Marnardal is a former municipality in the old

Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. I ...

county, Norway. It existed from 1964 until 2020 when it was merged into Lindesnes Municipality in what is now Agder county. It was located in the traditional district of

Sørlandet Southern Norway ( no, Sørlandet; lit. "The Southland") is the geographical List of regions of Norway, region (''landsdel'') along the Skagerrak coast of southern Norway. The region is an informal description since it does not have any govern ...

. 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

Heddeland Heddeland is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about northeast of the village of Øyslebø along the river Mandalselva. The Sørlandet Line The Sørlandet Line ( no, Sørlandsbanen) is a railwa ...

. Other villages in Marnardal include

Bjelland Bjelland is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located along the river Mandalselva, about southeast of the village of Byremo (in Lyngdal) and about west of the village of Hægeland (in Vennesla). The vil ...

Breland Breland is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located just over the border from the neighboring Kristiansand municipality. The village of Øyslebø lies about to the southwest of Breland. There are about ...

Koland Koland is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located between the villages of Bjelland and Hægeland Hægeland or Hægelandskrossen is a village in Vennesla municipality in Agder county, Norway. The villa ...

Laudal Laudal is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the western shore of the Mandalselva river, about south of the village of Bjelland and about north of the village of Øyslebø. The village of Lau ...

, and

Øyslebø Øyslebø is a village in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located in the Mandalen valley along the Mandalselva river, about north of the town of Mandal. The Sørlandet Line passes the village to the north, stoppin ...

. The Sørlandet Railway Line runs through the municipality stopping at

Breland Station Breland Station ( no, Breland stasjon) is a railway station on the Sørlandet Line situated in the village of Breland in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. Located from Oslo Central Station, it is served by a single long-distance t ...

and

Marnardal Station Marnardal Station ( no, Marnardal stasjon) is a railway station of the Sørlandet Line situated just north of the village of Heddeland in Lindesnes municipality in Agder county, Norway. Located from Oslo Central Station, it is served by long-di ...

. At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality is the 240th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Marnardal is the 306th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,309. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 7.5% over the last decade.

General information

Marnardal was established as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 through the merger of several municipalities. These areas that became Marnardal included all

municipality except for the Midtbø and Ågedal areas (population: 535), all of the municipality of

, the Kleveland bru area of

Finsland Finsland or Finnsland is a village in Kristiansand municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located about northwest of Nodeland and about southeast of the village of Bjelland. The village is very small and it is located in a very ru ...

(population: 34), and all of

municipality except for the Brunvatne area (population: 1,068). On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of

Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

, Marnardal, and Lindesnes were merged into one large municipality called ''Lindesnes'' with its

being the town of

Name

The name of the municipality is a revival (from 1964) of the Old Norse name of the valley: ''Marnardalr''. The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can al ...

of the river name ''Mǫrn'' (now called Mandalselva) and the last element is ''dalr'' meaning 'dale' or 'valley'. The meaning of the river name is unknown (maybe derived from ''marr'' which means '

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

').

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 19 June 1987 until the municipality was dissolved on 1 January 2020. The official blazon is ''"

Vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme vers ...

, three pine cones in

pall Pall may refer to: * Pall (funeral), a cloth used to cover a coffin * Pall (heraldry), a Y-shaped heraldic charge * Pall (liturgy), a piece of stiffened linen used to cover the chalice at the Eucharist * Pall Corporation, a global business * Pall. ...

stems conjoined Or"'' ( no, I grønt tre gull furukongler forent i trepass). This means the arms have a green field (background) and the charge is a pine cone. The pine cones have a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The green color in the field and the choice of pine cones on the arms symbolize the importance of the forests which cover areas of the municipality. There are three conjoined pine cones to represent each of the three former municipalities of

, and

which were merged into Marnardal in 1964. The arms were designed by Ulf Dreyer using an idea by Kjersti Tveit Nilsen.

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 ...

has three parishes () within the municipality of Marnardal. It is part of the

Mandal prosti This list of churches in Agder og Telemark is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark in Agder and Vestfold og Telemark counties in southern Norway. The diocese is based at the Kristiansand Cathedral in the cit ...

(

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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark ( no, Agder og Telemark bispedømme) is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and most of Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth larges ...

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Marnardal, 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 services, unemployment 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, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor. The municipality fell under the

Kristiansand District Court Kristiansand District Court ( no, Kristiansand tingrett) was a district court in Agder county, Norway. The court was based in the town of Kristiansand. The court existed until 2021. It had jurisdiction over the southern part of the county which ...

and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Marnardal was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Geography

Marnardal is an inland municipality which follows the Mandalselva river through the

Mandalen Mandalen is a river valley in Agder county, Norway. The long valley runs from the lake Øre in Åseral municipality south through the municipality of Lindesnes and it ends at the sea at the town of Mandal in the south. The river Mandalselva ...

valley. The municipality borders Evje og Hornnes municipality to the north in

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

county; Audnedal municipality to the west; Lindesnes,

, and Søgne municipalities to the south; and Songdalen and Vennesla municipalities in the east.

Climate

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 ...

* * * {{use dmy dates, date=November 2020 Lindesnes Former municipalities of Norway 1964 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway