Osterøy

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Osterøy is an island municipality in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Nordhordland. The municipality encompasses most of the island of Osterøy. The administrative centre of Osterøy is the village of Lonevåg in the central part of the island. The largest settlement is the village of Valestrandfossen with 1,219 inhabitants as of 1 January 2016.<ref name="ssb1">Template:Cite web</ref>

Osterøy municipality and Vaksdal Municipality are both located on the island of Osterøy. Osterøy municipality covers most of the island with the mostly uninhabited northeastern part of the island belonging to Vaksdal municipality. Osterøy is located a short distance northeast of the city of Bergen. It is surrounded by the Osterfjorden, Sørfjorden, and Veafjorden. The 19th-century musician and composer Ole Bull had a summer home in Valestrandfossen in Osterøy. The historic Havrå farm is a cluster farm which represents the traditional way of living for farmers. Havrå is located on the southeastern part of the municipality.

The Template:Convert municipality is the 284th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Osterøy is the 131st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,152. The municipality's population density is Template:Convert and its population has increased by 6.2m% over the previous 10-year period.<ref name="ssb hist pop">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ssb area">Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography

File:Osteröy Sörfjorden Trengereid IMG 3726.JPG

Osterøy island, located above the fjord in the picture

Template:Further The municipality sits on the island of Osterøy, and it is surrounded by several fjords: Osterfjorden-Romarheimsfjorden, Sørfjorden, and Veafjorden. The highest mountain in the municipality is the Template:Convert tall Høgafjellet on the municipal border with Vaksdal. The Lonevågen fjord cuts in the center of the island, with the village of Lonevåg sitting at the end of the fjord.

Settlements

Osterøy contains six "urban settlements", as defined by Statistics Norway (with populations listed from 1 January 2016): Valestrandfossen (1,218 inhabitants), Lonevåg (875 inhabitants), Hausvik (655 inhabitants), Haugo (617 inhabitants), Fotlandsvåg (320 inhabitants), and Hamre (217 inhabitants).<ref name="ssb1" /> Other rural settlements in Osterøy include Austbygdi, Bruvik, Gjerstad, and Hosanger.

History

The municipality of Osterøy was created on 1 January 1964 as part of a major municipal merger that was proposed by the Schei Committee. Osterøy was created from parts of four different municipalities that were all dissolved in the merger. The following areas were merged to form the new municipality of Osterøy:<ref name="Dag">Template:Cite web</ref>

all of Haus municipality that was located on Osterøy island (population: 2,327)
the Bruvikbygda area of Bruvik municipality that was located on Osterøy island (population: 409)
all of Hosanger municipality that was located on Osterøy island (population: 1,616)
all of Hamre municipality that was located on Osterøy island (population: 1,166)

Name

The municipality is named after the island of Osterøy (Template:Langx) since the municipality encompassed most of the island. The first element of the name has an uncertain meaning. It is possible that it comes from the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "east". Another interpretation is that it is derived from the word Template:Wikt-lang which means "increase" or "surpass", thus it could be referring to the large size of the island. The last element, Template:Lang, was added later, but that word comes from the Old Norse word Template:Wikt-lang which means "island".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="snl">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Culture

File:Hamre kirke.jpg

View of the church at Hamre, dating back to 1622

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 20 December 1985. The official blazon is "Argent, three axes fesswise azure blades to the base, 2-1" (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 set of three broad axes laying horizontally with their blades facing down, with two axes at the top and one beneath. Broad axes were historically used in the construction of timber houses, which has long traditions in the municipality. Building craftsmen from Osterøy have been known for their solid work throughout the county. The designer was Egil Korsnes who based his design on the idea of Magnus Hardeland. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Churches

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

**Churches in Osterøy**
Parish (Template:Lang)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Bruvik	Bruvik Church	Bruvik	1867
Gjerstad	Gjerstad Church	Gjerstad	1870
Hamre	Hamre Church	Hamre	1622
Haus	Haus Church	Hausvik	1874
Hosanger	Hosanger Church	Hosanger	1796

Government

Osterøy 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 Osterøy (incomplete list):

2003–2015: Kari Foseid Aakre (Ap)
2015–2019: Jarle Skeidsvoll (KrF)
2019–present: Lars Fjeldstad (Sp)

Population

Template:Historical populations

Transport

File:Osterøybrua osterøy.JPG

Osterøy Bridge

Osterøy is connected to the mainland by a ferry from Breistein to Valestrand, and by a bridge on the far southern end of the island. The ferry named "Ole Bull" is sailing every half-hour from Breistein and Valestrand from early morning to late in the evening. The Osterøy Bridge, finished in 1997, provides Osterøy with its only permanent road connection to the mainland in Bergen municipality. The bridge has a main span of Template:Convert, the third longest suspension bridge main span in Norway, for a total length of Template:Convert. Since 2015, the bridge has been toll-free. There are no road connections from Osterøy municipality to the Vaksdal municipality part of Osterøy island. That part of the island has the Kallestadsundet Bridge connecting it to the rest of Vaksdal municipality from the east.

Notable people

File:Sylvelin Vatle.jpg

Sylvelin Vatle

Jens Frølich Tandberg (1852 in Hausvik – 1922), the bishop of Oslo from 1912 to 1922
Ola Raknes (1887–1975), a psychologist, philologist, and non-fiction writer, grew up in Hamre
Einar Selvik (born 1979), a musician primarily known for his work with Gorgoroth and for fronting Wardruna
Sylvelin Vatle (born 1957), a novelist and children's writer
Tore Eikeland, (Norwegian Wiki) (1990-2011), a politician

Sport

Mons Ivar Mjelde (born 1967), a former footballer with 287 club caps and coach
Erlend Hanstveit (born 1981), a former footballer with 330 club caps
Sigrid Borge (born 1995 in Hausvik) a Norwegian javelin thrower

References

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External links

Template:Commons category

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway Template:In lang

Template:Vestland Template:Authority control Template:Use dmy dates