Leira or Leira i Valdres is a village in

Nord-Aurdal Municipality Nord-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town Fagernes. Other urban centres in Nord-Aurdal include the villages of Aurd ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

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 ...

. The village is located along the river Begna, about to the southeast of the town of

Fagernes is a town in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of the municipality as well as the largest urban/commercial centre for the Valdres region. It is located just northwest of the village of ...

. The

European route E16 European route E16 is the designation of a main west-east road through Northern Ireland, Scotland, Norway and Sweden, from Derry to Gävle, via Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, previously by ferry to Bergen, Voss, through the Gudvanga Tunnel and th ...

highway runs through the village. The village of

Aurdal Aurdal is a village in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located along the European route E16 highway about to the northwest of the village of Bagn (in Sør-Aurdal) and about to the southeast of the town of F ...

lies about to the southeast and the village of

Skrautvål Skrautvål is a village in Nord-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located about north of the town of Fagernes and just northeast of the lake Sæbufjorden. Skrautvål Church is located in the village. The local sp ...

lies about to the northeast (on the other side of the town of Fagernes). The village has a population (2021) of 927 and a

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 ...

of .

Name

The place is named after the river ''Leira''. The name of the river is derived from ''leire'' which means "

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

". ''Leira'' is a common name of rivers many places in Norway.

References

Nord-Aurdal Villages in Innlandet {{Innlandet-geo-stub