Lurøy

Lurøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lurøy, located on the island of Lurøya. Other villages include Aldra, Haugland, Konsvikosen, Lovund, Sleneset, Stokkvågen, and Tonnes.

View of the island Lovund

The municipality is located on the coast just south of the Arctic circle, on the western edge of the Saltfjellet mountain range. The Lurøygården (Lurøy Farm) on Lurøya is a more than 200 year old renaissance garden with old plants, a pool, and a nearly 20-metre (66 ft) high Copper Beech.

General information

Lurøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1872, the far western island district (population: 289) was separated from Lurøy to become the new municipality of Træna. This left Lurøy with 1,554 residents. The borders of Lurøy have not changed since that time.^[2]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Lurøya (Old Norse: Lúðrøy), since the first church was built there. The first element is lúðr which means "hollowed log" (here probably referring to the form of the mountain of the island). The last element is øy which means "island".^[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 22 August 1986. The arms show a black buoy on a gold background. The buoy is an appropriate symbol for a municipality since it is dependent on fishing and sailing.^[4]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Lurøy. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

**Churches in Lurøy**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Aldersund	Aldersund Church	Haugland	1971
Lurøy	Lovund Church	Lovund	1960
	Lurøy Church	Lurøya	1812
	Moflag Church	Moflaget	1921

Geography

Lurøy is located on the western coast of Helgeland. The small strip of mainland Lurøy runs from Tonnes in the north along Norwegian County Road 17 to Stokkvågen along the Sjona fjord in the south. The rest of the municipality is located on 1,375 islands located to the west of the mainland. The major islands include Aldra, Lurøya, Onøya, Stigen, Solvær, and Lovund. There are also two islands in the northern part of Lurøya that are divided between Lurøy and neighboring Rødøy municipality: Nesøya and Hestmona.^[5]

Media gallery

Views around Lurøy
Aldersundet strait and Aldra island; October 8 2005
The island Lovund with its puffin colony is located in Lurøy
Aldersundet, October 2005

References

↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
↑ Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 154,156.
↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-11-23.
↑ Store norske leksikon. "Lurøy" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2012-01-30.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lurøy.

Nordland travel guide from Wikivoyage
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway

v t e Municipalities of Nordland

Alstahaug Andøy Ballangen Beiarn Bindal Bø Bodø Brønnøy Dønna Evenes Fauske Flakstad Gildeskål Grane Hadsel Hamarøy Hattfjelldal Hemnes Herøy Leirfjord Lødingen Lurøy Meløy Moskenes Narvik Nesna Øksnes Rana Rødøy Røst Saltdal Sømna Sørfold Sortland Steigen Tjeldsund Træna Tysfjord Værøy Vågan Vefsn Vega Vestvågøy Vevelstad

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