Leksvik as seen from Våttåhaugen. Photo: Christian Nesset
Prior to its dissolution in 2018, the 430-square-kilometre (170 sq mi) municipality was the 230th largest by area out of the then 426 municipalities in Norway. Leksvik Municipality was the 249th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,480. The municipality's population density was 8.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (23/sq mi) and its population had decreased by 0.1% over the last decade.[5][6]
The villages of Leksvik and Vanvikan were the two largest urban areas in Leksvik, notable for their high tech industries which have developed to become advanced and in demand. Areas with agriculture were also widespread, but most of the municipality was covered in forests and mountains where the wildlife ruled with animals such as moose and reindeer. The moose are sometimes seen in the heart of Leksvik and Vanvikan, where modern downtown areas with commercial and residential developments are growing.
General information
View of the Bjørnåa river and falls
The parish of Leksvik was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). During its entire existance, it was one of the few municipalities in Norway that did not have any changes to its borders.[7]
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Leksvik farm (Old Norse: Lexuvík) since the first Leksvik Church was built there. The first element is Lexa which is the genitive case of a river name. The name of the river is possibly derived from the word lax which means "salmon". The last element is vík which means "inlet".[9] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Leksvigen or Leksviken. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Leksvik, removing the definite form ending -en.[10]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 28 September 1990 and they were in use until 1 January 2018 when the municipality was dissolved (the same arms were re-adopted for the new Indre Fosen Municipality after the merger of Leksvik and Rissa Municipality on that date). The official blazon is "Per chevronembowedazure and argent point ending in trefoil" (Norwegian: I blått en innbøyd sølv spiss som ender i et kløverblad). This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided by a line in the shape of a chevron with curved sides that meet at a point. A trefoil is located on top of this point. The background above the line is blue and the background below this line has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The blue part represents the Trondheimsfjord and the white/silver part represents the land, particularly the Amborneset peninsula where King Sverre Sigurdsson fought his last sea battle on 8 June 1198. There is a clover/trefoil design at the end of the silver part which represents life and growth. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjærvold.[11][12][13]
Leksvik Municipality was located on the eastern side of the Fosen peninsula along the coast of Trondheimsfjorden. There were two large lakes located in Leksvik: Storvatnet and Meltingvatnet. The highest point in the municipality was the 601-metre (1,972 ft) tall mountain Kjerringklumpen.[1]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Leksvik was made up of 25 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Leksvik was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position:[32]
The first inhabitants are believed to have moved to Leksvik some 3,000 years ago. They left several pieces of cutting tools which are now placed in museums. But Leksvik does not appear in recorded history before the Viking Age when the villages Leksvik and Hindrem became quite important in the local area. In both Leksvik and Hindrem there have been found great tombs and ruins of buildings and longboats. On Borgen, there is a hill between Hindrem and Seter that may have been a great Viking fortress, but this could also be tracks made by the glaciers during the last ice age. After the Black Death struck Norway in 1349, Leksvik fell into silence for some 300 years.
In more modern history, Leksvik and Hindrem are small and relatively isolated villages, north of Trondheim Fjord. Two churches stood here, Leksvik Church and a stave church in Hindrem, but this broke down in 1655 and was replaced by a modern wooden church. In the 19th century, the church of Hindrem was demolished, and the new Stranda Church was built in Vanvikan. Leksvik became well known for its goats and had 5,000 of them at their peak number.
During World War II, Leksvik was settled by German troops with the main camp on the top of Våttåhaugen, a hill north of the village of Leksvik. But as a small and isolated village, nothing of great importance happened there during the war, and it was mostly peaceful although bombs fell over Trondheim, on the south side of the fjord. After electric power first came to Leksvik, Bjørn Lyng founded the first industry in Vanvikan and Leksvik. After the first road was finally finished in the early 1960s, industry grew rapidly and replaced the goats.
