Finnøy is a
former municipality 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, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...
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 island municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into
Stavanger Municipality. It was located in the
traditional district of
Ryfylke
Ryfylke is a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the northeastern part of Rogaland county, Norway. The district, encompassing about 60% of the county's area is located northeast of Stavanger and east of Haugesund. It includes the mainla ...
. 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 ...
of the municipality was the village of
Judaberg.
The municipality consisted of a number of islands on the south side of the
Boknafjorden, about northeast of the city of
Stavanger
Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
. The
Finnøy Tunnel connects the two islands of
Finnøy and
Talgje to the mainland. The rest of the islands are accessible only by boat.
Finnøy is an agricultural community dominated by
dairy
A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...
,
meat
Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...
,
poultry
Poultry () are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting animal products such as meat, Eggs as food, eggs or feathers. The practice of animal husbandry, raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typ ...
, and
fish farming
Fish farming or pisciculture involves commercial breeding of fish, most often for food, in fish tanks or artificial enclosures such as fish ponds. It is a particular type of aquaculture, which is the controlled cultivation and harvesting of ...
products, with strong
horticultural traditions, mainly
greenhouse
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
production of
tomato
The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...
es, as well as some
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...
.
Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality is the 375th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Finnøy was the 256th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,235. 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 has increased by 21.1% over the last decade.
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 ''Finnø'' 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). It originally encompassed the islands of
Finnøy,
Talgje, and
Fogn as well as the small surrounding islets and the southeasternmost corner of the island of
Rennesøy. On 1 January 1918, the part of Finnøy located on the island of
Rennesøy (population: 72) was transferred from Finnøy to the neighboring municipality of
Rennesøy.
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, the municipality of Finnøy was enlarged when it was merged with the entire municipality of
Sjernarøy (population: 819), the northeastern part of
Ombo island (population: 89) from the municipality of
Jelsa, and the Fisterøyene islands (population: 246) from the municipality of
Fister.
On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of Finnøy,
Rennesøy, and
Stavanger
Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
were merged into one, large municipality called Stavanger.
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 island of
Finnøy () since the historic
Hesby Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. It is possibly from the word ''finna'' which is the local name for ''
Nardus stricta''. Another possibility is that it comes from the old male name . 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 ''Finnø''. On 3 November 1917, a
royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Finnøy''. The letter ''y'' was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name ( is the Danish word for "island" and is the Norwegian word).
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 23 September 1983 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. 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 ''"
Azure, a winged arrowhead
argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...
in bend"'' (). This means the arms have a blue
field (background) and the
charge is a winged
arrowhead
An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling.
...
. The charge 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
argent
In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...
which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were derived from the arms of the Hestbø family (which included
Ogmund Finnsson), one of the mightiest families in the area in the 14th century. They had their stronghold on their Hesby estate on the island of
Finnøy in the municipality of Finnøy. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen. 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 three parishes () within the municipality of Finnøy. It was part of the
Tungenes 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 Stavanger
The Diocese of Stavanger () is a diocese in the Church of Norway. It covers all of Rogaland county in western Norway. The cathedral city is Stavanger, where the Stavanger Cathedral is located. The bishop is Anne Lise Ådnøy, who has held the p ...
.
History
Finnøy was at the top of its power in the middle of the fourteenth century when the King's representative Ogmund Finnsson had his seat at Hesby on the west side of the island of Finnøy. The medieval, stone
Hesby Church, dating back to at least the thirteenth century, still stands at Hesby.
It is often claimed that the Norwegian mathematician
Niels Henrik Abel
Niels Henrik Abel ( , ; 5 August 1802 – 6 April 1829) was a Norwegian mathematician who made pioneering contributions in a variety of fields. His most famous single result is the first complete proof demonstrating the impossibility of solvin ...
(1802–1829) was born on Finnøy, since his father Søren Georg acted as
rector there. Recent studies indicates, however, that he was born in
Nedstrand, a nearby
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 ...
. However, he was raised on Finnøy.
Geography
The island municipality of Finnøy was located on the south side of the
Boknafjorden. The main islands of Finnøy included
Finnøy,
Talgje,
Fogn,
Halsnøya,
Sjernarøyane, and the north and west parts of the island of
Ombo. The islands of Talgje and Finnøy are connected to the mainland by the undersea
Finnøy Tunnel. The rest of the islands are only accessible by boats.
Government
While it existed, this 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,
unemployment
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...
,
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. During its existence, this 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 by a vote of the municipal council.
The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the
Ryfylke District Court and the
Gulating Court of Appeal.
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, borough cou ...
() of Finnøy was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The
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 ...
breakdown for the councils was as follows:
Mayors
The
mayors
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 ...
() of Finnøy (incomplete list):
*1991-2007: Jorunn Strand Vestbø (
Sp)
*2007-2011: Kjell Nes (
KrF)
*2011-2015:
Gro Skartveit (
V)
*2015-2019: Henrik Halleland (
KrF)
Notable people
*
Torolf Nordbø, also known as Han Innante, is a Norwegian musician and comedian
See also
*
List of former municipalities of Norway
This is a list of former municipalities of Norway, i.e. municipalities that no longer exist.
When the local council system was introduced in Norway in 1837-38, the country had 392 municipalities. By 1958, the number had grown to a total of 744 rur ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finnoy
Stavanger
Former municipalities of Norway
1838 establishments in Norway
2020 disestablishments in Norway