Kyrkjebø

Kyrkjebø herad
—  Former Municipality  —
Kyrkjebø church
Coordinates:
Country Norway
County Sogn og Fjordane
District Sogn
Municipality ID NO-1416
Admin. Center Kyrkjebø
Area[1]
 • Total 681 km2 (262.9 sq mi)
Created from Lavik in 1858
Merged into Høyanger in 1964

Kyrkjebø is a village and a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county in Norway. It is located in the northwestern part of the present-day municipality of Høyanger. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of Høyanger.

The village of Kyrkjebø is located along the northern shore of the Sognefjorden about 3 km (1.9 mi) to the west of the village of Austreim, 13 km (8.1 mi) to the southwest of the municipal center of Høyanger, and 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) southeast of the village of Vadheim, where the highway E39 passes through the area. The 0.42-square-kilometre (100-acre) village of Kyrkjebø has a population (2009) of 274.[2]

Contents

Name

The municipality was originally named after the old Klævold farm (Old Norse: Kleppavǫllr). The first element comes from the Old Norse word kleppr meaning "hill" and the second element is identical to the Old Norse word vǫllr meaning "level ground". Therefore the meaning could be a hill in the middle of level ground.[3]

The municipality was later named after the old Kirkebø farm, since the church was located there. The first element of the name is identical with the name for "church", and the second element of the name is identical with the word for "farm". It was named this because it was the farm where the church was located. From 1890 until 1917 the name was spelled Kirkebø (using the Bokmål spelling) and then in 1917 it was changed to Kyrkjebø (in the Nynorsk spelling).[1]

History

The parish of Klævold was established as a municipality in 1858 when it was separated from the municipality of Lavik. At the time of its creation, it had a population of 1,645. On 1 January 1875, a border adjustment took place, moving part of Klævold with 90 inhabitants to the neighboring municipality of Lavik og Brekke. On 1 July 1890, the name was changed from Klævold to Kirkebø, and then in 1917 it was changed again to Kyrkjebø. On 1 January 1964, Kyrkjebø, with its 4,742 inhabitants, became a part of the newly created municipality of Høyanger.[4]

Notable residents

References

  1. ^ a b "Kyrkjebø – tidl. kommune" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. http://www.snl.no/Kyrkjeb%C3%B8/tidl._kommune. Retrieved 2009-12-15. 
  2. ^ Statistisk sentralbyrå (1 January 2009). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality.". http://www.ssb.no/beftett_en/tab-2009-06-16-01-en.html. 
  3. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1919) (in Norwegian). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt (12 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 177–178. http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/navnegransking/rygh_ng/rygh_bla.prl?enhid=190952&avid=42606. 
  4. ^ Jukvam, Dag (1999) (in Norwegian) (PDF). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen. Statistisk sentralbyrå. http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf. 

External links