Editing Bjerkreim (section)

==General information==
[[File:Indra Vinjavatnet 01.jpg|thumb|left|View of the lake Indra Vinjavatnet]]
[[File:Vikeså skule.jpg|thumb|left|Vikeså School]]
[[File:Ivesdal kapell.jpg|thumb|left|[[Ivesdal Chapel]]]]
The [[prestegjeld|parish]] of ''Birkrem'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see [[formannskapsdistrikt]] law). On 1 January 1965, there were many municipal changes in Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On that date, the ''Nedre Maudal'' area of Bjerkreim (population: 40) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Gjesdal]].<ref name="Dag">{{Cite book |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |year=1999 |isbn=9788253746845 |language=no}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''[[Bjerkreim (village)|Bjerkreim]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Bjarkarheimr}}), since the first [[Bjerkreim Church]] was built there The first element is the [[genitive case]] of {{wikt-lang|non|bjørk}} which means "[[birch]]". The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|heimr}} which means "homestead" or "farm". Before 1889, the name was written ''"Birkrem"''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4pBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt |date=1915 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=10 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=47–49 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 11 July 1986. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], a birch branch with six leaves and four catkins [[argent]]"'' ({{langx|no|På grøn grunn ein opprett sølv bjørkekvist med sju blad og fire raklar}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a vertical branch from a [[birch]] tree which has six leaves and four [[catkin]]s. The charge has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The design was chosen since the name of the municipality is derived from the Norwegian word for birch, ''{{lang|no|bjørk}}'', thus the arms are [[Canting arms|canting]]. The arms were designed by John Digernes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Bjerkreim |access-date=2023-06-30 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bjerkreim, Rogaland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-11-14.html |access-date=2023-06-30 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-07-11 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1986-07-11-1545 |access-date=2023-06-30 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref> {{See also-text|Coats of arms of [[Coat of arms of Birkenes|Birkenes]]|[[Coat of arms of Lavangen|Lavangen]]}}

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Bjerkreim. It is part of the [[Dalane prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Stavanger]].

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Bjerkreim'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Bjerkreim||[[Bjerkreim Church]]||[[Bjerkreim (village)|Bjerkreim]]||1835
|-
|[[Ivesdal Chapel]]||[[Øvrebygd]]||1876
|}