Kyrkjebø is a former municipality in the old

Sogn og Fjordane Sogn og Fjordane (; literally "Parish and the Fjords") was a Counties of Norway, county in western Norway, from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged to become part of Vestland county. Bordering previous counties Møre og Romsda ...

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 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of

Høyanger Høyanger () is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center is the village of Høyanger. Other villages in Høyanger municipality include Austreim, Bjordal, Kyrkjeb� ...

which still exists and is part of the new

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county. Prior to its dissolution, the municipality of Kyrkjebø included land on the north and south side of the

Sognefjorden The Sognefjord or Sognefjorden (, ), nicknamed the King of the Fjords (), is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. Located in Vestland county in Western Norway, it stretches inland from the ocean to the small village of Skjolden in the muni ...

. 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

Kyrkjebø Kyrkjebø is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in the old Sogn og Fjordane Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of Høyanger w ...

, where the main

Kyrkjebø Church Kyrkjebø Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Høyanger Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kyrkjebø. It is the church for the Kyrkjebø parish which is part of the Sunnfjord prosti (dea ...

is located.

History

The parish of ''Klævold'' was established as 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' ...

in 1858 when it was separated from the municipality of Lavik. At the time of its creation, it had a population of 1,645. On 1 January 1875, a border adjustment took place, moving part of Klævold with 90 inhabitants to the neighboring municipality of Lavik og Brekke. On 1 July 1890, the name was changed from ''Klævold'' to ''Kirkebø'', and then in 1917 it was changed again to ''Kyrkjebø''. 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 1964, the municipality of Kyrkjebø (population: 4,742) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Lavik (population: 894) and the unpopulated Nybø and Nygjerdet part of

Vik Municipality Vik is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the southern shore of the Sognefjorden in the traditional district of Sogn. The administrative center of Vik is the village of Vikøyri. Other villages in the municipality includ ...

to become a part of the newly created municipality of

Name

The municipality was originally named after the old ''Klævold'' farm (). The first element is uncertain. One possibility is that it comes from the word which means "hill" or "rock". Another possibility is that it comes from the word which means "steep area on a mountainside". The last element is which means "

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 ...

", "flat ground", or "

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

". This is likely referring to a steep hill or rock located in the middle of an area of level ground. In 1890, the municipal name was changed to ''Kirkebø'' after the old ''Kirkebø'' farm since the

was built there. The first element is which means "

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

". The last element is identical to the word which means "farmland" 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 ...

". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Kirkebø'' (using the

Bokmål Bokmål () (, ; ) is one of the official written standards for the Norwegian language, alongside Nynorsk. Bokmål is by far the most used written form of Norwegian today, as it is adopted by 85% to 90% of the population in Norway. There is no cou ...

spelling). On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Kyrkjebø'' (using the

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

spelling).

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 Kyrkjebø was made up of 29 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 of the final municipal council 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 Kyrkjebø: * 1858-1859: Gullak A. Haaland * 1860-1863: Arne G. Afsnes * 1864-1865: Knud H. Hovland * 1866-1875: Arne G. Afsnes * 1876-1887: Lars Ramsli * 1888-1891:

Edvard Liljedahl Edvard Apolloniussen Liljedahl (6 August 1845, in Vik Municipality - 10 October 1924) was a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. He was a member of the Council of State Division in Stockholm in 1889, and Minister of Education and Church A ...

* 1892-1898: Lars H. Dahle * 1899-1904: Andreas B. Vamraak * 1905-1913: Gunnar O. Mjølsvik * 1914-1925: Anders H. Berge * 1826-1931: August Gunnarskog * 1932-1940: Knut Opdahl * 1940-1945: Johan Arntzen * 1945-1945: Anders Sterri * 1945-1955: Magnus L. Osland * 1956-1963: Albert Hellem

Notable people

* Ivar Jacobsen Norevik (1900–1956), a

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 ...

* Odd Vattekar (1918–1992), a

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrkjebo Høyanger Former municipalities of Norway 1858 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway