Leira
is a small village in
Volda Municipality
Volda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre is the Volda (village), village of Volda. Other v ...
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 ...
. It lies between the villages of
Bjørke
Bjørke is a village in Volda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The village is located at the innermost part of the Hjørundfjorden, just south of the village of Leira. The village is home to Bjørke Church. The village of Bjørke lies ...
and
Viddal, at the end of
Hjørundfjorden
Hjørundfjorden is a fjord in the traditional district of Sunnmøre in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located mostly within Ørsta Municipality, although part of the mouth of the fjord lies in Sykkylven Municipality and the innermost ...
. The village is located in the
Sunnmørsalpene mountains, about from the mountains
Skårasalen
Skårasalen is a mountain in Ørsta Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The tall mountain has the seventh largest prominence () of all mountains in Norway. The mountain is located about south of the village of Sæbø and the Bon ...
(to the northwest),
Jakta (to the northeast),
Kvitegga (to the southeast), and
Hornindalsrokken (to the south).
There are about 15–20 residents in Leira, with most residents farming their land. Leira is fairly isolated, with only one road leading to it. The road goes from
Bjørke
Bjørke is a village in Volda Municipality in Møre og Romsdal, Norway. The village is located at the innermost part of the Hjørundfjorden, just south of the village of Leira. The village is home to Bjørke Church. The village of Bjørke lies ...
, through a long tunnel through the mountain, ''Kamben'', before reaching Leira. The road continues along the fjord to Viddal where the road ends. The closest urban area is the village of
Volda Volda may refer to:
Places
*Volda Municipality
Volda is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre i ...
, about to the northwest of Leira.
Prior to 2020, the village and surrounding area was part of the neighbouring
Ørsta Municipality
is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre Districts of Norway, region of Western Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Ørsta (v ...
.
Name
The name is derived from the
Norwegian language
Norwegian ( ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelli ...
word which means '
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
'.
References
Volda
Villages in Møre og Romsdal
{{MøreRomsdal-geo-stub