Grip () is a former municipality in

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; ) is a Counties of Norway, county in the northernmost part of Western Norway, Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the Molde (town), town of M ...

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 ...

. With a land area of only and a population of between 100-200 people, Grip was one of the smallest municipalities in Norway during its existence from 1897 until it merged with

Kristiansund Municipality Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal county. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of K ...

in 1964. Grip Municipality included all the islands in the Grip archipelago. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

of the municipality was the one

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

in the municipality, known as Gripholmen, where the historic Grip Stave Church is located. Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 684th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway (making it the 5th smallest in the country). Grip Municipality was the 689th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 115 (the smallest municipality by population in the country). The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

was and its population had decreased by 36.8% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law of 1837 required that every

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

in Norway should be constituted as a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

starting on 1 January 1838. It also required that parishes composed of a town with a

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

district should be divided into two municipalities (a town municipality and a rural municipality). In 1837, the town of Kristiansund and the rural districts of

Frei Frei may refer to: People * Frei family, a Chilean family formed by the descendants of Swiss Eduardo Frei Schlinz and Chilean Victoria Montalva Martínez * Frei (surname), a surname * Frei Otto, German architect Places Brazil * Frei Gaspar, a ...

and Grip were part of the same

. The parish of Frei became the new

Frei Municipality Frei is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2008 when it was incorporated into Kristiansund Municipality. It was located b ...

under the new law, but Grip had no men with the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

so it was not considered a municipality, rather it became part of Frei Municipality. Prior to 1884, the right to vote was in Norway was mostly limited to men with property. In a fishing village, such as Grip, where one merchant in the town owned all the houses, nobody had the right to vote, so Grip was not allowed to have a municipal government. Through

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

changes in 1884, the right to vote was extended to all men who paid

taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

. Since the fishermen in Grip paid

income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. F ...

taxes, Grip finally had a voting population and would be eligible to become a separate municipality. Grip Municipality was officially separated from

in 1897 and it became a separate municipality with a population of 198. Grip Municipality bought the whole fishing village from the merchant Ludvig Williamsen in 1909. Prior to that time, basically the entire community had been the property of one merchant from Kristiansund (except for the church, school, and three private houses). The price of was financed through a public loan to be paid back in 45 years. The municipality then began selling the houses to their inhabitants. A

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

in 1910 showed a population of 187. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, the following areas were merged to form a new, larger

: *all of Grip Municipality (population: 104) *the town of Kristiansund (population: 17,275) *the Dale area of

Bremsnes Municipality Bremsnes is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1897 until its dissolution in 1964. Bremsnes Municipality surrounded the Bremsnesfjorden and it included parts of the islands of Averøya, Fr ...

(population: 963).

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the island of Grip () since the Grip Stave Church was built there. The name was first found in existing historical records in 1338 and it is a plural form of the word which makes sense since Grip is an archipelago. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it may be from the Old Norse verb which means "catch", "seize", or "grip". If this is the case, then it probably refers to the catching of fish here.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had one parish () within Grip Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Kristiansund

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and the

Ytre Nordmøre prosti Ytre is the Norwegian word for "outer". It may refer to: People: *Knut Ytre-Arne (1896–1968), Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party Places: *Ytre Østfold, the outer coastal area of Østfold county, Norway *Ytre Øydnavatnet, lake in Lyngda ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) 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

The municipality included the whole Grip archipelago, located about northwest of the town of

Kristiansund Kristiansund (, ; historically spelled Christianssund and earlier named Fosna) is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality on the western coast of Norway in the Nordmøre district of Møre og Romsdal counties of Norway, county. The admin ...

. The highest point in the municipality was the tall hill on the island of Gripholmen.

Government

While it existed, Grip Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality was governed by a

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, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Frostating Court of Appeal The Frostating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Trondheim. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal. These areas constitute the ...

Municipal council

The

of Grip was made up of 13 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, 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 oft ...

Mayors

The

() of Grip was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position: * 1897–1910: Andreas Jørussen Grip * 1911–1922: Peder Edvard Pedersen * 1923–1925: Thomas Thoresen * 1926–1928: Peder B. Brunvoll * 1929–1931: Olaf Kristiansen * 1932–1934: Peder Edvard Pedersen * 1935–1937: Olaf Kristiansen * 1938–1942: Isak Roksvåg * 1943–1944: Johannes Thomassen * 1945–1945: Olaf Kristiansen * 1945–1945: Peder B. Brunvoll * 1945–1945: Mikael Nerland * 1946–1947: Kristian Pedersen * 1948–1961: Mikael Nerland * 1962–1964: Peder Pedersen, Jr. *

Media gallery

1967Grip2.jpg, View of the village in 1967 Grip-Harbour-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The south harbour Grip-northside-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, Houses on the north side Grip-Power-Station-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, Grip power station Gripværingen-Grip-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The community house Gripstua-Grip-Kristiansund-Norway.jpg, The schoolhouse inn Grip-Stave-church-Norway.jpg, Grip Stave Church Altar-Grip-Stave-church-Norway.jpg, The altar and triptych Grip_fyr_3.jpg, Lighthouse with fishing village in background Fiskevaeret_Grip.jpg, The fishing village Grip_fyr.jpg, Grip lighthouse Bremsnesfjorden_og_Grip.JPG, Grip on the horizon seen from neighbour island

References

{{authority control Kristiansund Former municipalities of Norway 1897 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1897 Populated places disestablished in 1964