Surnadal

is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is part of the Nordmøre region. The administrative centre is the village of Skei. Other villages include Todalsøra, Surnadalsøra, Sylte, Glærem, Stangvik, and Åsskard.

A mild climate and rich soil make Surnadal well suited for agriculture. The local economy is based on agriculture, forestry and industrial production, in addition to services.

General information

Surnadal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1858, the eastern district of Rindal was separated from Surnadal to form a separate municipality. This left Surnadal with 3,105 residents. On 1 January 1877, part of Stangvik (population: 50) was transferred to Surnadal. In 1879, part of Surnadal (population: 83) was transferred to Stangvik. On 1 January 1886, the Møklegjerdet farm (population: 29), just west of Glærem, was transferred from Stangvik to Surnadal. On 1 January 1897, the Sjøflot farm (population: 27) was also transferred from Stangvik to Surnadal. On 1 January 1965, Åsskard and most of Stangvik were merged into Surnadal. The newly enlarged municipality had a population of 5,934.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Súrnardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Surna and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the river name is unknown. Before 1918, the name was written Surendalen.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times (1989). The silver lines represent the many rivers in the municipality.

Churches

The Church of Norway has five parishes within the municipality of Surnadal. It is part of the Diocese of Møre and the Rural Deanery (Prosti) of Indre Nordmøre.

Churches in Surnadal

Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Year Built	Location of the Church
Mo	Mo kyrkje	1728	Mo
Stangvik	Stangvik kyrkje	1896	Stangvik
Todalen	Todalen kyrkje	1861	Todalsøra
Øye og Ranes	Ranes kyrkje	1869	Ranes
	Øye kyrkje	1871	Skei
Åsskard	Åsskard kyrkje	1876	Åsskard

Geography

View of the Surnadalsfjorden

The municipality is made up by the main valley of Surnadal and many smaller valleys and villages, such as Bæverfjord, Bæverdalen, Bøfjorden, Østbødalen, Todalsøra, Stangvik, and Øvre Surnadal. The municipality is bordered by the mountain range Trollheimen and the municipality Sunndal to the south, the neighboring municipality Rindal to the east, the municipality Halsa to the north and fjords to the west, including the Trongfjord and Hamnesfjord.

The landscape is a combination of forests, fjords, and mountains. The highest mountain peak is Snota at 1,668 metres (5,472 ft) above sea level. Other mountains include Vassnebba, Indre Sula and Ytre Sula, Neådalssnota, and Trollhetta. The river Surna runs through the valley from the east to the west, and forms a large delta where it enters the fjord near Surnadalsøra and Skei. This river is rich on salmon, which attract tourists from the rest of the country and abroad. The lakes Foldsjøen and Gråsjøen lie along the border with Rindal in the east.

Transportation

Transportation services include ferries to the southwest and the northwest, which lead to the coastal areas of Møre og Romsdal, and a highway to the city of Trondheim to the east.

Notable residents

• Sverre Årnes, writer and translator
• Hans Hyldbakk, a nationally recognized author of poetry and local history. Surnadal is noted for strong traditions in the field of poetry and folklore.
• Rune Gjeldnes, explorer

External links

• Media related to Surnadal at Wikimedia Commons
• Møre og Romsdal travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway