Editing Leirfjord Municipality (section)

==General information==
[[File:Ranfjorden utløp.JPG|thumb|left|View of the Ranfjorden]]
The municipality of Leirfjord was established on 1 July 1915 when it was separated from [[Stamnes Municipality]]. Initially, the municipality had 2,003 residents. In 1945, a small part of [[Nesna Municipality]] (population: 45) was merged into Leirfjord Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, Leirfjord Municipality (population: 1,936) was merged with the parts of [[Nesna Municipality]] located south of the [[Ranfjorden]] (population: 580) and the parts of [[Tjøtta Municipality]] on the island of [[Alsta]] (population: 180) to form a new, larger Leirfjord Municipality.<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 is named after the [[Leirfjorden]]. The old name of the [[fjord]] was probably just ''Leiri'', derived from the name of the river ''Leira'', which has its mouth in the end of the fjord. The river name is derived from the word {{lang|non|leirr}} which means "[[clay]]".<ref name="snl">{{Cite web |last=Store norske leksikon |author-link=Store norske leksikon |title=Leirfjord |url=http://snl.no/Leirfjord |access-date=2012-01-10 |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 30 October 1992. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Or (heraldry)|Or]], a cross [[raguly]] [[Vert (heraldry)|vert]]"'' ({{langx|no|I gull et grønt grenkors}}). This means the arms have a [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) that has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is cross with edges that are designed with a [[raguly]] edge. It symbolizes [[forestry]] and [[agriculture]] in the municipality as well as the central location of the north–south and east–west roads through the municipality. The arms were designed by Jarle E. Henriksen from the nearby town of [[Sandnessjøen]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Leirfjord |access-date=2023-02-02 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Leirfjord, Nordland (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-18-22.html |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1993-01-09 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1992-10-30-825 |access-date=2023-02-02 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Leirfjord |url=http://www.leirfjord.kommune.no/index.asp?startID=&topExpand=&subExpand=&strUrl=//applications/system/publish/view/showobject.asp?infoobjectid=1003546&menuid=1002411&startmenuid=1000444 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310123140/http://www.leirfjord.kommune.no/index.asp?startID=&topExpand=&subExpand=&strUrl=%2F%2Fapplications%2Fsystem%2Fpublish%2Fview%2Fshowobject.asp%3Finfoobjectid%3D1003546&menuid=1002411&startmenuid=1000444 |archive-date=2007-03-10 |access-date=2008-11-23 |publisher=Leirfjord kommune |language=Norwegian}}</ref>

===Churches===
The [[Church of Norway]] has one parish ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within Leirfjord Municipality. It is part of the [[Nord-Helgeland prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Leirfjord'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Leirfjord||[[Bardal Church]]||[[Bardal]]||1887
|-
|[[Leirfjord Church]]||[[Leland, Norway|Leland]]||1867
|}