Klepp is 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 ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county,

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 ...

. It is located in the traditional district of

Jæren Jæren is a traditional district in Rogaland county, Norway. The other districts in Rogaland are Dalane, Ryfylke, and Haugalandet. Jæren is one of the 15 districts that comprise Western Norway. At about , Jæren is the largest flat lowland area ...

. 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 ...

of the municipality is the village of

Kleppe Kleppe is the administrative centre of Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located about halfway between the lakes Orrevatnet and Frøylandsvatnet. The village of Bore lies about northwest of Kleppe and the village o ...

. Other villages in Klepp include

Klepp stasjon Klepp Stasjon is a village in Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the shore of the lake Frøylandsvatnet, about east of the village of Kleppe and about southwest of the village of Orstad. The village is n ...

, Orre,

Orstad The larger Kvernaland area is an amalgamation of villages in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the north end of the lake Frøylandsvatnet. The village is located in both the municipalities of Klepp and Time (and a very small ...

Pollestad Pollestad is a village in Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located south of the lake Orrevatnet and about southwest of the town of Bryne. Orre Church is located in Pollestad. It was built in 1950 to replace the nearl ...

Verdalen Verdalen is a village in Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located immediately northwest of the municipal centre of Kleppe Kleppe is the administrative centre of Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The ...

, and Voll. Klepp is a flat and open

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

landscape. The highest point, ''Tinghaug'', is at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. There are long stretches of sand beaches along the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

coastline in the west. The municipality is the 324th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Klepp is the 63rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 20,163. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

is and its population has increased by 13.6% over the previous 10-year period. The population around Kleppe is growing rapidly, mostly in the form of suburban

single-family home A stand-alone house (also called a single-detached dwelling, detached residence or detached house) is a free-standing residential building. It is sometimes referred to as a single-family home, as opposed to a multi-family residential dwelling ...

s, but also in the form of some

apartment block A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

s. There is a shopping mall in Kleppe called ''Jærhagen''.

General information

The old

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 ''Klep'' 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 boundaries of the municipality have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Klepp'' farm ( non, Kleppr), since the first

Klepp Church Klepp Church ( no, Klepp kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Klepp Municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kleppe. It is the church for the Klepp parish which is part of the Jæren prosti (deaner ...

was built there. The inscription on the

Klepp I Runestone The Klepp I Runestone, listed as N 225 in the Rundata catalog, is one of two runestones from Klepp in Rogaland, Norway. It is among the few Viking Age runestones that was raised as a memorial to a woman. Description The Klepp I Runestone has three ...

indicates that the name has been in use since the late 10th or early 11th century. The name is identical with the word ''kleppr'' which means "rocky hill". Before 1912, the name was written ''"Klep"''.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

were granted on 18 February 1972. The arms features a gold cross on a blue background. The cross on the arms symbolizes the large stone cross at ''Krosshaug'' in Klepp. Krosshaug is a grave hill located near the site where the local

thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

met for centuries. The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

word ''haugr'' means mound or barrow, hence the name "kross"-haug. The cross was considered a representative historic symbol for the municipality.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

has four parishes () within the municipality of Klepp. It is part of the

Jæren prosti This list of churches in Rogaland is a list of the Church of Norway churches in Rogaland county, Norway. The churches are all part of the Diocese of Stavanger. The diocese is based at the Stavanger Cathedral in the city of Stavanger. The list ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the

Diocese of Stavanger The Diocese of Stavanger ( no, Stavanger bispedømme) is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Li ...

History

The earliest traces of population in the municipality have been dated to around 6000 BC. At that time, the land was covered by large

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

woods. The large stone cross standing on the grave hill ''Krosshaug'' dates from around 1000 AD and is possibly the oldest in Norway. It is adjacent to ''Tinghaug'', the site for a local

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

for many centuries during the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. Tinghaug probably acted as a site for the local court and assembly for many centuries.

