Namsos 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 center 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 A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kl ...

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,

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 on the north side of the mouth of the river

Namsen or is one of the longest rivers in Trøndelag county, in the central part of Norway. The long river flows through the municipalities of Røyrvik, Namsskogan, Grong, Overhalla, and Namsos before emptying into the Namsenfjorden. The river is ...

, where it flows into

Namsenfjorden The Namsenfjorden or Namsfjorden is a fjord in Trøndelag county, Norway. The long fjord flows along the border between the municipalities of Namsos and Flatanger. It runs southeast from the Folda firth, between the mainland in the south and the ...

. The village of Spillum lies across the river on the south side. The

Norwegian County Road 17 County Road 17 ( no, Fylkesvei 17), also known as the Coastal Highway ( no, Kystriksveien), is a Norwegian highway that runs from the town of Bodø in Nordland county (in the north) to the town of Steinkjer in Trøndelag county (in the south). I ...

runs through the town and just east of the town is

Namsos Airport, Høknesøra Namsos Airport ( no, Namsos lufthavn; ), referred locally as Høknesøra Airport, is a regional airport located along the Namsen river, just outside the town of Namsos in Trøndelag county, Norway. The airport is served with Dash 8 aircraft from ...

. The town was the terminus of the

Namsos Line The Namsos Line ( no, Namsosbanen) is a railway line between the village of Medjå and the town of Namsos in Trøndelag county, Norway. The line branches off from the Nordland Line at Grong Station and runs through the municipalities of Grong ...

from 1933 until its closure in 2002. The town is the site of the

Namsos Hospital Namsos Hospital ( no, Sykehuset Namsos) is a local hospital located in Namsos, Norway. Owned and operated by Nord-Trøndelag Hospital Trust, part of the Central Norway Regional Health Authority, it serves the district of Namdalen Namdalen ( ...

which serves the whole region.

Namsos Church Namsos Church ( no, Namsos kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Namsos municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the centre of the town of Namsos, just north of the mouth of the river Namsen. It is the church f ...

is located in the town centre. The town has a population (2018) of 8,413 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 .

History

The village of Namsos was declared to be a ladested in 1845. At that time, it was separated from the municipality of Vemundvik of which it was a part prior to that time. The new town (''Ladested Namsos'') had 591 inhabitants and the rest of Vemundvik was then called ''Namsos herred'' or ''Namsos landdistrikt'' and it had 908 residents after the split. Areas of Vemundvik lying adjacent to the town of Namsos were later annexed by the town on numerous occasions. On 1 January 1882, an area with 109 inhabitants was moved to the town. On 1 July 1921 an area with 927 inhabitants was again transferred to Namsos. Then, on 1 July 1957, another area with a population of 6 was transferred to Namsos. In 1940, the town was bombed in the Namsos Campaign. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II. It convened in 1946, and its formal name was (The 1946 Committee on Municip ...

. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring municipalities of Vemundvik (population: 2,040) and Klinga (population: 2,482) plus the parts of

Otterøy Otterøy is a former municipality in the old Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1913 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located in the what is now the municipality of Namsos in Trøndelag county. The former munici ...

municipality located north of the

(population: 1,013) and the ''Finnangerodden'' area on the island of

Otterøya Otterøya is an island in the municipality of Namsos in Trøndelag county, Norway. The island is the largest island in the northern part of Trøndelag county. Otterøya sits just to the northwest of the town of Namsos on the north side of the ...

Fosnes Fosnes is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Namsos Municipality. It was part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the mu ...

municipality (population: 116) were all merged with the town of Namsos (population: 5,224) to create a new (much larger) municipality of Namsos with 10,875 residents.

Name

The town is named Namsos, which is also the name of the municipality in which it is located. The first part of the name comes from the local river

. The last element is ''os'', which means the " mouth of a river".

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 ...

of the town of Namsos was granted on 5 May 1961. The arms were re-granted on 21 October 1966 when the town was merged with several other areas to form the municipality of

. The arms show a golden moose head on a red background. The

moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult mal ...

was chosen as a symbol for the municipality, since Namsos is the capital of the forest-rich

Namdalen Namdalen ( sma, Nååmesjevuemie) is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities Namsos, Grong, Overhalla, Røyrvik, Nærøysund, Høylandet, Flatanger, Lierne, Leka, Norway, Leka, ...

region, and the moose is the "king of the forest".

Media gallery

Namsos fraa fjorden.jpg, Namsos, seen from the fjord Namsos3 from klompen 051030.jpg, Namsos, seen from the mountain Klompen Namsoshospital.JPG, Namsos Hospital Namsos waterfront.jpg, Waterfront Namsos church.jpg,

References

{{authority control Populated places in Trøndelag Cities and towns in Norway Namsos 1845 establishments in Norway Former municipalities of Norway