Edøy 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 1960. It was located in the southern and central parts of the present-day

Smøla Municipality Smøla is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hopen, Mø ...

. The old municipality originally encompassed all the islands surrounding the Edøyfjorden. This included the islands of Smøla, Tustna, Stabblandet, and the many smaller islands between the larger ones. The island of Edøya lies between the two and that was the center of the old municipality. Over time, parts of Edøy were split off to form other municipalities. At the time it was dissolved, Edøy Municipality was . The

Old Edøy Church Old Edøy Church () is a historic parish church of the Church of Norway in Smøla Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located on the southwestern end of the small island of Edøya, just south of the larger island of Smøla (i ...

and later the (new)

Edøy Church Edøy Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Smøla Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located at Straumen on the southern coast of the island of Smøla. It is the main church for the Edøy parish which is ...

were the main churches for the municipality. Prior to its dissolution in 1960, the municipality was the 445th largest by area out of the 743 municipalities in Norway. Edøy Municipality was the 629th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,115. 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 4.5% over the previous 5-year period.

General information

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 ...

of ''Edø'' (later spelled ''Edøy'') 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). A royal resolution of 3 May 1873 directed that the southern Tustern parish be removed from Edøy Municipality to create the new Tustern Municipality effective on 1 January 1874. This left Edøy Municipality with 2,166 inhabitants. On 1 January 1915, the large Edøy Municipality was split into three to form: Edøy Municipality (population: 973) in the south, Hopen Municipality (population: 1,050) in the northeast, and Brattvær Municipality (population: 1,452) in the northwest. 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 1960, the 1915 partition was reversed, merging Brattvær Municipality (population: 1,361), Edøy Municipality (population: 1,135), and Hopen Municipality (population: 1,550), creating the new

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Edøy'' farm () since the

was built there. The first element is which means "

eider The eiders () are large seaducks in the genus ''Somateria''. The three extant species all breed in the cooler latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The down feathers of eider ducks and some other ducks and geese are used to fill pillows and qu ...

", a common type of sea bird for the area. The last element is which means "

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Edø''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Edøy''.

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 Edøy Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Edøy

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 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 ...

. In 2019, archaeologists from the

Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (, NIKU) is a cultural heritage research institute based in Oslo, Norway. Organization The institute has nearly 80 employees and regional offices in Bergen, Trondheim, Tønsberg and Tromsø. I ...

using large-scale high-resolution georadar technology, determined that a long Viking ship was buried near the

. Traces of a small settlement were also found. They estimate the ship's age as over 1,000 years: from the Merovingian or Viking period. The group planned to conduct additional searches in the area. A similar burial was found previously by NIKU archaeologists in 2018, in Gjellestad.

Geography

The municipality was located on the southern part of the large island of Smøla, along with the surrounding smaller islets and skerries including Kuli and Edøya. Brattvær Municipality was located to the northwest and Hopen Municipality was located to the northeast. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Ramndalshaugen on the small island of Kuli.

Government

While it existed, Edøy 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 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 Edøy was made up of 17 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 Edøy was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: *1838-1842: Halvor Christian Heyerdahl *1843-1844: Jørgen Foss *1845-1848: Paul Ulrik Stabell *1849-1850: Halvor Kulø *1851-1855: Daniel A. Rognskaug *1856-1859: Paul Ulrik Stabell *1860-1863: Sverker Moe *1864-1871: Jonas Halse *1872-1877: Knut Kuløy *1878-1884: Ole Soleim *1885-1892: Iver Paulsen Høsteng *1893-1909: Ole Soleim *1910-1913: Bastian Width *1914-1928: Halvard Knutsen Kuløy *1928-1930: O. Th. Engdal *1931-1937: John Lervik *1938-1941: Johan Gjøstøl *1945-1945: Ola Schjølberg ( Ap) *1946-1947: Olav J. Gjernes ( V) *1948-1959: Ove Gjernes ( V)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edoy Smøla Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1960 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 1960