Norddal

Norddal Municipality

*Norddal kommune*
Norddal Municipality Norddal kommune
Municipality
	View of Eidsdal
	Flag Coat of arms
	Møre og Romsdal within Norway
	Norddal within Møre og Romsdal
	Coordinates: 62°17′32″N 07°26′18″E / 62.29222°N 7.43833°E
Country	Norway
County	Møre og Romsdal
District	Sunnmøre
Administrative centre	Sylte
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Arne Sandnes (Sp)
Area
• Total	943.52 km2 (364.30 sq mi)
• Land	900.48 km2 (347.68 sq mi)
• Water	43.04 km2 (16.62 sq mi)
• Rank	#116 in Norway
Population (2017)
• Total	1,663
• Rank	#345 in Norway
• Density	1.8/km2 (5/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−8.5%
Demonym	Norddaling
Official language
• Norwegian form	Nynorsk
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1524
Website	Official website
	Data from Statistics Norway

Norddal is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It covers the easternmost part of the Sunnmøre region along the border with Oppland county. The municipal center of the municipality is the village of Sylte (also known as Valldal) in the Valldalen valley.

Norddal covers an area with several distinct valleys and villages: Eidsdal and Norddal (Dalsbygda) in the south; Tafjord in the east; and Fjørå/Selboskarbygda and Sylte in the Valldalen valley in the north. Norwegian County Road 63 traverses the municipality from south to north, going through several tunnels in the mountains. The Heggur Tunnel connects the isolated village of Tafjord with the rest of the municipality.

The 944-square-kilometre (364 sq mi) municipality is the 116th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Norddal is the 345th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,663. The municipality's population density is 1.8 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.7/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 8.5% over the last decade.^[4]

General information

Norddal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). Historically, the district of Sunnylven was part of the parish of Norddal, but on 1 January 1838 when Norddal municipality was established, Sunnylven was established as its own municipality, separate from Norddal. The municipal borders have not changed since that time.^[5]

On 1 January 2020, the neighboring municipalities of Norddal and Stordal are scheduled to be merged into one large municipality called Fjord.^[6]

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was just Dalr, identical with the word dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The first element Nord- meaning "northern" was added around the year 1600. The parish church is still called Dale church. Before 1918, the name was written Norddalen.^[7]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 1990. The arms show a red twig of a strawberry plant on a yellow background. Norddal has a tradition for producing fruits and berries, notably strawberries.^[8]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Norddal. It is part of the Austre Sunnmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

**Churches in Norddal**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Norddal	Norddal Church	Norddal	1782
Norddal	Sylte Church	Sylte	1863

History

Valldal is mentioned in the historical books of Snorri Sturluson. While escaping the Danish army, Olav Haraldsson, later to become St. Olav, went ashore in Valldalen during the winter 1028/1029. Here, he supposedly came across a troublesome "sea serpent" which he tossed onto the mountainside and can today be seen as a lighter rock pattern above the town centre Sylte. On his journey up the valley towards Trollstigen, he received help from the farmers at Grønning to pass a rocky section called Skjærsura. For this help he deemed that the seed crop would never suffer from frost. Also, a natural spring in Valldal is named after St. Olav and is said to have a healing effect.

In 2008, a memorial stone was erected at the farm Døving, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) up the valley from the sea, where the first church and cemetery is believed to have been located.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Norddal, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Norddal is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:^[9]

Norddal kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	9
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	1
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	5
Total number of members:		17

Geography

The municipality lies around the Norddalsfjorden and the Tafjorden which flow west to east. They are the innermost branches off the main Storfjorden. Stranda Municipality lies to the west and south, Skjåk Municipality lies to the southeast, Rauma Municipality lies to the east and north, and Stordal Municipality lies to the northwest.

The main Valldalen valley runs to the northeast from the fjord. The valleys are surrounded by the Tafjordfjella mountain range. The mountains Puttegga, Karitinden, and Tordsnose sit on the eastern border of the municipality. Reinheimen National Park is located partially in the municipality of Norddal.

References

^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
^ Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-18.
^ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
^ Sivertstøl, Anette (2017-08-09). "Stordal og Norddal blir truleg Fjord kommune". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-17.
^ Rygh, Oluf (1908). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (in Norwegian) (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 115.
^ Store norske leksikon. "Norddal" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2013-06-28.
^ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

External links

Media related to Norddal at Wikimedia Commons
Destinasjon Geirangerfjord - Trollstigen
Møre og Romsdal travel guide from Wikivoyage
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Template:No icon

[1] "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.

[2] "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.

[3] Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (2023-01-26). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.

[ssb_pop-4] Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-18.

[5] Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.

[6] Sivertstøl, Anette (2017-08-09). "Stordal og Norddal blir truleg Fjord kommune". Sunnmørsposten (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-17.

[7] Rygh, Oluf (1908). Norske gaardnavne: Romsdals amt (in Norwegian) (13 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 115.

[snl-8] Store norske leksikon. "Norddal" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2013-06-28.

[9] "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

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