Beitstad (Urban East Norwegian:[ˈbæ̂ɪtstɑ]) is a former municipality in what was Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The 201-square-kilometre (78 sq mi) municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed what is now the northeastern part of the municipality of Steinkjer in Trøndelag county. Beitstad was originally quite large, but by 1964, it included the areas east of the Beitstadsundet and Hjellbotn bay and north of the inner-most parts of the Trondheimsfjorden. The administrative centre was the village of Beitstad where Beitstad Church is located.[3]
History
View of Beitstad (c. 1955)
The parish of Bedstaden was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1846, the neighboring municipality of Nummedalseidet to the north was merged with Bedstaden. The spelling was later changed to Beitstad. On 1 January 1904, the northern district of Nummedalseidet (population: 1,368) was separated from Beitstad to create the new municipality of Namdalseid (again, this was the same area that joined Beitstad in 1846). The split left Beitstad with 2,946 inhabitants. On 1 July 1913 another split took place. All of Beitstad located west of the Beitstadsundet strait and Hjellbotn bay (population: 993) was established as the separate municipality of Malm, leaving Beitstad with a population of 1,934.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, a large merger took place: the neighboring municipalities of Beitstad (population: 2,563), Egge (population: 3,476), Kvam (population: 1,245), Ogndal (population: 2,678), Sparbu (population: 4,027), and Stod (population: 1,268) were all merged with the town of Steinkjer (population: 4,325) to form the new municipality of Steinkjer.[4]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Beitstadfjorden (Old Norse: Beitisstǫð). The first element is beitir which was likely the old name for the local Beitstadfjorden. The meaning of this name is uncertain, but it may come from the beita which means "to graze" or "to bite". The last element is stǫð which means "landing place" or "harbour".[3][5] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Bedstaden or Beitstaden. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Beitstad, removing the definite form ending -en.[6]
The municipal council(Herredsstyre) of Beitstad was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
