Fosnes is a former municipality in

Trøndelag Trøndelag (; sma, Trööndelage) is a county in the central part of Norway. It was created in 1687, then named Trondhjem County ( no, Trondhjems Amt); in 1804 the county was split into Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag by the King of Denmar ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into

Namsos Municipality ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Klin ...

. It was part of the

Namdalen Namdalen ( sma, Nååmesjevuemie) is a traditional district in the central part of Norway, consisting of the municipalities Namsos, Grong, Overhalla, Røyrvik, Nærøysund, Høylandet, Flatanger, Lierne, Leka, and Namsskogan, all in Trøn ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

of the municipality was the village of

Dun A dun is an ancient or medieval fort. In Ireland and Britain it is mainly a kind of hillfort and also a kind of Atlantic roundhouse. Etymology The term comes from Irish ''dún'' or Scottish Gaelic ''dùn'' (meaning "fort"), and is cognat ...

on the island of Jøa. Other villages include Salsnes and Nufsfjord. At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 199th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Fosnes was the 413th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 618. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

was and its population had decreased by 10% over the last decade.

General information

Fosnes was established as a municipality in the old

Nord-Trøndelag Nord-Trøndelag (; "North Trøndelag") was a county constituting the northern part of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. The county was established in 1804 when the old Trondhjems amt was divided into two: Nordre Trondhjems amt and S ...

county on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 Janua ...

). On 1 January 1871, the western district of Fosnes (population: 1,472) was separated to form the new municipality of Flatanger. This left Fosnes with 2,655 residents. On 1 January 1889, a small area of Fosnes (population: 61) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of Vikten. Then on 1 January 1913, the western part of Fosnes (population: 1,631) was separated to form the new municipality of Otterøy. This left the much smaller municipality with 1,107 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee ( no, Schei-komitéen) 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, often abbreviated as WWI ...

. On 1 January 1964, the Finnanger area of Fosnes on the northern part of the island of Otterøya (population: 116) was transferred to the new municipality of

Namsos ( sma, Nåavmesjenjaelmie) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Namsos. Some of the villages in the municipality include Bangsund, Kli ...

. In 2018, it became part of the new

county which replaced the old

county. On 1 January 2020, Fosnes became a part of the neighboring

. This happened because on 16 June 2016, the municipalities of Fosnes,

, and Namdalseid voted to merge into a new, larger municipality as part of a large municipal reform across Norway.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

) is named after the old ''Fosnes'' farm ( non, Fólgsnnes), since the first Fosnes Church was built there ( Fosnes Chapel is now located on the site). The first element is ''fólgsn'' which means "hiding place" and the last element is ''nes'' which means "

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...

". (The first element is referring to an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In ma ...

behind the farm, where ships could not be seen from the main

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

.) Historically, the name was spelled ''Fosnæs''.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...

was granted on 13 November 1992. The arms show a black oarlock from a rowing boat on a yellow background. Fosnes is a coastal municipality and rowing boats were the main form of transportation in the former centuries. The first proposal for arms of Fosnes were taken in 1989, when the council launched a contest to develop arms. Several proposals were received but none was acceptable to or the council, or the Norwegian Heraldic Society, as the proposals were not made according to heraldic rules. Finally the Society proposed the above arms, which were acceptable to the council.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. ...

had one parish () within the municipality of Fosnes. It was part of the Namdal prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman 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 reside ...

) 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

Fosnes was a coastal municipality located along the

Folda Folda may refer to: Places * Folda, Angus, a hamlet in Angus, Scotland * Folda, Nordland, a fjord in Nordland county, Norway * Folda (Rindal), a river in Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag counties in Norway * Folda, Trøndelag, a firth and fjord i ...

fjord, north of the town of Namsos. The municipality includes the island of Jøa, part of the island of

Elvalandet Elvalandet is an island in Trøndelag county, Norway. The island is located in the municipalities of Namsos and Fosnes. It is located in the Lauvøyfjorden, just south of the island of Jøa, east of the island of Otterøya, and west of the ma ...

, and part of the mainland. The second deepest lake in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, Salvatnet, and the lake Mjosundvatnet are both located in the eastern part of the municipality.

Government

The

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, rural coun ...

() of Fosnes was made up of 13 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a 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 often feature ...

breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

References

External links

*
Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every ye ...

{{authority control Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2020 disestablishments in Norway Namsos Populated places disestablished in 2020