Leirvik is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

and 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 ...

Stord Stord is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since it has such a variety of landscapes: coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural ...

municipality in

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,

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 town lies along the southern coast of the large island of Stord, along the

Hardangerfjorden The Hardangerfjord ( en, Hardanger Fjord) is the fifth longest fjord in the world, and the second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in Vestland county in the Hardanger region. The fjord stretches from the Atlantic Ocean into the mountain ...

. The town gained "town status" in 1997. The town includes the

Eldøyane Eldøyane is a partially man-made former island located just outside the town of Leirvik in the municipality of Stord in Vestland county, Norway. The island was connected to the larger island of Stord by land reclamation, and over the years, the ...

peninsula where the large Kværner Stord industrial area is located. On our way to Bergen

Leirvik is the regional centre of the traditional district of

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...

, and has many public services and offices such as the Sunnhordland District court and the

Sunnhordland Museum Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Hardang ...

, as well as many shops and restaurants.

Stord Church Stord Church ( no, Stord kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Stord Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the town of Leirvik on the southern side of the island of Stord. It is the church for the Stord parish ...

and several schools such as

Stord Upper Secondary School Stord is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since it has such a variety of landscapes: coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural l ...

and

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...

are all located in the town. The town has a population (2019) of 14,126 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 . The entire municipality has about 18,700 residents in it (2019), so Leirvik has about 75% of the total population of the municipality. Leirvik is also the largest urban area that is located in a municipality where

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-Nor ...

is the preferred language form.

Transportation

The town lies along the

European route E39 European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other single road in Eu ...

highway, just east of the Stord Bridge which is part of the

Triangle Link The Triangle Link ( no, Trekantsambandet) is a fixed link with three branches that connects the islands of Stord and Bømlo to each other and to the mainland at Sveio, Norway. It consists of the underwater Bømlafjord Tunnel from Sveio to the i ...

which connects a number of islands to the mainland via road bridges and an undersea tunnel. There is a ferry quay at Skjersholmane in the western part of the town which has regular ferry connections to the nearby islands of Halsnøya,

Fjelbergøya Fjelbergøya is an island in Kvinnherad Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies on the south side of the Hardangerfjorden, between the islands of Borgundøya (to the south) and Halsnøya (to the northeast). These three neighb ...

, and

Borgundøya Borgundøya or Borgundøy is an island in Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in the Hardangerfjorden, immediately south of the island of Fjelbergøya. The island has about 79 residents (in 2017), with about four ...

which lie to the east in the

. A regular ferry connection to the nearby island of

Huglo Huglo is an island in Stord municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island lies in the Hardangerfjorden, just east of the large island of Stord and just south of Tysnesøy. The small island of Skorpo lies immediately northeast of this i ...

departs just north of Leirvik at the quay at Jektavik. In the main harbour of Leirvik, there are several daily expressboat departures to nearby islands of Halsnøy, Fjellbergøy and Borgundøy as well as the villages of

Husnes Husnes is the largest village in Kvinnherad municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the southern shore of the Hardangerfjorden on the Folgefonna peninsula, about south of the village of Herøysund and immediately nort ...

Skånevik Skånevik is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. It included the land surrounding both sides of the Skånevikfjord ...

and

Ølen Ølen is a former municipality in the Vestlandet region of Norway. The municipality existed from 1916 until 2006, and originally it was a part of Hordaland county, but in 2002 it was transferred to Rogaland county prior to its dissolution in 20 ...

and the county capital of

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

. Stord Airport is located approximately 12 kilometers west of Leirvik center close to the village of

Sagvåg Sagvåg is a village in Stord municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the southwest coast of the island of Stord, about west of the town of Leirvik. The Stord Airport, Sørstokken lies about northwest of Sagvåg. ...

. From the main bus terminal of Leirvik, there are local busses, as well as regional express busses towards Bergen to the north and Stavanger to the south.

Media

The newspaper ''

'' is published in Leirvik, as well as the online newspape
Stord24

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

also has a local office in Leirvik.

Name

Confusingly, when the municipality of

declared that Leirvik was a town in 1997, they decided to name the town "Stord", with the village of Leirvik being the central part of the town. This was done because the

Norwegian government The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the prime minister of Norway. Legislative power is ...

required a populated place to have at least 5,000 residents in order to be called a

. Leirvik alone did not have enough residents unless the whole surrounding areas were also included, so the name "Stord" would represent the whole area. Even though this is the official name, the public acceptance of this has been minimal and controversial, and the name of the urban community remains "Leirvik". The name Leirvik () translates into "clay bay". The word "leire" meaning "

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 ...

" and "vik" meaning " bay". The name comes from the high concentration of clay in the ground. The locals often

colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

refer to Leirvik by the name "Vikjo", meaning "the bay" in local dialect, rather than "Leirvik".

References

{{Authority control Stord Cities and towns in Norway Populated places in Vestland 1997 establishments in Norway

Transportation

Media

Name

See also

References