Meldal

Meldal kommune
—  Municipality  —
View of the lake Frilsjøen

Coat of arms

Sør-Trøndelag within
Norway
Meldal within Sør-Trøndelag
Coordinates:
Country Norway
County Sør-Trøndelag
District Orkdalen
Administrative centre Meldal
Government
 • Mayor (2007) Ivar Syrstad (Sp)
Area
 • Total 613.34 km2 (236.8 sq mi)
 • Land 592.54 km2 (228.8 sq mi)
 • Water 20.80 km2 (8 sq mi)
Area rank 181 in Norway
Population (2010)
 • Total 3,920
 • Rank 230 in Norway
 • Density 6.6/km2 (17.1/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -1.8 %
Demonym Meldaling[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1636
Official language form Neutral
Website www.meldal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Meldal is a village and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region.

The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Meldal. The 1.04-square-kilometre (260-acre) village of Meldal has a population (2009) of 609.[2] Other villages include Løkken Verk, Bjørnli, and Storås.

The municipality is most renowned for its mining activities at Løkken Verk, being the birthplace of the Orkla mining company, now Orkla Group. It is also home to the annual Storåsfestivalen music festival.

Contents

General information

Meldal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1839, the southern district of Rennebu was separated from Meldal to form a municipality of its own.[3]

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Meðaldalr. The first element is meðal which means "middle" and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The municipality is named this probably because it is located in the middle of the Orkdalen valley. The name was historically spelled Meldalen.[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 5 February 1985. The arms are a combination of a wheel as a symbol for the local industry, and a wheat ear as a symbol for the agriculture. Both items are yellow on a red background.[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Meldal. It is part of the Deanery (prosti) of Orkdal and the Diocese of Nidaros.

Churches in Meldal
Parish
(Sokn)
Church Name Year Built Location
of the Church
Løkken Løkken kirke 1929 Bjørnli
Meldal Meldal kirke 1988 Meldal

Geography

The municipality of Meldal is located along the Orkla River in the middle of the Orkdalen valley. The lakes Hostovatnet and Svorksjøen are located along the northern border of the municipality.

The municipality of Rindal (in Møre og Romsdal) lies to the west, Rennebu lies to the south, Midtre Gauldal and Melhus to the east, and Orkdal to the north.

The Løkken Station is the terminal station on the Thamshavn Line railway.

References

External links