Valsøyfjord is a former municipality that was located 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 ...

. The municipality existed from 1894 until 1965. The municipality included the land surrounding the

Valsøyfjorden Valsøyfjorden is a fjord in Heim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is a fjord arm off of the Arasvikfjorden and it runs south past the island of Valsøya. The villages along the fjord include Engan, Hjellnes, and Valsøybotnen. ...

and its entrance at the

Arasvikfjorden Arasvikfjorden () is a fjord on the border of Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag counties in Norway. The fjord is located between Aure Municipality (in Møre og Romsdal) and Heim Municipali ...

in the present-day

Aure Municipality Aure is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Møre og Romsdal Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, region of Nordmøre. The administrative centre is the Aure (village), village of Aure. Other v ...

(in

county) and

Heim Municipality Heim is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It was established on 1 January 2020 upon the merger of three other municipalities. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district ...

(in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; or is a county and coextensive with the Trøndelag region (also known as ''Midt-Norge'' or ''Midt-Noreg,'' "Mid-Norway") in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County (); in 1804 the county was ...

county). The main church for the municipality,

Valsøyfjord Church Valsøyfjord Church (; historically: ) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Heim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the village of Valsøyfjord. It is one of two churches for the Halsa parish which is part of the ...

was located in the village of

Valsøyfjord Valsøyfjord is a small village in Heim Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The village is located along the Arasvikfjorden, just west of the Valsøyfjorden. The European route E39 highway runs through the village, just west of the Valsø ...

. 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 ...

was the village of Engan. Other villages in the municipality included Arasvika, Valsøybotn, and Hjellnes. Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 367th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Valsøyfjord Municipality was the 469th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,262. 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 had decreased by 11.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Valsøyfjord was established on 1 January 1894 when the larger

was divided into two municipalities: Aure Municipality (population: 3,245) in the north and Valsøyfjord Municipality (population: 942) in the south. 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, Valsøyfjord Municipality was abolished and its land was divided between two neighboring municipalities. The parts of Valsøyfjord Municipality on the island of Ertvågøya (population: 141) was merged with

and the rest of Valsøyfjord Municipality (population: 1,104) was merged with

Halsa Municipality Halsa is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 2020 when it became part of Heim Municipality in Trondelag county. It was part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre of Hal ...

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 local

(). The fjord is named after the island of Valsøya () which is located in the mouth of the fjord. The first element of both names comes from which means "

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 ...

" or "flat ground". The last element of the island's name 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 ...

". The last element of the old fjord name is which means "

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

". Thus, ''Valsøyfjord'' means something like the "meadow island fjord". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Valsøfjorden''. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Valsøyfjord'', adding a "y" and removing the definite form ending ''-en''.

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 one parish () within Valsøyfjord Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Aure

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and the

Sør-Fosen prosti This list of churches in Nidaros is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Nidaros in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Trøndelag county. The diocese is based at the Nidaros Cathedral in the city of Trondheim (city), T ...

(

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 Nidaros Nidaros is a diocese in the Lutheran Church of Norway. It covers Trøndelag county in Central Norway and its cathedral city is Trondheim, which houses the well-known Nidaros Cathedral. Since 10 September 2017, the Bishop of Nidaros is Herborg ...

Geography

Valsøyfjord Municipality included a small part of island of Ertvågøya and the whole island of Valsøya as well areas on the mainland. The municipality surrounded the

as well as land on Ertvågøya on the north side of the

. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Hjelmen on the border with

and

Åsskard Municipality Åsskard is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1895 until its dissolution in 1965. It was located in what is now the northern part of Surnadal Municipality. The former municipality of Åsskar ...

Government

While it existed, Valsøyfjord 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,

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 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. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

of Valsøyfjord 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 ...

Mayors

The

() of Valsøyfjord was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position: *1894–1895: Arnt Andersen Todal *1896–1897: Eisten L. Fjærli ( V) *1898–1899: Johannes Jacobsen Valsø *1900–1900: Peder Andersen Todal *1901–1901: Johannes Jacobsen Valsø *1902–1903: Arent Todal *1904–1913: Johannes Jacobsen Valsø *1913–1916: Augustinus T. Hestnes ( Ap) *1916–1928: Nils Johansen Hestnes ( V) *1929–1942: Lars Sandnes ( Ap) *1942–1945: Gjert Valsø ( NS) *1945–1945: Lars Sandnes ( Ap) *1945–1964: Marius A. Wæge ( Ap)

Media gallery

Enge i Valsøyfjord - Det gamle kommunehuset.jpg, Old municipal government house in Engan Valøyfjord i Halsa.jpg, View of the

Valsoyfjord-Halsa-norway.JPG,

Valsøyfjord kirke.jpg,

Valsøyfjord kraftverk.JPG, Valsøyfjord power station

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valsoyfjord Municipality Aure, Norway Heim, Norway Former municipalities of Norway 1894 establishments in Norway 1965 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1894 Populated places disestablished in 1965