municipality Gransherad is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway, located north-west of the city Notodden. ''Grandsherred'' was created in 1859 by the merger of the parishes Hovin in Tinn and Gransherad in Hjartdal. On January 1, 1886 Hovin was se ...

(population: 1,115) - except for the upper

Jondalen Jondalen is a valley in Kongsberg municipality, Norway, outside the city of Kongsberg. Its history is closely tied to Kongsberg and the Kongsberg Silver Mines. The river Jondalselva runs through the valley. Jondalen Church was built in 1882. Jon ...

valley which became part of

Kongsberg Municipality Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production a ...

*all of Heddal Municipality (population: 4,844) *the

Rudsgrendi Rudsgrendi or Rugsgrend is a village in Notodden Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The village is located on the western shore of the large lake Tinnsjå, halfway between the village of Gransherad and the town of Rjukan. On t ...

area of Hovin Municipality (population: 21) *the town of Notodden (population: 7,523)

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Heddalen valley ( non, Heitrardalr) since the historic Heddal Stave Church was built there. The first element is derived from the old name for the local river Heddøla, a tributary of the

Skien River The Skien watershed is the third largest watershed of Norway after those of the Glomma and the Drammen rivers. The catchment area is , and the maximum length is . The Skien watershed includes rivers which feed Lake Norsjø above Skien; * Vinje ...

. The old name of the river comes from the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of the word which has an unknown meaning. The last element is which means " valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Hitterdal'' or ''Hiterdal''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Heddal''.

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of

directly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

representatives. The mayor was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Heddal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Notable people

* Egil Bergsland (1924–2007), a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party * Thorolf Bugge (1879–1935), a Norwegian trade unionist and politician * Olea Crøger (1801–1855), a Folklore collector who published old folk tunes * Sigmund Groven (born 1946), a Norwegian classical harmonica player * Hans Herbjørnsrud (1938–2023), an author of short stories.

References