Stord is 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' ...

Vestland Vestland is a Counties of Norway, county in Norway. The county is located in Western Norway, and its administrative centre is Bergen, where the executive and political leadership is based. The County governor (Norway), County Governor is based in ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

. It is located in the traditional district of

Sunnhordland Sunnhordland is a traditional district in the western region of Norway. The district consists of the southern coastal regions of the old Hordaland county (now part of Vestland county). It includes the areas that surround the mouth of the Harda ...

. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since it has such a variety of landscapes: coastline, fjords, forests, agricultural land, and mountain areas. 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 is the town of Leirvik, which is also the largest town in the municipality and the whole region of Sunnhordland. Leirvik was declared a town in 1997. Other population centres in the municipality include the large village of Sagvåg and the smaller villages of Litlabø and Grov. The municipality is the 316th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Stord is the 69th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 19,098. 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 ...

is and its population has increased by 5.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The

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 ...

of ''Stordøen'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

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). In 1863, the northern district of the municipality (population: 2,313) was separated to become the new municipality of Fitjar. On 15 May 1868, the southern district of Stordøen located on the mainland (population: 900) was separated to form the new municipality of Valestrand. On 1 January 1898, the southern part of the island of Huglo (population: 117) was transferred from the neighboring municipality of

Fjelberg Fjelberg is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until 1965 when it was dissolved. In 1965, the municipality covered , mostly islands and a small area on the mainland. It encompassed par ...

to Stord. On 1 January 1970, the small uninhabited part of the island of

Stord Stord is a municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Stord is sometimes called "Norway in miniature" since i ...

along the Valvatnavågen that belonged to

Bømlo Bømlo () is a list of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the southwestern part of Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre of the muni ...

was transferred to Stord municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the large island of

(). The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it may come from the word which means "ground" or "earth" (this is an old word that is still used in Icelandic literature). Before 1889, the name was spelled ''"Stordøen"''.

Coat of arms

The first

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was adopted on 3 December 1955, but since it did not meet the government regulations, it was not formally approved by the King in council. The

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''" Azure, a chevron and fire pit

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

with flames

Or (heraldry) In heraldry, or (/ɔːʁ/; French for "gold") is the tincture of gold and, together with argent (silver), belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it is hatched using a field of evenly spaced dots ...

"''. This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a chevron and a fire pit. The chevron and fire pit have a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The flame on the fire pit has a

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. Due to the fact that it uses two metals for tinctures, it was not approved since it violated heraldic principles. The chevron in the arms is derived from the arms of the Smør family, who used a chevron in their arms. The family was an important noble family in the 14th and 15th century who originated from this area. The flame symbolises the old industries in the village. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms. A new

was designed during the 1980s in order to meet the national heraldry requirements. It was granted on 19 June 1987. The official

is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). Gules is portrayed in heraldic hatch ...

, a holly branch Or"'' (). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the

is a

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

branch with seven leaves and seven berries. The charge has a

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The holly was chosen since it is a common tree in the municipality. The arms were designed by Truls Nygaard after an original idea by Harry Herstad. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

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 ...

has two parishes () within the municipality of Stord. It is part of the Sunnhordland prosti (

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 Bjørgvin The Diocese of Bjørgvin () is one of the 11 dioceses that make up the Church of Norway. It includes all of the churches located in the county of Vestland in Western Norway, and those outside of Norway in the Seamen's Church. The cathedral cit ...

Geography

Stord is located on the southern half of the island of

(the northern part is part of

Fitjar Municipality Fitjar () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. Fitjar municipality includes ...

). The municipality also includes the islands of Huglo, Nautøya, and Føyno. The

Hardangerfjorden The Hardangerfjord () is the fifth longest fjord in the world, and the List of Norwegian fjords, second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in Vestland county in the Hardanger region. The fjord stretches from the Atlantic Ocean into the mou ...

runs along the southern border of the island municipality, separating it from the municipalities of

Kvinnherad Kvinnherad is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland, along the Hardangerfjorden. The municipality was the 5th in siz ...

Vindafjord Vindafjord is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Rogaland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Haugaland. Since 2005, the administrative centre of the municipality has ...

, and

Sveio Sveio is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county, Norway. Sveio is a border district that is sometimes considered to be located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Haugalandet since it is located on th ...

. The Langenuen strait runs along the eastern side, separating it from

Tysnes Tysnes () is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sunnhordland. The administrative centre is the village of Uggdal. Other popul ...

municipality. The Stokksundet and Digernessundet straits runs along the western border, separating it from the municipality of

. The mountain Mehammarsåto is the highest point in the municipality.

History

The battle of Stord was fought on or by this island between the Norwegian king Hakon Haraldsson and the Danish king Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, supported by Hakon's brother's sons led by Harald "Greycloak" Eiriksson.

Population

Economy

The 3 largest private employers in Stord municipality are:

Aker Solutions Aker Solutions ASA is a Norwegian engineering firm headquartered in Oslo. The firm's production is focused on energy infrastructure, including systems and services required to de-carbonize oil and gas production, build wind-to-grid infrastruc ...

, Wärtsilä Norway AS and Leirvik AS. Together these three companies employ more than 3000 people.

