Høvåg (historically: ''Høvaag'') is a former municipality in the old

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 1865 until its dissolution in 1962. It was located in the southern part of the present-day municipality of

Lillesand Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...

which is now in

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. 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 Høvåg where the Høvåg Church is located. Old coastal settlements in Høvåg include

Ulvøysund Ulvøysund is a village and an outport in the municipality of Lillesand in Agder county, Norway. The village lies on the east side of the Kvåsefjorden on the island of Ulvøya. Just northeast of Ulvøysund is the entrance to the Blindleia inla ...

, Gamle Hellesund, Skottevik, Kjøbmannsvig and

Åkerøyhamn Åkerøyhamn is a village in Lillesand Municipality in Agder county, Norway. The village is located on the small island of Ågerøya, about southwest of the village of Brekkestø. Åkerøyhamn is only accessible by boat, with the Blindleia stra ...

. The village of Høvåg is located midway between the towns of

and

Kristiansand Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...

History

The municipality of ''Høvaag'' was created in 1865 when the municipality of Vestre Moland was split into two separate municipalities: Høvåg (population: 2,069) in the south and Vestre Moland (population: 2,167) in the north. 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 1962, the municipality of Høvåg (population: 1,330) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Vestre Moland (population: 2,454), the ladested of

(population: 1,041), and the Gitmark farm area of Eide (population: 22). Together, these areas formed a new, larger

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 ''Høvaag'' farm (). The first element is which means "

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

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

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

" or "

inlet An inlet is a typically long and narrow indentation of a shoreline such as a small arm, cove, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ...

". This is likely because the land along the bay is the site of lush vegetation. On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Høvaag'' with the

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

" aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Høvåg'', using the letter å instead.

Government

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 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.

Municipal council

The

of Høvåg 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 ...

Attractions

Høvåg Church

Høvåg Church (''Høvåg kirke'') is located in Høvåg parish in Vest-Nedenes prosti. It is constructed of brick and was built ca. 1100 - 1150. The church uses a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

floor plan and has 400 seats. Nave is shaped like a T with the altar in the center. In 1723, the congregation started a project to expand, maintain and refurbish the church. The west wing was joined in 1768, the north wing, which is the current main entrance was built in 1828. The tower was built in 1831. The altarpiece is a

triptych A triptych ( ) is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided into three sections, or three carved panels that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. It is therefore a type of polyptych, the term for all m ...

representing faith, hope, and love. It is from about 1620 and was completed by an unknown artist. The pulpit is from about 1660. Around 1900 the altarpiece was painted white, but in 1935 it was restored to the present form. The pictures on the pulpit is of the

four evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

Notable people

* Karl Johan Fjermeros, a local

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hovaag Lillesand Former municipalities of Norway 1865 establishments in Norway 1962 disestablishments in Norway