Fjell Municipality

Fjell is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Øygarden Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Straume. Other villages in the municipality included Ågotnes, Fjell, Foldnes, Knappskog, Knarrvika, Kolltveit, Landro, and Sekkingstad.
The municipality consisted of several islands west of the city of Bergen, the major ones being Litlesotra, the northern part of Store Sotra, Bildøyna, Bjorøyna, Misje, and Turøyna. Due to the opening of the Sotra Bridge to the mainland in 1971 and its proximity to the city of Bergen, the population more than tripled, growning from less than 7,000 to over 26,000 by the time of its dissolution in 2020. This resulted in major traffic jams over the bridge every day. The highway that leads to Bergen has reduced the traveling time to only fifteen minutes from the municipal centre at Straume on Litlesotra to the center of Bergen.
At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 355th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Fjell Municipality was the 43rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 21.7% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Fjæld was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the islands of Misje and Turøyna were transferred from Herdla Municipality to Fjell Municipality.
On 1 January 2020, there was a large municipal merger including three neighboring municipalities. Fjell Municipality, Sund Municipality, and Øygarden Municipality were merged into a new, much larger Øygarden Municipality. Historically, this municipality was part of the old Hordaland county. On 1 January 2020, Hordaland county became a part of the newly-formed Vestland county.

Name

The municipality is named after the old Fjelde farm since the first Fjell Church was built there. The name is identical to the modern Norwegian word which means "mountain". The oldest form of the name was Undir Fjalli which means "under/below the mountain". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Fjæld or Fjeld. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Fjell.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was adopted by the municipal council on 27 April 1957 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The blazon is "Azure, a seagull volant argent over a fess sable dancetty topped and wavy with three bars wavy argent beneath". This means the arms have a blue field and the charge is a seagull flying over three triangular black mountain shapes over three wavy lines. The seagull and wavy lines have a tincture of argent which means they are commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. A mural crown was often displayed above the shield. The arms were designed to show the geography of the municipality, specifically the sea and the steep mountains. The seagull shown above the mountains is a common bird in the area. The arms are canting since the name of the municipality means "mountain". The arms were designed by Magnus Hardeland, but they were never formally approved by the government because they did not meet the Norwegian heraldic guidelines for coats of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway had one parish within Fjell Municipality. It is part of the Vesthordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Fjell	Fjell Church	Fjell	1874
Fjell	Foldnes Church	Foldnes	2001
Fjell	Landro Church	Landro	1977

Geography

Fjell was an island municipality located entirely on islands off the coast of the mainland Bergen Peninsula. It covered many islands in a large archipelago that stretched from Sund Municipality in the south to Fedje Municipality in the north. The largest island in Fjell Municipality was Sotra, although only the northern half of the island is part of the municipality. The second-largest island was Litlesotra, where the largest village area in Fjell is located. The small island of Bildøyna is located between those two islands. The small island of Geitanger lies north of Bildøyna and the small island of Bjorøyna lies to the south. Bjorøyna is not connected to the rest of the municipality by road, but there is the undersea Bjorøy Tunnel that connects it to the mainland of Bergen Municipality. On the western side of Sotra, the smaller islands of Algrøyna, Lokøyna, and Syltøyna are located. On the north end of Sotra lies the small islands of Misje and Turøyna.
The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Liatårnet on the island of Sotra, just southeast of the village of Fjell. Sund Municipality was located to the south, Bergen Municipality was located to the east, Askøy Municipality was to the northeast, and Øygarden Municipality was located to the northwest. The North Sea was located to the west.

History

Fjell Municipality was the location of Fjell Fortress, a World War II German mountaintop fortification designed to command all water approaches to the port of Bergen.

Population

Government

While it existed, Fjell 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 Bergen District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Fjell Municipality was made up of 35 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 Fjell Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1838–1843: Nils Arefjord
1844–1853: Mathias Ø. Nordahl
1854–1855: Nils Arefjord
1856–1857: Nils Mikkelsen Kallestad
1858–1861: Nils Arefjord
1862–1867: Erik O. Ekerhovd
1867–1887: H.J.W. Juuhl
1888–1895: Anders Nilssen Langøen
1896–1901: Mathias Nordahl
1902–1913: Mads O. Ramstad
1914–1919: Olai Bjorø
1920–1922: Mads O. Ramstad
1923–1928: Nils O. Pedersen Storesund
1929–1941: Hans Rønnestrand
1941–1944: Asbjørn Gloppestad
1944–1945: Olav Nygård
1945–1945: Hans Rønnestrand
1946–1947: Ole Kristian Bjorøy
1948–1951: Ole H. Fjeld
1952–1957: Mons M. Kobbeltvedt
1958–1965: Ingvald Ulveseth
1966–1967: Anders Andås
1967–1979: Olav Midttun
1979–1983: Torolv Morlandstø
1983–1987: Norvald Nesse
1987–1991: Bjørn Christensen
1991–2003: Ole G. Fredheim
2003–2007: Jan Utkilen
2007–2010: Lars Lie
2010–2015: Eli Årdal Berland
2015–2019: Marianne Sandahl Bjorøy