Valestrand is a former municipality in the old

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Municipal ...

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 municipality existed from 1868 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located on a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

on the southern shore of the

Bømlafjorden Bømlafjorden ( en, Bømla Fjord) is a fjord in Vestland county, Norway. The fjord is the outer-most part of the Hardangerfjord, running between the island of Bømlo (in Bømlo Municipality) and the mainland (Sveio Municipality). The Bømlafjord ...

inside the present-day municipality of

Sveio Sveio is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Sveio is a border district that is sometimes considered to be located in the traditional district of Haugalandet since it is located on the Haugalandet peninsula, but it is also considered to ...

. 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 Valestrand was the village of

Valevåg Valevåg is a village in Sveio municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The village is located on the northern end of the Sveio peninsula, along the southern shore of the Hardangerfjorden. Historically, Valevåg was the administrative centre o ...

. The two churches in Valestrand were Valen Chapel and Valestrand Church.

History

The municipality of Valestrand was established on 15 May 1868 when the southern district of the large municipality of

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 l ...

(south of the

) was separated from the rest of Stord to become its own municipality. Initially, Valestrand had a population of 900. On 1 April 1870, the Øklandsgrend area (population: 247) of the neighboring municipality of

Finnås Finnås is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality, which existed from 1838 until 1916, was located in the traditional district of Sunnhordland. Originally, the municipality encompassed all of the island of ...

was transferred to Valestrand. On 1 January 1964, a major municipal merger took place as a result 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 ...

. The municipalities of

(population: 1,697) and Valestrand (population: 1,216) were merged with the western part of the municipality of

Vikebygd Vikebygd is a village in Vindafjord municipality in Rogaland 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 port ...

(population: 471) and a small portion of the northern part of the municipality of Skjold (population: 24), both located north and west of the Ålfjorden. The new municipality was called

. The small portion from Skjold municipality was in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

county, and after the merger it switched to

county.

Municipal council

The

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 Valestrand was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four-year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Notable people

Einar Økland Einar Økland (born 17 January 1940) is a Norwegian poet, playwright, essayist and children's writer. He was born in Sveio, and educated psychologist. He made his literary debut in 1963, with the poetry collection ''Ein gul dag''. He was awarded ...

– poet, playwright, essayist and

children's writer Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

. *

Fartein Valen Olav Fartein Valen (25 August 1887 – 14 December 1952) was a Norwegian composer, notable for his work in atonal polyphonic music. He developed a polyphony similar to Bach's counterpoint, but based on motivic working and dissonance rather th ...

– composer and

music theorist Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

. *

Agnes Ravatn Agnes Ravatn (born 8 February 1983, in Ølen) is a Norwegian novelist, columnist and journalist. She debuted in 2007 with the novel ''Veke 53'' ('Week 53'). Ravatn is a columnist and journalist for Nynorsk newspaper ''Dag og Tid''. A series of es ...

– author, columnist and journalist.

References

{{Authority control Sveio Former municipalities of Norway 1868 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway

History

Municipal council

Notable people

See also

References