Heddal

This article is about the former municipality in Telemark, Norway. For other uses, see Heddal (disambiguation).
Heddal Municipality
Heddal herred
Former municipality
Hitterdal herred  (historic name)
View of the historic Heddal Stave Church
View of the historic Heddal Stave Church
Telemark within Norway
Telemark within Norway
Heddal within Telemark
Heddal within Telemark
Coordinates: 59°35′15″N 9°10′20″E / 59.58745°N 9.1721°E / 59.58745; 9.1721
CountryNorway
CountyTelemark
DistrictAust-Telemark
Established1 Jan 1838
 • Created asFormannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished1 Jan 1964
 • Succeeded byNotodden Municipality
Administrative centreHeddal
Area
 (upon dissolution)
 • Total
407 km2 (157 sq mi)
Population
 (1964)
 • Total
4,844
 • Density12/km2 (31/sq mi)
DemonymHeddøl[1]
Official language
[3]
 • Norwegian formNynorsk[2]
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-0823[4]
Data from Statistics Norway

Heddal is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The 407-square-kilometre (157 sq mi)[5] municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Notodden Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Heddal where the Heddal Stave Church.[6]

History

Farm area in Heddal
Traditional 19th century bunads from Heddal
Historic farm buildings in Heddal
Hotel Furuheim in Heddal (c. 1885)

The parish of Hitterdal (later spelled Heddal) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The municipality originally consisted of two parishes: Hitterdal with the Hitterdal Stave Church and Lilleherred with the Lilleherred Church (the spellings of the churches and parishes have varied historically). On 1 January 1913, the newly-designated kjøpstad (town) of Notodden (population: 4,821) was separated from Heddal to form a separate self-governing town as an enclave within Heddal Municipality. This left Heddal with 2,890 residents.[7]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Heddal Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality:[7]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Heddalen valley (Old Norse: Heitrardalr) since the historic Heddal Stave Church was built there. The first element is derived from the old name for the local river Heddøla, a tributary of the Skien River. The old name of the river comes from the genitive case of the word heitr which has an unknown meaning. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".[8] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Hitterdal or Hiterdal. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Heddal.[9]

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.[10]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Heddal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Heddal herredsstyre 1960–1963 [11]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 12
  Conservative Party (Høyre) 1
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 1
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 2
  Centre Party (Senterpartiet) 4
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 1
  List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidere, fiskere, småbrukere liste) 8
Total number of members:29
Heddal herredsstyre 1956–1959 [12]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 16
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 2
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 3
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 6
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 1
  List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidere, fiskere, småbrukere liste) 1
Total number of members:29
Heddal herredsstyre 1952–1955 [13]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 17
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 2
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 5
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 1
  List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidere, fiskere, småbrukere liste) 3
Total number of members:28
Heddal herredsstyre 1948–1951 [14]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 18
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 3
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 4
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 5
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 1
  Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet) 1
Total number of members:32
Heddal herredsstyre 1945–1947 [15]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 19
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 4
  Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) 4
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 3
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 1
  Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet) 1
Total number of members:32
Heddal herredsstyre 1938–1941* [16]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 19
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 6
  Liberal Party (Venstre) 3
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 4
Total number of members:40
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1932. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 453–471. 1932.
  3. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  4. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  5. ^ Helland, Amund (1900). "Hitterdal herred". VIII. Bratsberg Amt. Anden del. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 399. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  6. ^ Lundbo, Sten, ed. (29 June 2022). "Heddal (tidligere kommune)". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  7. ^ a b Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
  8. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1914). Norske gaardnavne: Bratsbergs amt (in Norwegian) (7 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 236–237.
  9. ^ "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norge: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 1057–1065. 1917.
  10. ^ Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960.
  12. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957.
  13. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952.
  14. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948.
  15. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947.
  16. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938.