, situated south of Leirvik on the peninsula of Eldøyane, is the largest yard in Norway. Aker Solutions has built the biggest oil production platforms in the world, Gullfaks C and

Troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

Transport

An extensive tunnel and bridge system, the Triangle Link, connected Stord to the mainland on 27 December 2000 and to the neighboring island of

on 30 April 2001. The bridges involved are the Bømla Bridge and Stord Bridge and the tunnel is the

Bømlafjord Tunnel The Bømlafjord Tunnel () is a subsea road tunnel under Bømlafjorden which connects the island of Føyno in Stord Municipality to the mainland at Dalshovda in Sveio Municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The tunnel is long and reaches be ...

. The airport in Stord is Stord Airport, Sørstokken, is located northwest of Sagvåg on the Sørstokken peninsula. On 10 October 2006, Atlantic Airways Flight 670 skidded off the runway at the airport. Four people died.

Healthcare

Stord Hospital is a local hospital for the municipalities in Sunnhordland, with a total of around 50,000 inhabitants. The hospital has specialist health services in medicine, surgery, X-ray, and gynecology. Stord District Psychiatric Center (DPS) is close by and has specialist health services within mental health care for adults and children. Stord ambulance station has premises in the same area and

inter-municipal emergency room is co-located with the hospital.

Government

Stord Municipality is 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 is 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 ...

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 is under the jurisdiction of the Haugaland og Sunnhordland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The

() of Stord is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and 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

mayors 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 ...

() of Stord: * 1838–1851: Claus Daae * 1852–1853: Morten Baade * 1853–1853: Christofer Juel Olsen * 1854–1857: Mikkel Sjursen Eide * 1858–1859: Søren Vincent Hagerup * 1860–1861: Nils Christophersen Sundnæs * 1862–1863: Thorbjørn Johannessen Eidsvaag * 1864–1883: Baard Madsen Haugland ( V) * 1884–1891: Østen Larsen Eskeland ( V) * 1892–1897: Per Mikkelsen Lønning ( V) * 1898–1901: Østen Larsen Eskeland ( V) * 1902–1907: Peter Vogelius Bredal Deinboll ( H) * 1908–1931: Ole Olsen Høyland ( V) * 1932–1934: Nils Økland ( V) * 1935–1942: Severin Eskeland ( V) * 1942–1942: Edvard Tjelmeland ( NS) * 1943–1944: Jon Gjerstad ( NS) * 1945–1945: Reidar Johannessen ( NS) * 1945–1955: Ola Høyland ( Bp) * 1956–1963: Onar Onarheim ( H) * 1964–1971: Amund Engelsen ( V) * 1972–1979: Syvert Birkenes ( KrF) * 1980–1981: Onar Onarheim ( H) * 1982–1991: Werner Eiler Hagerup ( KrF) * 1991–2007: Magne Rommetveit ( Ap) * 2007–2015:

Liv Kari Eskeland Liv Kari Eskeland (born 21 May 1965) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. She served as mayor in Stord from 2007 to 2015, met regularly as deputy member of the Storting from 2017 to 2021, and was elected ordinary representative ...

( H) * 2015–2017: Harry Herstad ( Ap) * 2017–2023: Gaute Straume Epland ( Ap) * 2023-present: Sigbjørn Framnes ( FrP)

Notable people

* Lars Eskeland (1867–1942), a Norwegian educator, writer, and proponent of

Nynorsk Nynorsk (; ) is one of the two official written standards of the Norwegian language, the other being Bokmål. From 12 May 1885, it became the state-sanctioned version of Ivar Aasen's standard Norwegian language (''Landsmål''), parallel to the Da ...

* Olaf Lange (1875–1965), a Norwegian painter who visualised the complexity of the modern urban life with symbolistic paintings who lived in Stord around 1950 * Olaf Kullmann (1892–1942), a Norwegian naval officer and then peace activist * Magne Rommetveit (1918–2009), a Norwegian lexicographer * Ragnar Rommetveit (1924–2017), a Norwegian psychologist and academic * Ivar Eskeland (1927–2005), a Norwegian

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also defined as the study of ...

, publisher, translator, biographer, literary critic, newspaper editor, theatre worker, and radio personality * Hans J. Røsjorde (born 1941), a politician and County Governor of Oslo and Akershus from 2001 to 2011 * Jan Kåre Hystad (born 1955), a Norwegian jazz musician who plays saxophone, clarinet, and flute * Rune Belsvik (born 1956), a Norwegian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and children's writer * Magne Rommetveit (born 1956), a politician and mayor of Stord from 1992–2007 * Ole Jacob Hystad (born 1960), a Norwegian jazz musician who plays tenor saxophone and clarinet * Janove Ottesen (born 1975), a Norwegian musician who sings and plays guitar and barrels * Synnøve Macody Lund (born 1976), a Norwegian journalist, film critic, model, and actress. Retrieved 13 December 2020. * Obtained Enslavement (formed 1989 in Stord - 2000), a black metal band from Stord

Sport

* Geirmund Brendesæter (born 1970), a Norwegian former footballer with nearly 300 club caps * Gro Espeseth (born 1972), a former Norwegian footballer with 105 caps for Norway women * Odd Christian Eiking (born 1994), a Norwegian cyclist *

Anders Mol Anders Berntsen Mol (born 2 July 1997) is a Norwegian beach volleyball player. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Beach career Mol learned to play beach volleyball as a teenager. His parents introduced him to the sport. Tog ...

(born 1997), a Norwegian beach volleyball player

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet
from

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, 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 year on its web site. All rele ...

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Municipalities of Vestland 1838 establishments in Norway