Kyrkjebø 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 purposes Chambers 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 the ...

. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of

Høyanger Høyanger () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Høyanger. Other villages in Høyanger municipality include Austreim, Bjordal, Kyrkjeb� ...

which still exists and is part of the new

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. Prior to its dissolution, the municipality of Kyrkjebø included land on the north and south side 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 ...

. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kyrkjebø, where the main

Kyrkjebø Church Kyrkjebø Church ( no, Kyrkjebø kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Høyanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kyrkjebø. It is the church for the Kyrkjebø parish which is part of the Su ...

is located.

Name

The municipality was originally named after the old ''Klævold'' farm ( non, Kleppavǫllr). The first element comes from the Old Norse word ''kleppr'' meaning "hill" and the second element is identical to the Old Norse word ''vǫllr'' meaning "level ground". Therefore, the meaning could be a hill in the middle of level ground. The municipality was later named after the old ''Kirkebø'' farm, since

was located there. The first element of the name is identical with the name for "

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

", and the second element of the name is identical with the word for "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

". It was named this because it was the farm where the church was located. From 1890 until 1917 the name was spelled ''Kirkebø'' (using the

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is an official written standard for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is the preferred written standard of Norwegian for 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. Unlike, for instance, the Italian language, there ...

spelling) and then in 1917 it was changed to ''Kyrkjebø'' (using the

Nynorsk Nynorsk () () is one of the two written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language ( no, Landsmål) parallel to the Dano-N ...

spelling).

History

The parish of ''Klævold'' was 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 1858 when it was separated from the 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 ...

. At the time of its creation, it had a population of 1,645. On 1 January 1875, a border adjustment took place, moving part of Klævold with 90 inhabitants to the neighboring municipality of Lavik og Brekke. On 1 July 1890, the name was changed from ''Klævold'' to ''Kirkebø'', and then in 1917 it was changed again to ''Kyrkjebø''. 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, the municipality of Kyrkjebø (population: 4,742) was merged with the neighboring municipality of

(population: 894) and the unpopulated Nybø and Nygjerdet part of

Vik Municipality Vik (Old Norse: vík) means wick or bay in Norwegian and Swedish (''vig'' in Danish), and it may refer to the following: Places Iceland * Vík í Mýrdal, a village in southern Iceland Iran * Vik, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Norway ...

to become a part of the newly created municipality of

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 counc ...

of Kyrkjebø was made up of 29 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 featur ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Notable residents

Ivar Jacobsen Norevik Ivar Jacobsen Norevik (26 March 1900 – 18 March 1956) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was born in Lavik og Brekke. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Sogn og Fjordane in 1945, and was re-elected on two occ ...

(1900–1956) —

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

Odd Vattekar Odd Vattekar (2 January 1918 in Kyrkjebø – 19 February 1992) was a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party of Norway, Conservative Party. He was elected to the Storting, Norwegian Parliament from Vestfold in 1969, and was re-elected on ...

(1918–1992) —

References

External links

*
Weather information for Kyrkjebø
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrkjebo Høyanger Former municipalities of Norway 1858 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway