Herdla Municipality

Herdla is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1871 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between Alver Municipality, Askøy Municipality, and Øygarden Municipality in the traditional district of Nordhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the small island-village of Herdla.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 492nd largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Herdla Municipality was the 183rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 3.3% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

On 1 January 1871, the western island district of Manger Municipality was separated to form the new Herlø Municipality. Initially, the new municipality had 2,484 residents.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. In January 1964, Herdla Municipality was dissolved and its land was split up as follows:

the islands of Misje and Turøy became part of Fjell Municipality
the island of Herdla and all of Herdla Municipality located on the island of Askøy became part of Askøy Municipality
all of Herdla Municipality on the island of Holsnøy became part of Meland Municipality
all of Herdla Municipality located west of the Hjeltefjorden became part of Øygarden Municipality
the island of Bogno became part of Radøy Municipality
Name

The municipality is named after the old Herlø farm since the first Herdla Church was built there. The meaning of the name is uncertain. One possibility is that it is derived from which is the old name for a person from medieval Hordaland. Another possibility is that it means "to split" or "to divorce", likely referring to the fact that the island on which the farm is located is separated from Askøya by the narrow Herdlesundet strait. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Herlø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Herdla.

Churches

The Church of Norway had one parish within Herdla Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Herdla prestegjeld and the Nordhordland prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Herdla	Herdla Church	Herdla	1863
Herdla	Blomvåg Chapel	Blomvåg	1931

Herdla Church dates back to 1863. The stone structure has 600 seats. The original church was demolished in the 19th century because it had too little space for the congregation. During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, the tower and the roofs were removed because of the belief that the British Royal Air Force used the church to navigate attacks on the west coast of Norway. The church was restored during 1910, 1935, and 1950.

Geography

The municipality encompassed a large group of about 2,000 islands and skerries covering about of land area, to the northwest of the city of Bergen. The municipality included the northern third of the island of Holsnøy, the northern third of the island of Askøy, and the islands of Misje, Turøyna, Toftøyna, Rongøyna, Blomøyna, Ona, Bogno, and many smaller surrounding islands. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Eldsfjellet.
Manger Municipality was located to the north, Sæbø Municipality was located to the northeast, Meland Municipality was located to the east, Askøy Municipality was located to the south, Fjell Municipality was located to the southwest, and Hjelme Municipality was located to the northwest.

Government

While it existed, Herdla 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 Herdla Municipality was made up of 25 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 Herdla Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1873–1873: Bernt Johan Nielsen
1878–1907: Rev. Wilhelm Nicolai Pedersen
1908–1919: Nils Thorsteinsen Skjelanger
1919–1934: Mons A. Kårbø
1934–1945: Anton Johannessen Rong
1946–1955: Thorstein Skjelanger
1955–1959: Anders K. Breivik
1959–1963: Jens O. Rong