Until 1 January 2007 Holmsland was 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' ...

( Danish, '' kommune'') in

Ringkjøbing County Ringkjøbing County () is a former county ( Danish: '' amt'') on the Jutland peninsula in western Denmark. It had the lowest population density of all the Danish counties. The county was abolished effective January 1, 2007, when it merged into R ...

on the west coast of the

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

peninsula in west

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The municipality covered an area of 95 km² on a narrow strip of land, Holmsland Dunes (''Holmsland Klit''), which is connected to the mainland on the north and south, and bounded on the east by

Ringkøbing Fjord Ringkøbing Fjord, despite its name, is in fact a shallow lagoon on the west coast of Jutland. Skjern River terminates in Ringkøbing Fjord with a large river delta system to the east, and the lagoon is shielded from the North Sea by a long ist ...

and on the west by the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

. It had a total population of 5,285 (2005). Its last mayor was Ivar Enevoldsen. The main town and the site of its municipal council was the town of

Hvide Sande Hvide Sande (lit: White Sands) is a small town in the middle of the Holmsland Dunes and placed around the artificial canal which connects Ringkøbing Fjord to the North Sea, in the western part of Central Denmark Region, formerly (until 1 Januar ...

("White Sands"). The municipality was created in 1970 due to a ("Municipality Reform") that combined a number of existing

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 ...

es: * Gammelsogn Parish * Holmsland Klit Parish * Nysogn Parish Holmsland municipality ceased to exist due to ''Kommunalreformen'' ("The Municipality Reform" of 2007). It was merged with existing Egvad,

Ringkøbing Ringkøbing (older spelling ''Ringkjøbing'') is a town in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality in Central Denmark Region, Region Midtjylland on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in west Denmark. It has a population of 9,830 (1 January 2025).

, Skjern, and

Videbæk Videbæk is a town, with a population of 4,351 (1 January 2025),Ringkøbing-Skjern municipality Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality () is the largest municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Denmark. It was formed on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 administrative reform from the former municipalities of Egvad, Holmsland, Ringkøbing, Skjer ...

. This created a municipality with an area of 1,485 km² and a total population of 57,818 (2005). The new municipality belong to

Region Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region (), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid-Jutland, is an administrative Regions of Denmark, region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municip ...

("Mid-Jutland Region"). The merger was a hot issue in Holmsland municipality, since Holmslund distinguished itself by having Denmark's lowest

tax rate In a tax system, the tax rate is the ratio (usually expressed as a percentage) at which a business or person is taxed. The tax rate that is applied to an individual's or corporation's income is determined by tax laws of the country and can be in ...

, and residents expected that this rate would increase on account of the merger. According to ''

Dagbladet Børsen ''Børsen'' (full name: ''Dagbladet Børsen'') is a Danish newspaper specialising in business news published in Denmark. History and profile ''Børsen'' was founded in 1896 by merchant and editor Theodor Hans Carsten Green. In 1899, it was chan ...

'', Denmark's leading business paper, residents risked a loss on their properties of more than 250,000 DKr, and a yearly tax increase of 15,000 DKr on account of the merge

The town of Hvide Sande

The town of Hvide Sande lies in the middle of the former municipality and is Denmark's 5th largest fishing

harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...

. It was established on either side of the canal that runs from the North Sea into

. The canal was dedicated in 1931.

External links

Ringkøbing Fjord municipality's official cooperation and tourism information website

City web site for Hvide Sande

References

* Municipal statistics
NetBorger Kommunefakta
delivered fro
KMD
aka Kommunedata (Municipal Data) * Municipal mergers and neighbors
Eniro new municipalities map
{{coord, 56, 00, 43, N, 8, 07, 35, E, type:adm3rd_source:kolossus-nowiki, display=title Former municipalities of Denmark