Hægebostad is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Agder Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...

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 ...

. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. 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 is the village of

Tingvatn Tingvatn is the administrative centre of Hægebostad municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located along the river Lygna, just south of the lake Lygne. The village of Eiken lies about to the north and Snartemo Snartemo is a v ...

. Other villages in Hægebostad include Eiken, Haddeland, and

Snartemo Snartemo is a village in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located in a fairly narrow valley along the river Lygna Lygna or Lyngdalselva is a river in Agder county, Norway. The river runs from the mountains in nor ...

. The municipality encompasses the northern end of the

Lyngdalen Lyngdalen is a valley in Agder county, Norway. The long valley runs north–south through the municipalities of Hægebostad and Lyngdal. The valley follows the river Lygna from the mountain plateaus in northern Hægebostad to the Lyngdalsfjorde ...

valley which follows the river

Lygna Lygna or Lyngdalselva is a river in Agder county, Norway. The river runs from the mountains in northern Hægebostad municipality, through the Lyngdalen valley to the municipality of Lyngdal to its mouth at Alleen, where it runs into Lyngdalsfjo ...

. The

Sørlandet Line The Sørlandet Line () is a railway line between Drammen (though this is connected to Oslo by means of the Drammen Line) via Kristiansand to Stavanger. The line is long between Oslo and Stavanger. History The railway was constructed in several ...

railroad runs through the municipality from east to west, stopping at

Snartemo Station Snartemo Station () is a railway station of the Sørlandet Line situated in the village of Snartemo in Hægebostad municipality in Agder county, Norway. Located from Oslo Central Station, the station is situated on a embankment between the Hæge ...

in Snartemo. To get into and out of the valley in which Hægebostad is located, the trains must go through two of the longest railway tunnels in Norway:

Hægebostad Tunnel The Hægebostad Tunnel () is the fifth longest railway tunnel in Norway. It is located in the municipalities of Lyngdal and Hægebostad in Agder county. The long tunnel runs between Audnedal Station and Snartemo Station on the Sørlandet Line. I ...

and

Kvineshei Tunnel The Kvineshei Tunnel () is the fourth-longest railway tunnel in Norway at a length of . It is located in Agder county along the Sørlandet Line. The tunnel runs between Snartemo Station in the village of Snartemo in Hægebostad municipality and th ...

. The municipality is the 215th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hægebostad is the 296th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,750. 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 ...

is and its population has increased by 4.9% over the previous 10-year period. Nine units of

Sheltered housing Sheltered housing or sheltered accommodation are terms covering a wide range of rented housing for older and/or disabled or other vulnerable people. In the United Kingdom most commonly it refers to grouped housing such as a block or "scheme" ...

are under construction (in 2022) after the previous ones were demolished.

History

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 Hægebostad 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 January 1915, the municipality was divided into two municipalities: Eiken (population: 932) in the north and Hægebostad (population: 867) in the south. On 1 January 1963, the two municipalities were merged back together as the municipality of Hægebostad once again. Prior to the merger, Hægebostad had 813 residents and Eiken had 784 residents.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Hægebostad'' farm () since the first

Hægebostad Church Hægebostad Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Hægebostad Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Snartemo. It is the church for the Hægebostad parish which is part of the Lister og Mandal pro ...

was built there. This farm is now on the north side of the village of

. The first element is which means "

holy Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

". The last element is the plural form of which means "

homestead Homestead may refer to: *Homestead (building), a farmhouse and its adjacent outbuildings; by extension, it can mean any small cluster of houses * Nguni homestead, a cluster of houses inhabited by a single extended family, typically with a kraal ...

" or "

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

". Before 1889, the name was written ''Hegebostad''.

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 4 April 1986. 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 ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, two swords Or, points to the base"'' (). This means the arms have a red

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) and 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 two

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

s that are pointing downwards. The swords have 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 Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The swords represent the two swords of Snartemo and Eiken dating from the 4th–6th century that were found in the municipality. The swords were highly decorated with silver and gold, but the ones on the arms are a more stylized heraldic design. The arms were designed by John Digernes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Geography

Hægebostad is an inland municipality, with

Åseral Åseral is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kyrkjebygda. Other villages in Åseral include Eikerapen, Kylland, Ljosland, ...

municipality to the northeast,

Kvinesdal Kvinesdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the villa ...

to the west and

Lyngdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Lister Region, Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alleen ...

to the south and east. The municipality covers the upper

valley from the mountains in the north, along the river

to Lyngdal municipality in the south. The lake

Lygne Lygne is a lake in the municipality of Hægebostad in Agder county, Norway. The lake is part of the river Lygna. The lake begins near the village of Eiken in the north and stretches about to the south to the village of Tingvatn. Part of the ...

lies in the central part of the municipality.

Climate

Government

Hægebostad Municipality is 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 is 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 ...

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 is under the jurisdiction of the Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

() of Hægebostad is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and 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

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 Hægebostad (incomplete list): *1889-1897: Aasulv Olsen Bryggesaa ( V) *1999-2011: Ånen Werdal ( H) *2007-2011: John Fidjeland ( KrF) *2011-2015: Ånen Werdal ( H) *2015-2023: Margrethe Handeland ( Sp) *2023-present: Jan Petter Gysland ( H)

Culture

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 ...

has two parishes () within the municipality of Hægebostad. It is part of the Lister og Mandal 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 Agder og Telemark The Diocese of Agder og Telemark () is a diocese of the Church of Norway, covering all of Agder county and Telemark county in Norway. The cathedral city is Kristiansand, Norway's fifth largest city. Kristiansand Cathedral serves as the seat of t ...

Notable people

* Johan Arnt Wenaas (1941 in Hægebostad – 2015), a priest and writer

References

External links

*
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, 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 year on its web site. All rele ...

Municipal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haegebostad Municipalities of Agder 1838 establishments in Norway