Editing Sirdal (section)

==General information==
[[File:Brudler.JPG|thumb|left|Landscape of Sirdal]]
[[File:Rosskreppfjord.jpg|thumb|left|View of the [[Rosskreppfjorden]]]]
[[File:Taumevatn 01.jpg|thumb|left|Winter landscape in Sirdal]]
[[File:Lunde kyrkje02.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lunde Church]]
The old [[prestegjeld|parish]] of Sirdal was first established as a municipality in 1849 when it was separated from the large municipality of [[Bakke, Norway|Bakke]]. Initially, Sirdal had 1,804 residents. On 1 January 1903, a small area of Sirdal (population: 63) was transferred to the neighboring municipality of [[Fjotland (municipality)|Fjotland]]. On 1 January 1905, the municipality of Sirdal was dissolved and its territories were divided into two new municipalities: [[Tonstad (municipality)|Tonstad]] (population: 828) and [[Øvre Sirdal]] (population: 753). These large, sparsely populated municipalities merged along with the Øksendal area of Bakke municipality to recreate the municipality of Sirdal on 1 January 1960. This time, Sirdal started out with a population of 1,426. On 1 January 1987, the Virak and Espetveit areas of northern [[Flekkefjord]] (population: 41) were transferred to Sirdal municipality.<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 [[Sirdalen]] valley ({{langx|non|Sírudalr}}) since the valley runs through the municipality. The first element is the [[genitive case]] of the river name ''Síra'' (now the [[Sira (river)|Sira]] river). The river name has an unknown meaning, but it could be something like "strong stream". The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|dalr}} which means "[[valley]]" or "dale".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mt1LAQAAIAAJ |title=Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt |date=1912 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=9 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=328–329 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref> {{see also-text|the name of [[Utsira Municipality#Name|Utsira]]}}

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 17 January 1986. The official [[blazon]] is "[[Vert (heraldry)|Vert]], three ptarmigans [[Volant (heraldry)|volant]] [[argent]]" ({{langx|no|I grønt tre oppflygande sølv ryper, 2 - 1}}). This means the arms have a green [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[willow ptarmigan]] (''[[Lagopus lagopus]]''). The ptarmigan 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 green color in the field and the ptarmigans were chosen as a symbol for the hills and [[moorland]] which make up the largest part of the municipality. The willow ptarmigan is a typical bird for the area. The arms were designed by Stein Davidsen. 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=Sirdal |access-date=2023-01-16 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sirdal, Vest-Agder (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-10-46.html |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-01-17 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1986-01-17-70?q=flagg |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref> {{See also-text|Coats of arms of [[Coat of arms of Lierne|Lierne]] and [[Coat of arms of Holtålen|Holtålen]]}}

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

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Sirdal'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="4"|Sirdal||[[Haughom Chapel]]||[[Haughom]]||1930
|-
|[[Kvævemoen Chapel]]||[[Kvæven]]||1962
|-
|[[Lunde Church (Vest-Agder)|Lunde Church]]||[[Lunde, Sirdal|Lunde]]||1873
|-
|[[Tonstad Church]]||[[Tonstad]]||1852
|}