Askøy

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox kommune

Askøy is a municipality in Vestland county, Norway. The island municipality is located in the Midhordland district of the county, sitting in a large group of islands immediately northwest of the city of Bergen, which is the country's second most populous. The administrative centre of the municipality is the urban village of Kleppestø on the southeastern shore of the island of Askøy.

The Template:Convert municipality is the 328th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Askøy is the 36th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 29,989. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has increased by 11.8% over the previous 10 years.<ref name="ssb hist pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref> Since the opening of the Askøy Bridge connecting it to the mainland of Bergen in 1992, the population has increased rapidly. Its population growth is among the highest in Norway. Most of the population growth is due to migration from Bergen and the surrounding districts of Nordhordland and Midhordland.

General information

File:TettstedetBergen.jpg

Map of the urban areas of Askøy, in relation to the city of Bergen

File:Kleppestø.jpg

View of Kleppestø, looking northwest

The parish of Askøen was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1879, a small area of the neighboring municipality of Fana (population: 18) was transferred to Askøen. On 1 January 1904, a small area near the village of Hanevik (population: 32) was transferred from Askøen to the neighboring municipality of Alversund. On 1 July 1918, the southern (mainland) portions of Askøy (population: 6,957) were separated from the municipality to form the new municipality of Laksevåg. This split left Askøy with 4,822 residents.<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite book</ref>

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the Hanevik area (population: 193) on the island of Askøy was transferred to Askøy from the municipality of Meland. Also on that date, the old municipality of Herdla was dissolved. The parts of Herdla on the island of Askøy and the island of Herdla (population: 1,564) were also transferred to Askøy. This boundary adjustment put the entire island of Askøy, the island of Herdla, and many tiny surrounding islands in the municipality of Askøy.<ref name="Dag" />

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Askøy. The first element is named after the old Ask farm (Template:Langx) since the first Ask Church was built there. The name is identical to the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "ash tree". The last element is Template:Wikt-lang which means "island".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Askøen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Askøy, removing the definite form ending -en. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name (Template:Lang is the Danish word for "island" and Template:Lang is the Norwegian word).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 28 September 1961. The blazon is "Argent, an ash tree on an island vert" (Template:Langx). This means the arms have a field (background) has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The charge is a large ash tree on an island with three waves below. The arms are a canting since the name of the municipality means something like ash tree island. The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

The Church of Norway has five parishes (Template:Lang) within the municipality of Askøy. It is part of the Vesthordland prosti deanery in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

**Churches in Askøy**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Ask	Ask Church	Ask	1908
Erdal	Erdal Church	Erdal	2006
Herdla	Herdla Church	Herdla	1951
Strusshamn	Strusshamn Church	Strusshamn	1969
Tveit	Tveit Church	Tveitevåg	1957

Culture

File:Kollevaag.jpeg

Kollevåg has one of Norway's most attractive beaches where The Lost Weekend festival was held.

Askøy is home to several sports teams. Askøy Fotballklub is an association football club, formed in 1999 by the merger of Florvåg Idrettsforening and Kleppestø Fotball. The club has a large number of teams, of which the majority are junior football teams. The men's senior team plays in the Norwegian third division Template:As of. The oldest sports club on the island is Ask Idrettslag, mainly an athletics club, founded in 1928.

The music festival Lost Weekend is held on the island every summer in Kollevågen. The festival, first held in August 2001, attracts a large number of minor Norwegian bands. The festival has been threatened by economic trouble several times.

In the village of Strusshamn are old wooden houses, dating back to the early 19th century. Strusshamn then served as a quarantine harbour for Bergen. Today, Strusshamn is one of the cultural capitals of Askøy, with a lot of activities and a museum of its own showing life on Askøy in earlier times.

Geography

File:Askøy.jpg

Satellite image of Askøy.

Askøy is an island municipality including the main island of Askøy and the minor island of Herdla as well as many small surrounding islands. The municipality is surrounded by three fjords: Hjeltefjorden to the west and north, Byfjorden to the east, and Herdlefjorden to the northeast. The municipality borders Alver to the northeast, Bergen to the southeast, and Øygarden to the west.

Askøy has one of the fastest growing populations in Norway due to an influx of new inhabitants from the Bergen, Midhordland and Nordhordland after the opening of the Askøy Bridge in 1992. North of Askøy lies the island of Herdla, a popular recreational area on the site of the disused German Herdla Airport from World War II.

The densely populated part of the municipality is on the south and eastern coasts. Kleppestø and Strusshamn are located on the southern coast and Florvåg is on the east coast. Florvåg was connected to downtown Bergen for many decades via ferries. The northern and western parts of the island are thinly populated.

There is a large lake on the southeast part of the island, called Askevatnet. The tallest mountain on the island is Kolbeinsvarden. The recreation area of Kollevågen lies in the western part of the island.

