Herøy, Møre og Romsdal

Herøy kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms

Møre og Romsdal within
Norway

Herøy within Møre og Romsdal
Coordinates: 62°21′20″N 05°32′40″E / 62.35556°N 5.54444°E / 62.35556; 5.54444Coordinates: 62°21′20″N 05°32′40″E / 62.35556°N 5.54444°E / 62.35556; 5.54444
Country Norway
County Møre og Romsdal
District Sunnmøre
Administrative centre Fosnavåg
Government
  Mayor (2003) Arnulf Goksøyr (H)
Area
  Total 119.77 km2 (46.24 sq mi)
  Land 118.25 km2 (45.66 sq mi)
  Water 1.52 km2 (0.59 sq mi)
Area rank 372 in Norway
Population (2013)
  Total 8,847[1]
  Rank 124 (out of 428) in Norway
  Density 74.8/km2 (194/sq mi)
  Change (10 years) 5.9 %
Demonym(s) Herøyværing[2]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1515
Official language form Nynorsk
Website www.heroy.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Herøy is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre is the town of Fosnavåg on the island of Bergsøya. The industrial area of Eggesbønes is located south of Fosnavåg on the same island. The Runde Environmental Centre is located in the northern part of the municipality on Runde island. Other population centres in Herøy include the villages of Leikong, Kvalsund, or Moltustranda.

The island of Runde

General information

The prestegjeld (parish) of Herøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1867, the western district of Herøy was separated to become the new Sande Municipality. This left Herøy municipality with 1,999 residents. On 1 January 1873, an area of Sande (population: 362) was transferred back to Herøy. On 1 January 1889, the Eiksund area and Ekø island (population: 119) were transferred from Sande to Herøy.

On 1 January 1964, three farms in the Gurskedalen valley (population: 25) were transferred from Herøy to Sande. Also on that date, the Eiksund area and the Eika island (population: 222) were transferred from Herøy to neighboring Ulstein Municipality.[3]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after an archipelago of small islands (Old Norse: Herøyjar). The first element is herr which means "army" (here in the sense skipaherr which means "military fleet") and the last element is the plural form of øy which means "island". Before 1918, the name was written Herø.[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted in 1987. The arms show two stems which represent the 7th century Kvalsund boats found in the municipality.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Herøy. It is part of the Søre Sunnmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

Churches in Herøy
Parish (Sokn)Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
HerøyHerøy ChurchFosnavåg2003
Indre HerøyIndre Herøy ChurchStokksund on Gurskøya1916
LeikangerLeikanger ChurchLeikong1807

Geography

The main island of Bergsøy

The main population and administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Fosnavåg, located on the island of Bergsøya. The municipality is entirely composed of islands located north of the Rovdefjorden. It includes the main islands of Bergsøya, Leinøya, Nerlandsøya, Remøya, Runde, Skorpa, Flåvær, and the eastern part of Gurskøya, plus many smaller islands. The island of Runde is especially notable for its large seabird colonies (and Runde Lighthouse), while Skorpa is famous for its role as a station for the Shetland bus. The islands are connected together via a series of bridges including the Runde Bridge, Remøy Bridge, Herøy Bridge, and Nerlandsøy Bridge.

The Herøyfjorden bisects Herøy municipality. The half located south of the fjord is referred to as Inner Herøy, while the half located north of the fjord is referred to as Outer Herøy. Inner and Outer Herøy are tied together by the Herøy Bridge which connects the islands of Gurskøy and Leinøya. Along this main route of traffic is the islet Notøy and the even smaller Herøya islet, an old trading station (now museum) and the original location of the original Herøy Church.

The fishing station Flåvær is located on a group of islets and skerries in the Herøyfjord, It includes the islets Flåvær, Husholmen, Torvholmen and Varholmen. The Flåvær Lighthouse is located on Varholmen.

The Svinøy Lighthouse is located on the very small island of Svinøy, about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) west of the island of Skorpa.

References

  1. "Population and quarterly changes, Q2 2013". Statistics Norway.
  2. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  3. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  4. Rygh, Oluf (1908). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (in Norwegian) (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 36.
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