Leirvík ( da, Lervig) is a town on the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
and was an important regional ferry harbour at the east coast of the second-largest island
Eysturoy
Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population.
Description
Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...
. Leirvík has a population of 1,048 (2022).
It was the only town in the municipality of Leirvík (''Leirvíkar kommuna''), however on 1 January 2009, it merged with Gøtu kommuna to make the new municipality called
Eysturkommuna
Eystur Municipality (Eysturkommuna) is a municipality (kommuna) in the Faroe Islands.
In Faroese, ''eystur'' means east and so the municipality is ''East Municipality''. It covers an eastern part of the island of Eysturoy. It was created on 1 Jan ...
.
Leirvík is important for its fishing industry.
The
Norðoyatunnilin
Norðoyatunnilin (''The Northern Isles Tunnel'') is a two-lane road tunnel under the Leirvíksfjørður in the Faroe Islands. It connects the islands of Eysturoy and Borðoy. The tunnel is 6.2 km long and goes down to a depth of 150 metre ...
, a submarine tunnel to
Klaksvík
Klaksvík is the second largest town of the Faroe Islands behind Tórshavn. The town is located on Borðoy, which is one of the northernmost islands (the Norðoyar). It is the administrative centre of Klaksvík municipality.
History
The first ...
to the east, was opened in April 2006.
A
district heating
District heating (also known as heat networks or teleheating) is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location through a system of insulated pipes for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating a ...
system pulls heat from the sea, increases the heat in a
heat pump
A heat pump is a device that can heat a building (or part of a building) by transferring thermal energy from the outside using a refrigeration cycle. Many heat pumps can also operate in the opposite direction, cooling the building by removing h ...
powered by electricity, and sends the heat to the large buildings in the town.
History
Archaeological excavations have shown that the town was first settled the 9th century by the
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
s. It is said that all inhabitants died in 1349 because of the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
.
See also
*
Leirvik
Leirvik is a town and the administrative centre of Stord municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The town lies along the southern coast of the large island of Stord, along the Hardangerfjorden. The town gained "town status" in 1997. The town ...
in
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 ...
*
Lerwick
Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...
in the
Shetland Islands
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
The islands lie about to the no ...
*
List of towns in the Faroe Islands
This is a list of villages (and towns) of the Faroe Islands. :fo:Býir í Føroyum :de:Liste der Städte und Orte auf den Färöern
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Towns In The Faroe Islands
Towns
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Isla ...
References
External links
Faroeislands.dk: Leirvík
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leirvik
Populated places established in the 9th century
Populated places in the Faroe Islands