Bruvik Municipality

Bruvik is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1870 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Osterøy Municipality and Vaksdal Municipality in the traditional district of Nordhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Bruvik, where Bruvik Church is located. Other villages in the municipality included Dale, Dalegarden, Vaksdal, Stanghelle, and Stamneshella.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 247th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Bruvik Municipality was the 152nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 1% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Haus was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1870, Haus Municipality was divided: the northeastern district became the new Bruvik Municipality and the rest of the municipality remained as a smaller Haus Municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Bruvik Municipality was dissolved and its lands were divided as follows:

the area around the village of Bruvik on the island of Osterøy was merged with parts of Haus Municipality, Hamre Municipality, and Hosanger Municipality to create the new Osterøy Municipality.
the rest of Bruvik Municipality was merged with a parts of Evanger Municipality and Modalen Municipality to create the new Vaksdal Municipality.
Name

The municipality is named after the old Bruvik farm since the first Bruvik Church was built there. The first element is which means "mountain ridge" or "rim". The last element is the genitive case of the word which means "bay", "cove" or "inlet". Thus it means the bay by the mountain ridge.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 14 December 1960. The blazon was "Azure, a chevron over a cogwheel argent". This means the arms have a blue field and the charge is a cogwheel with a chevron ordinary above it. The charge 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 design was chosen to symbolize the importance of industry in the municipality. In 1964 when Bruvik Municipality was dissolved, the new Vaksdal Municipality chose to continue using the old arms of Bruvik Municipality. Vaksdal Municipality used the arms until 1990 when new arms were adopted.

Churches

The Church of Norway had three parishes within Bruvik Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Bruvik prestegjeld and the Osterøy prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Bruvik	Bruvik Church	Bruvik	1867
Bruvik	Vaksdal Chapel	Vaksdal	1933
Dale	Dale Church	Dale	1956
Stamnes	Stamnes Church	Stamneshella	1861

Geography

At the time of its dissolution, the municipality covered on both sides of the Veafjorden, the innermost part of the Sørfjorden, including the southeastern part of the island of Osterøy. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Storvarden. Modalen Municipality was located to the north, Evanger Municipality was located to the east, Samnanger Municipality was located to the south, Haus Municipality was located to the southwest, and Hosanger Municipality was located to the west.

Government

While it existed, Bruvik Municipality was responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Bruvik Municipality was made up of 37 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Bruvik Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1870–1877: Anders Johannesson Sandvik
1878–1879: Nils Monsson Helle
1880–1885: Nils Haldorsen Faugstad
1886–1891: Anders Olson Herfindal
1892–1893: Anders A. Boge
1894–1907: Nils Larsen Eknes
1908–1911: Martinius Rimmereid
1911–1913: Hans Mathiasson Brørvik
1914–1916: Martinius Rimmereid
1917–1919: Hans Mathiasson Brørvik
1920–1928: John Haldorson Dale
1929–1937: Olaf Rimmereid
1938–1940: Arnfinn Nygaard
1941–1945: Andreas Johannesson Dahle
1945–1945: Arnfinn Nygård
1946–1957: Knut Severin Jakobsen Vik
1958–1959: Steinar Salhus
1959–1959: Bernhard Johannesson Trettenes
1960–1963: Jan Hermann Hermansen