Herøy, Nordland

For other places with the same name, see Herøy (disambiguation).
Herøy kommune
Municipality

De syv søstre mountains seen from Herøy

Coat of arms

Nordland within
Norway

Herøy within Nordland
Coordinates: 65°59′55″N 12°13′2″E / 65.99861°N 12.21722°E / 65.99861; 12.21722Coordinates: 65°59′55″N 12°13′2″E / 65.99861°N 12.21722°E / 65.99861; 12.21722
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Helgeland
Administrative centre Herøy
Government
  Mayor (2003) Arnt Frode Jensen (Ap)
Area
  Total 64.84 km2 (25.03 sq mi)
  Land 64.22 km2 (24.80 sq mi)
  Water 0.62 km2 (0.24 sq mi)
Area rank 412 in Norway
Population (2011)
  Total 1,649
  Rank 353 in Norway
  Density 25.7/km2 (67/sq mi)
  Change (10 years) -12.0 %
Demonym(s) Herøfjerding[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1818
Official language form Bokmål
Website www.heroy-no.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Herøy 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 Silvalen. The municipality is located about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the town of Sandnessjøen.

General information

Restroom with a view

The municipality of Herøy was established in 1864 when it was separated from Alstahaug. Initially the population of Herøy was 2,438. On 1 July 1917, the northern district of Herøy (population: 1,530) was separated from Herøy to become the new municipality of Nordvik. This left Herøy with 2,555 residents.

On 1 January 1962 the part of Herøy on the island of Dønna (population: 19) was transferred to the new municipality of Dønna. On 1 January 1965 the Husvær/Sandværet island groups (population: 461) were transferred from Alstahaug to Herøy.[2]

Name

The municipality is named after the islands of Søndre Herøya and Nordre Herøya (Old Norse: Herøyjar). The first element is herr which means "army" (here in the sense of skipaherr which means "military fleet") and the last element is the definite form of øy which means "island". The sound between the islands was probably a meeting place for the Leidang fleet of the district. Historically, the name was spelled Herø.[3][4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat of arms is from modern times; it was granted on 3 July 1987. The arms show three gold-colored oars on a blue background. They symbolize the history of boating in the island municipality, and it also a canting of the name of the municipality which means a place where a fleet gathers.[3]

See also: Fedje and Lenvik

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Herøy. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland deanery in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Herøy
Parish
(Sokn)
Church NameLocation
of the Church
Year Built
HerøyHerøy ChurchSilvalen12th century
Gåsvær ChapelGåsvær1951
Husvær ChapelHusvær1936
Sandvær ChapelSandværet1947

Geography

View of Gåsvær

The municipality of Herøy consists of about 1700 little islands and islets. The main islands are Nord-Herøy, Sør-Herøy, Tenna, Ytre Øksingan, Indre Øksningan, Seløya, and Staulen all of which are connected by bridges including Åkviksundet Bridge, Hoholmen Bridge, Kalvøyrevet Bridge. Most islands are low and close to the sea surface.[5]

There are also several smaller outlying island groups such as Gåsvær, Husvær, and Sandværet. Ytterholmen Lighthouse is located in the far western part of the municipality.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Herøy, 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 Herøy is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[6]

Herøy Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet12
 Progress PartyFremskrittspartiet2
 Centre PartySenterpartiet2
 Socialist Left PartySosialistisk Venstreparti1
 Local ListsLokale lister2
Total number of members:19

Economy

The main industries in the municipality is fishing, fish farming and processing activities associated with this. Other important industries are agriculture, transportation, service industries, and tourism.

References

  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  3. 1 2 "Herøys kommunevåpen" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  4. Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 100.
  5. Store norske leksikon. "Herøy – kommune i Nordland" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  6. "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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