Editing Vennesla (section)

==General information==
[[File:Vennesla.jpg|thumb|left|View of the village of Vennesla]]
[[File:Vennesla, Hægeland 01.JPG|thumb|left|View of the village of [[Hægeland]] and [[Hægeland Church]]]]
The parish of Vennesla was established as a municipality in 1864 when it was separated from the larger municipality of [[Øvrebø (municipality)|Øvrebø]]. Initially, Vennesla had 1,103 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the [[Schei Committee]]. On 1 January 1964, Vennesla (population: 7,321) was merged with most of the neighboring municipality of [[Øvrebø (municipality)|Øvrebø]] (population: 925) and with all of another neighboring municipality, [[Hægeland (municipality)|Hægeland]] (population: 849) which created a new, much larger municipality of Vennesla. On 1 January 1978, a small area of Vennesla (population: 10) was transferred to neighboring [[Songdalen]] municipality. Then again on 1 January 1984, the unpopulated Hauglandsvatnet area was transferred from Vennesla to Songdalen municipality. On 1 January 1990, the unpopulated Røssebrekka area, just east of the village of [[Vennesla (village)|Vennesla]] was transferred from [[Kristiansand]] municipality to Vennesla.<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 ''[[Vennesla (village)|Vennesla]]'' farm ({{langx|non|Vendilslá}}) since the first [[Vennesla Church]] was built there. The first element is ''vendil'' which comes from the word {{wikt-lang|non|vǫndr}} which means "small twig". This may have been an old name for an arm of [[Venneslafjorden]]. The last element is {{wikt-lang|non|lá}} which means "swamp" or "shallow water".<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 |page=29 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref>

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was adopted on 15 May 1971. The [[blazon]] is ''"[[Gules]], three [[barrulet]]s wavy [[in bend|in bend sinister]] with six tree trunks with branches issuant in [[Chief (heraldry)|chief]] and two [[Gear|cogwheel]]s in [[Dexter and sinister|sinister]] base [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]"''. This means the arms have a red [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is three wavy lines diagonally crossing the arms with six trees above the lines and two [[Gear|cogwheel]]s below. The charge 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 three wavy lines symbolises the river [[Otra]], which runs through the municipality. The six trees symbolize the importance of [[forestry]] to the local economy. The [[Gear|cogwheel]]s symbolize the local [[Industrial sector|industry]]. There is a three-pointed [[mural crown]] on top of the arms which represent the three municipalities that were merged in 1964 to form the present municipality: Vennesla, [[Øvrebø (municipality)|Øvrebø]], and [[Hægeland (municipality)|Hægeland]]. The arms were designed by Alv Erikstad. 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=Vennesla |access-date=2023-07-20 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.vennesla.kommune.no/Global-Meny/Turistinformasjon/Om-kommunen1/Kommunevapen/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202083433/https://www.vennesla.kommune.no/Global-Meny/Turistinformasjon/Om-kommunen1/Kommunevapen/ |archive-date=2 February 2017 |access-date=2017-01-24 |publisher=Vennesla kommune |language=no}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vennesla kommune, våpen |url=https://foto.digitalarkivet.no/fotoweb/archives/5003-Kommunev%C3%A5pen/Kart%20og%20tegninger%20og%20segl/Vennesla%20fra%20SNL.JPG.info#c=%2Ffotoweb%2Farchives%2F5003-Kommunev%25C3%25A5pen%2F%3Fq%3Dvennesla |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Digitalarkivet |publisher=Arkivverket |language=no}}</ref>

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

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Vennesla'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="1"|Hægeland||[[Hægeland Church]]||[[Hægeland]]||1830
|-
|rowspan="1"|Vennesla||[[Vennesla Church]]||[[Vennesla (village)|Vennesla]]||1829
|-
|rowspan="1"|Øvrebø||[[Øvrebø Church]]||[[Øvrebø]]||1800
|}