Settlements

Ask

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File:Ask church, Askøy 21may2006.jpg

Ask church

Ask is a village in the eastern part of Askøy. Due to its pleasant climate and its convenient location to Bergen, Ask was the location of a kongsgård (lit. "royal farm"); the very old Ask Church and churchyard was also located in Ask. The location where the church was situated from about 1200 until 1741 is today marked by a stone cross. Ask is the saga location for a famous dispute over inheritance between Egill Skallagrímsson and Berg-Önundr.

The local dialect of the village also reflects the close ties to Bergen, with the dialect being more similar to that of Bergen than that of the rest of Askøy except the dialect of Florvåg;Template:Citation needed the connection was reinforced into modern times as the wealthy merchants and other residents of Bergen spent their summer there. Ask has had famous residents up to recent times. Fridtjof Nansen lived in a house near Kongshaugen in a short period. Amalie Skram lived at Lien at Ask from 1876 to 1878.

Other settlements

Some of the other notable settlements in Askøy include Abbedisso, Erdal, Hanevik, Kleppestø, Skjelviki, and Tveitevåg.

Population

Template:Historical populations

Government

Askøy Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.<ref name="ks">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Hordaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

Mayors

The mayors (Template:Langx) of Askøy:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

1838–1843: Lars Simonsen
1844–1844: Magne Magnesen
1844–1847: Jacob Andersen
1848–1849: Ole Andreas Olsen
1850–1853: Jacob Andersen
1854–1855: Ole Andreas Olsen
1856–1857: Haldor Johannessen
1858–1860: Nils Beer
1861–1861: Ole Sørensen
1861–1861: Olavus Krøger
1864–1867: Wollert Ludvig Hille
1868–1885: Nils Jørgensen
1886–1887: Bernt Ulrik August Müller
1887–1887: Jacob Neumann Janson
1888–1891: Anton Olsen
1892–1895: Jonas Rein Simonsen
1896–1901: Nils Andreas Tollevsen Scheie
1902–1915: Johan Berentsen
1916–1917: Andreas Andersen
1918–1922: Daniel Fluge
1923–1925: Martin Monstad
1926–1928: Jens Monstad
1929–1929: Ole Larsen (H)
1929–1931: Sigvald Waagen
1932–1945: Martin Monstad
1946–1946: Oluf Holgersen
1946–1947: Erling Juvik
1948–1951: Nils Eriksen
1952–1959: Daniel Stien
1960–1967: Olav Bjørkaas (Ap)
1968–1975: Johan Sørensen (V)
1976–1977: Mons Espelid (V)
1978–1979: Jan Mikkelsen (H)
1980–1981: Mons Espelid (V)
1982–1983: Kåre Minde (H)
1984–1987: Otto Per Paulsen (Ap)
1988–1989: Øyvind Fluge (KrF)
1990–1993: Oddvard Nilsen (H)
1994–1999: Øyvind Fluge (KrF)
1999–2007: Kari Manger (Ap)
2007–2011: Knut Hanselmann (FrP)
2011–2015: Siv Høgtun (H)
2015-2019: Terje Mathiassen (Ap)
2019–2023: Siv Høgtun (H)
2023-present: Yngve Fosse (H)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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Industry and trade

Askøy is well known for the tasty strawberries from Ask. The seafood industry is also well settled at Askøy.

Askøy also houses several boat building companies; the most famous of which are Viksund Yachts of Norway situated in Strusshamn, Viknes situated in Bakarvågen, Selby situated in Strusshamn and NB Marine situated at Herdla.

Askøy houses some big industrial facilities such as Hanøytangen, Mjølkeviksvarden, and Storebotn.

Notable people

File:Ingrid Espelid2.jpg

Ingrid Espelid, 2008

Knut Robberstad (1899 in Askøy – 1981), a jurist, philologist, and academic
Halldor Espelid (1920 in Askøy – 1944), a Supermarine Spitfire pilot who escaped from Stalag Luft III, was re-captured and shot by the Gestapo
Ingrid Espelid Hovig (1924 in Askøy – 2018), a television chef and author of cook books
Arne Tumyr (born 1933), a former journalist, newspaper editor, and politician who grew up in Ask
Geir Magnus Nyborg (1951 in Askøy – 2018), a media scholar and theologian

Sport

Trygve Andersen (born 1934 in Askøy), a retired footballer with 27 caps for Norway
Martin Jensen (1942 in Askøy – 2016), a triple jumper
Frode Syvertsen (born 1963 in Askøy), a speed skater who competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics

References

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External links

Template:Commons category Template:Wikivoyage

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Template:In lang

Template:Vestland Template:30 most populous cities of Norway Template:Authority control Template:Use dmy dates