Ørskog 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 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of

Ålesund Municipality Ålesund (, sometimes spelled Aalesund in English) is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ce ...

in the traditional district of

Sunnmøre Sunnmøre (, ) is the southernmost traditional district of the western Norwegian county of Møre og Romsdal. Its main city is Ålesund. The region comprises the municipalities () of Fjord, Giske, Hareid, Herøy, Sande, Haram, Stranda Mu ...

. 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

Sjøholt Sjøholt is a village in Ålesund Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The village is located along the northern shore of the Storfjorden, about east of the village of Skodje. The village of Stordal (in Fjord Municipality) is locat ...

. The other main village was Vaksvika, about south of Sjøholt. The

European Route E39 European route E39 is the designation of a north–south road in Norway and Denmark from Klett, just south of Trondheim (city), Trondheim, to Aalborg via Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand. In total, there are nine ferries, more than any other ...

/ E136 highway ran through the municipality, connecting the towns of

Ålesund Ålesund () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the administrative centre of Ålesund Municipality. The centre of the town of Ålesund lies on the islands of Hessa, Aspøya, Ålesund, Asp� ...

and

Molde Molde () is a List of towns and cities in Norway, town and the seat of Molde Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Pen ...

. The Rauma Group was the largest company in Ørskog in terms of turnover. Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 363rd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Ørskog Municipality was the 310th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 2,250. 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 increased by 5% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Ørskog was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 1 August 1883, the southwestern district of Ørskog (most of Ørskog on the southwestern side of the Storfjorden except for the Søvik and Ramstaddalen areas) was separated to form the new Søkelven Municipality (the spelling was later changed to ''Sykkylven''). This left Ørskog Municipality with 1,735 inhabitants. On 1 June 1955, the Søvik and Ramstaddalen areas of Ørskog Municipality (located south of the Storfjorden) were administratively transferred to

Sykkylven Municipality Sykkylven is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the village of Aure, Sykkylven, Aure. Othe ...

. 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, there was a merger between three neighbors: Stordal Municipality (population: 1,052) in the south, Ørskog Municipality (population: 1,664) in the centre, and

Skodje Municipality Skodje ( or ) is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1849 until its dissolution in 2020 (except for a short time from 1965-1977). The area is now part o ...

(population: 2,048) in the north, creating a new, larger Ørskog Municipality. This was merger was short-lived. On 1 January 1977, the merger was reversed all three municipalities were separated once again. This left the newly reconstituted Ørskog Municipality with a population of 1,668. On 1 January 2020, Ørskog Municipality was merged with

Haram Municipality Haram is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative center is Brattvåg, the industrial center of Sunnmøre. Other important villages in the municipality include Austnes, Eidsvik, ...

, Sandøy Municipality, and

to form a new, larger

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 ''Ørskog'' farm () since the first Ørskog Church was built there. The first element is the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

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 ca ...

of which means "gravel

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

near the mouth of a river". The last element is which means "wood" or "

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

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 last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 11 November 1983. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''" Ermine, a pale Or"'' (). This means the arms have a

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

of ermine which means it is commonly colored white with small black spots. The

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a pale with a

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The pale was chosen to symbolize a tree trunk, as a symbol for

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

. In the 17th century, the municipality exported many tall trees to the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

, where they were used for shipbuilding. The ermine background was chosen to symbolize

fur farming Fur farming is the practice of breeding or raising certain types of animals for their fur. Most of the world's farmed fur was produced by European farmers. In 2018, there were 5,000 fur farms in the EU, located across 22 countries; these area ...

in the area as well. The ermine is also a canting for the many animals in the forests. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

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 Ørskog Municipality. It was part of the Austre Sunnmøre 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 Møre.

Geography

The municipality was located on the north shore of the Storfjorden, and it was bordered by

to the west,

Vestnes Municipality Vestnes is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. Vestnes is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Romsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the ...

to the north and east, and Stordal Municipality to the south. Most of the population lived along the shore or in the small valleys that stretch inland from the fjord. The eastern part of the municipality was mountainous. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Lauparen, a

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

on the border with Ørskog Municipality,

, and Stordal Municipality.

Landslide

At 10:00 p.m. on 8 January 1731, a

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

with a volume of possibly fell from the mountain Skafjell from a height of into the Storfjorden opposite

Stranda Stranda may also refer to: Places *Stranda Municipality, a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Stranda, Møre og Romsdal, a village within Stranda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway * Stranda Hundred, a hundred of Smålan ...

. The slide generated a

megatsunami A megatsunami is an incredibly large wave created by a substantial and sudden displacement of material into a body of water. Megatsunamis have different features from ordinary tsunamis. Ordinary tsunamis are caused by underwater tectonic activi ...

in height that struck Stranda, and damaging waves of lesser size traveled as far as Ørskog. It was the first

natural disaster A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community brought by natural phenomenon or Hazard#Natural hazard, hazard. Some examples of natural hazards include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides ...

to be reported and documented in Norway in historic time.

Government

Ørskog 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 Sunnmøre District Court and the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () 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. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

() of Ørskog is made up of 17 representatives that are 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 Ørskog was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: * 1837–1839: Ole Sollied * 1840–1844: Schølberg * 1844–1845: Ole Sollied * 1846–1849: Fredrik Krabbe * 1850–1863: Lars Strømme * 1864–1867: Fredrik Søholt * 1868–1881: Aamund Aure * 1882–1883: Lars P. Grebstad * 1883–1885: Ole Strømme * 1886–1889: P. Skarbø * 1890–1913: P. Th. Gjære ( V) * 1914–1919: Tore P. Gjære * 1920–1934: Tore Vaksvik ( V) * 1935–1945: Ole P. Solnørdal * 1945–1945: Olav Sjøholt * 1946–1951: Per Gjære * 1952–1957: Hans Busæt * 1958–1959: Bjarne Hansen * 1960–1964: Hans Busæt * 1965–1971: Jostein Valde * 1972–1975: Otto Berg * 1976–1987: Lars Vethe ( Sp) * 1988–1989: Mons-Olav Walgermo ( KrF) * 1990–1995: Jostein Vestre ( V) * 1995–2003: Knut Helge Harstad ( V) * 2003–2007: Sigmund Stene ( V) * 2007–2015: Thorbjørn Fylling ( FrP) * 2015–2017: Karen Simonnes Aanes ( Ap) * 2017–2019: Knut Helge Harstad ( V)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oerskog Ålesund Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2020