Dirdal is a village in

Gjesdal Gjesdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Ålgår ...

municipality in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

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 village is located where the Frafjorden joins the main

Høgsfjorden Høgsfjorden is a fjord in Rogaland county, Norway. It lies in the municipalities of Stavanger, Sandnes, Strand, and Gjesdal. The innermost part of the fjord is located at the village of Frafjord in the municipality of Gjesdal. It flows west ...

. The village lies at the end of the ''Dirdalen'' valley, which stretches to the southeast from Dirdal. The village of Gilja lies about into the valley. The village of Oltedal lies about west of Dirdal. Dirdal Church is located in the village. The ''Dirdalen'' valley is about long, following the Dirdalsåna river. The valley is connected to the neighboring valley of Frafjord by the Frafjord Tunnel which runs through the mountains and ends at the village of Gilja.

History

Prior to 1 January 1965, the village (and valley) were part of the municipality of

Forsand Forsand is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1871 until 2020 when it was merged into Sandnes municipality. It was located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre of the m ...

. This area was moved to Gjesdal because there was no road connection from Dirdal to the rest of Forsand, but there was a road connection to the rest of Gjesdal. Dirdal was the scene of fierce fighting between Norwegian and German soldiers during Nazi Germany's assault on Norway (

Operation Weserübung Operation Weserübung ( , , 9 April – 10 June 1940) was the invasion of Denmark and Norway by Nazi Germany during World War II. It was the opening operation of the Norwegian Campaign. In the early morning of 9 April 1940 (, "Weser Day"), Ge ...

) in April 1940.

References

Villages in Rogaland Gjesdal {{Rogaland-geo-stub