Editing Bykle (section)

==General information==
[[File:Bykle Hovden IMG 7209 väringsnuten 1256m.JPG|thumb|left|View of the village of [[Hovden, Aust-Agder|Hovden]] in winter]]
[[File:Bykle IMG 7270 bykle gamle kirke rk 83979.JPG|thumb|left|View of the [[Old Bykle Church]]]]
The municipality of Bykle was created when it was separated from the older municipality of [[Valle, Norway|Valle]] on 1 January 1902 after a dispute over the costs of road building (Bykle was the bigger area, while Valle had more people and more money).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stagg |first=Frank Noel |title=South Norway |publisher=George Allen & Unwin, Ltd |year=1958}}</ref>  Initially, Bykle had a population of 476 residents in the new municipality. The boundaries of the municipality have not changed since that time.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite web |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''[[Bykle (village)|Byklum]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Byklar}}) since the first [[Old Bykle Church|Bykle Church]] was built there. The farm is named after Lake [[Bykil]], but the meaning of that name is uncertain. The name possibly comes from the word {{lang|non|bauka}} which means "to splash" or "to slosh". Historically, the name has been spelled ''Bøgle'' or ''Bøckle'', but the spelling has been ''Bykle'' since the 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4pBAAAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |year=1905 |edition=8 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=211–213 |language=no |author-link=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 4 April 1986. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], [[goutte |goutte d'eau]]"'' ({{langx|no|Grøn grunn strødd med sølv dropar}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is droplets of water that are equally spaced all over the shield. The water droplets have a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[argent]] which means they are commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The green color in the field symbolizes the importance of [[agriculture]] in the municipality. The water droplets were chosen as a symbol for the water and rivers in the municipality, as well as for the [[hydropower]] plant which was founded in 1915. The plant has brought prosperity to the area since then. The arms were designed by Daniel Rike. 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=Bykle |access-date=2023-01-19 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bykle, Aust-Agder (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-09-41.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-04-04 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1986-04-04-883?q=flagg |access-date=2023-01-19 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref> {{see also-text|Coats of arms of [[Samnanger#Coat of arms|Samnanger]] and [[Tinn#Coat of arms|Tinn]]}}

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Bykle. It is part of the [[Otredal prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Agder og Telemark]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Bykle'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="3"|Bykle||[[Bykle Church]]||[[Bykle (village)|Bykle]]||2004
|-
|[[Old Bykle Church]]||[[Bykle (village)|Bykle]]||1619
|-
|[[Fjellgardane Church]]||[[Hovden, Aust-Agder|Hovden]]||1955
|}