Åsskard is a former municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1895 until its dissolution in 1965. It was located in what is now the northern part of

Surnadal Municipality is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages in Surnadal include Bøverfjorden, Glærem, Moen, Stangvik, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, T ...

. The former municipality of Åsskard (historically spelled ''Aasgaard'') included the area around the Åsskardfjorden, north of the Hamnesfjorden, and east of the Trongfjorden. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the village of

Åsskard Åsskard is a village in Surnadal Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located in the western part of the municipality, at the innermost part of the Åsskardfjorden which is a branch off the main Trongfjorden. The vi ...

where the Åsskard Church is located. Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 370th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Åsskard Municipality was the 483rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,015. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was and its population had decreased by 7.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of ''Aasgaard'' was established on 1 May 1895 when it was separated from the large Stangvik Municipality. It had an initial population of 629. On 1 July 1915, a southern district of Halsa Municipality (population: 114) was transferred to Aasgaard Municipality. The spelling of the name was later changed to Åsskard Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1965, Åsskard Municipality (population: 1,014) was merged with most of Stangvik Municipality (population: 1,386) and

(population: 3,534) to form a new, larger Surnadal Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old ''

'' farm () since the first Åsskard Church was built there. The first element is which means "rocky ridge" or "hill". The last element is which means "gap" or "pass" between hills or mountains. This is likely referring to the fact that the Åsskard farm was situated in a narrow, low area between some mountains on the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

between the Åsskardfjorden and the Hamnesfjorden. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Aasgaard''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Aasskard'', bringing it back to a modern version of the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was 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 ...

spelling. On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Aasskard'' with the digraph " Aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Åsskard'', using the letter Å instead.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had one parish () within Åsskard Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Stangvik

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 ...

and the Indre Nordmøre prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) 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 included the area around the Åsskardfjorden, north of the Hamnesfjorden, and east of the Trongfjorden. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Hjelmen, on the border with Valsøyfjord Municipality. Halsa Municipality, Valsøyfjord Municipality, and Aure Municipality were located to the north,

and Stangvik Municipality were to the south, and Tingvoll Municipality was to the west.

Government

While it existed, Åsskard Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

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. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or 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 object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality was 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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

of Åsskard was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Åsskard was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: *1895–1898: Lars J. Bæverfjord *1899–1902: Halstein E. Hakstad *1903–1916: A.O. Sollid *1916–1926: Ole Snekvik *1926–1937: Sivert Pedersen Bæverfjord *1938–1941: Peder J. Bø *1945–1946: Peder J. Bø *1947–1955: Ola J. Bævre ( Bp) *1955–1963: Jon Enge *1963–1964: Ola J. Bævre ( Sp)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aasskard Municipality Surnadal Former municipalities of Norway 1895 establishments in Norway 1965 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1895 Populated places disestablished in 1965