Geography

The municipality is located south of the city of

Stavanger Stavanger (, , American English, US usually , ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the fourth largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the a ...

. Neighbouring municipalities are

Hå Hå is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is the southernmost municipality in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Varhaug. Other villages in Hå include Brusand, Hæen, ...

to the south,

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

to the south and east,

Sola Sola is a municipality and a Seaside resort in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Solakrossen. Other villages include Tananger, Hålandsm ...

and

Sandnes Sandnes () is a city and municipality in Rogaland, Norway. It lies immediately south of Stavanger, the 4th largest city in Norway and together, the Stavanger/Sandnes area is the third-largest urban area in Norway. The urban city of Sandnes lies ...

to the north. The coastline is agricultural and consists of, from south to north, the areas Orre, Reve, Bore and Sele. The long Orrestranda beach, one of the longest sandy beaches in Norway, is in Klepp. The river

Figgjoelva Figgjoelva or Figgjo is a river in Rogaland county, Norway. The long river begins at the lake Edlandsvatnet in the village of Ålgård in Gjesdal municipality. It then heads north into the municipality of Sandnes before heading west. For a whi ...

empties into the North Sea in Klepp. The small island of Feistein lies off shore and is the site of the Feistein Lighthouse. There are two large lakes in Klepp:

Orrevatnet Orrevatnet is a lake in the municipality of Klepp in Rogaland county, Norway. The lake is the largest lake in Jæren. The lake sits about above sea level and it is situated along the seashore. The wide sandy beach strip of land that separate ...

and

Frøylandsvatnet Frøylandsvatnet is a lake in Rogaland county, Norway. The lake is located in the district of Jæren. It forms part of the municipal boundary line between Klepp and Time, Norway, Time. The lake is quite shallow, with an average depth of . The ...

Weather

Transportation

The Sørlandet railway line, historically called the

Jæren Line The Jæren Line ( no, Jærbanen) long railway line between Stavanger and Egersund in Jæren, Norway. The name is no longer in official use and the section is regarded as the westernmost part of the Sørlandet Line. Owned by the Norwegian Railw ...

, runs through Klepp along lake

. The village of

, east of Kleppe, is built around the train station Klepp Station. The nearby Oksnevadporten Station is the other railway station in Klepp.

Economy

Klepp is the second largest agricultural municipality in Rogaland, with a total of around 600 farms.

Kverneland Group Kverneland Group is an international company developing, producing and distributing agricultural implements, electronic solutions and digital services to the farming community.

, located in

Kvernaland The larger Kvernaland area is an amalgamation of villages in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the north end of the lake Frøylandsvatnet. The village is located in both the municipalities of Klepp and Time (and a very small ...

, is the largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment in the world.

Sports

The local sports club

Klepp IL Klepp IL is a Norwegian sports club from the municipality of Klepp. It was founded on 1 October 1919, and has sections for football, handball and gymnastics as well as the less active sections for athletics and orienteering. Best known for t ...

most notably has a women's football team in the Norwegian top league. Famous players include

Dagny Mellgren Dagny Mellgren Haugland (; born 19 June 1978) from Ålgård is a former Norwegian footballer. She retired in December 2005 while playing for Klepp. She has also played for Boston Breakers, in the WUSA. She scored the golden goal in the final aga ...

and the national team captain

Ane Stangeland Horpestad Ane Stangeland Horpestad (née Stangeland; born 2 June 1980) is a Norwegian former footballer who captained the Norway women's national football team. A cultured central defender, she represented Klepp and Kolbotn of the top Norwegian league, ...

. Gymnast

Åge Storhaug Åge Storhaug (5 April 1938 – 18 April 2012) was a Norwegian gymnast who competed from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. He was born in Klepp and represented the club Klepp IL. He participated at the 1960 Summer Olympics and at the 1964 ...

also represented the club.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Klepp, are responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(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 usage ...

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 (human activity), w ...

