Meldal is a former municipality in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers 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 t ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined

Orkland Municipality Orkland is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkanger. Other notable population centres in the municipality include ...

. It was part of the

Orkdalen Orkdalen or Orkladalen ( en, Orkla Valley) is a valley and a traditional Norwegian district in Trøndelag county, Norway. In the early Viking Age, before King Harald Fairhair, the Orkla Valley was also a petty kingdom. The valley begins in the h ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. 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 was the village of Meldal. Other villages included

Løkken Verk Løkken Verk (sometimes just called Løkken) is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located south of the village of Svorkmo, east of the village of Bjørnli, and north of the municipal center of Meldal. ...

Bjørnli Bjørnli is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located just east of the Orkla River about west of the village of Løkken Verk and about northeast of the village of Storås. The Løkken Church is locate ...

, Å, and

Storås Storås is a village in the municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located along the Orkla River, about northwest of the village of Meldal. For most Norwegians, Storås is best known for hosting the annual festival called S ...

. The municipality was most renowned for its

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

activities at

, being the birthplace of the ''Orkla mining company'', now

Orkla Group Orkla ASA is a Norwegian conglomerate operating in the Nordic region, Eastern Europe, Asia and the US. At present, Orkla operates in the branded consumer goods, aluminium solutions and financial investment sectors. Orkla ASA is listed on the Os ...

. It was also home to the annual

Storåsfestivalen Storåsfestivalen is a three-day (First year only two-day) annual music festival. It's held in the village of Storås in the municipality of Orkland, in Trøndelag county, Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic co ...

music festival. At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 184th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Meldal was also the 233rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,930. 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 ...

was and its population had increased by 1.5% over the previous decade.

General information

The

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

of Meldal 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). In 1839, the southern district of Meldal was separated to form the new

Rennebu Municipality Rennebu is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Berkåk, located along European route E6. The majority of the population lives in the vill ...

. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old

Sør-Trøndelag Sør-Trøndelag () was a county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. To the west is the No ...

county to the new

county. On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of

Agdenes Agdenes is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1896 until its dissolution in 2020 when it became part of Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Fosen region. The administrative centre was the vil ...

Orkdal Orkdal is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Orkland Municipality. It was part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

, and Meldal along with the majority of

Snillfjord Snillfjord is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1924 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was split between the municipalities of Hitra, Heim, and Orkland. It was part of the Fosen region. The ad ...

were merged to form the new municipality of

Orkland Orkland is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Orkdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Orkang ...

Name

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 ...

form of the name was ''Meðaldalr''. The first element is ''meðal'' which means "middle" and the last element is ''dalr'' which means "

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

" or "dale". The municipality is named this probably because it is located in the middle of the

valley. The name was historically spelled ''Meldalen''.

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 ...

was granted on 5 February 1985. The arms are a combination of a wheel as a symbol for the local industry, and a wheat ear as a symbol for the agriculture. Both items are yellow on a red background.

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 ...

had two parishes () within the municipality of Meldal. It is part of the

Gauldal prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros which covers all of Trøndelag county in Norway. The list is divided into several sections, one for each deanery in the diocese. Administra ...

(

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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

Geography

The municipality of Meldal was located along the

Orkla River Orkla may refer to: Places * Orkla (river), a river in Trøndelag county, Norway Business * Orkla Group (or ''Orkla ASA''), a large Norwegian company * Orkla Mining Company, a historic company in Norway * Orkla Metall, a former smelting company in ...

in the middle of the

valley. The lakes

Hostovatnet Hostovatnet is a lake in Trøndelag county, Norway. The lake lies in Orkland Municipality. The village of Hoston, Trøndelag, Hoston is located on the northeastern shore of the lake. The water leaves the lake primarily through the river Vorma w ...

and

Svorksjøen Svorksjøen is a lake in Trøndelag county, Norway. The lake lies on the border of the municipalities of Melhus and Orkland. The lake lies about east of the village of Svorkmo and about southwest of the village of Korsvegen. The water flows ou ...

were located along the northern border of the municipality. There were five municipalities that bordered Meldal:

Rindal Rindal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre is the village of Rindal. Other villages in the municipality include Tiset and Romundstad. The municipality centres on agricult ...

to the west,

Rennebu Rennebu is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Berkåk, located along European route E6. The majority of the population lives in the villa ...

to the south,

Midtre Gauldal Midtre Gauldal is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Støren. Other villages in the municipality include Singsås, Soknedal, Enodden, an ...

and

Melhus Melhus is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Melhus. Other villages include Gåsbakken, Hovin, Korsvegen, Kvål, Ler, Lundamo, St ...

to the east, and

to the north. The

Løkken Station Løkken Station ( no, Løkken stasjon) is a former railway station that was the southern terminus of the old Thamshavn Line. It is located in the village of Løkken Verk in the present-day municipality of Orkland in Trøndelag county, Norway ...

was the

terminal station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

on the historic

Thamshavn Line , logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image_name = Bårdshaug stasjon.jpeg , image_width = , image_alt = , caption = Passenger train at Bårdshaug Station in 191 ...

railway that used to travel through the municipality.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Meldal, 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

Trøndelag District Court Trøndelag District Court ( no, Trøndelag tingrett) is a district court located in Trøndelag county, Norway. This court is based at four different courthouses which are located in Brekstad, Namsos, Steinkjer, and Trondheim. The court serves the ...

and the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal ( no, Frostating lagmannsrett) is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal ...

Municipal council

The

() of Meldal is made up of 19 representatives that are 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 feature f ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

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 ...

{{authority control Orkland Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Populated places disestablished in 2020