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 administe ...

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 si ...

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 and o ...

, 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 is 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 counci ...

of elected representatives, which in turn elect 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 a ...

. The municipality falls under the

Sør-Rogaland District Court Sør-Rogaland District Court ( no, Sør-Rogaland tingrett) is a district court located in Rogaland and Agder counties in Norway. This court is based at three different courthouses which are located in Stavanger, Sandnes, and Egersund. The court s ...

and the

Gulating Court of Appeal The Gulating Court of Appeal ( no, Gulating lagmannsrett) is one of six Court of appeal (Norway), courts of appeal in the Norway, Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Bergen (city), Bergen. The court has jurisdiction over the cou ...

Municipal council

The

() of Klepp is made up of 31 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, 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 is as follows:

Mayor

Since 2011, Ane Mari Braut Nese of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

has been the mayor. She succeeded Elfin Lea of the same party, who served from 1999 to 2011. In 2019, Sigmund Rolfsen of the Labour Party was elected as mayor.

Parliament

There have been many members of the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from Klepp. Thore Larsen Braut and Karl K. Kleppe were members of Parliament prior to the Second World War. After the war

Lars Storhaug Lars Storhaug (born 28 September 1935) is a Norwegian farmer and politician. Biography Storhaug was born in Klepp to farmers Lars Storhaug Sr. (1898–1977) and Borghild née Skadsem (1914–2000). He was elected representative to the ...

Oddbjørg Ausdal Starrfelt Oddbjørg Ausdal Starrfelt (born 22 July 1948 in Klepp) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party. She was elected to the Storting, Norwegian Parliament from Rogaland in 1993, and was re-elected on two occasions. Starr ...

, and Knut Haus have been members of Parliament.

Notable people

* Theodor Dahl (1886–1946) a Norwegian journalist, short story writer, novelist and poet *

Asgaut Steinnes Asgaut Steinnes (11 October 1892 – 6 July 1973) was a Norwegian archivist and historian who specialized in the Middle Ages. He served as National archivist of Norway from 1933 to 1960. Career Steinnes was born in Klepp, District of Stavange ...

(1892–1973) historian,

National archivist of Norway The national archivist ( no, Riksarkivar) of Norway is the professional and administrative manager of the National Archives of Norway and the National Archival Services of Norway. In addition, the national archivist bears direct responsibility wit ...

, 1933 to 1960 *

Torvald Tu Torvald Tu (22 July 1893 – 15 January 1955) was a Norwegians, Norwegian poet, playwright, novelist and writer of humoresques. He was born in Klepp as a son of farmers. His literary debut was the 1914 play ''Storbrekkmyri'', and his first poetry ...

(1893–1955) a Norwegian poet, playwright, novelist and writer of humoresques *

Sigve Tjøtta Sigve Tjøtta (1 March 1930 – 28 August 2023) was a Norwegian mathematician. Early life He was born in Klepp. He took the cand.real. degree in 1954 and the dr.philos. degree in 1960, both at the University of Oslo. His doctoral thesis was ''On ...

(born 1930) a Norwegian mathematician and long-distance runner *

Åse-Marie Nesse Åse-Marie Nesse ( 29 April 1934 – 13 July 2001) was a Norwegian philologist, translator and poet. Biography Åse-Marie Nesse was born in Klepp, in Rogaland county, Norway. She finished her secondary education in 1952 at ''Rogaland offentleg ...

(1934–2001) a Norwegian philologist, academic and poet * Arne Sølvberg (born 1940) a computer scientist, academic & expert in

information modelling An information model in software engineering is a representation of concepts and the relationships, constraints, rules, and Operation (mathematics), operations to specify Semantic data model, data semantics for a chosen domain of discourse. Typical ...

References

External links

* *
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

Pictures from Klepp
{{use dmy dates, date=June 2020 Jæren Municipalities of Rogaland 1838 establishments in Norway