Lurøy Municipality

Lurøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located on the island of Onøya. Other villages in Lurøy include Aldra, Haugland, Konsvikosen, Lovund, Lurøy, Sleneset / Solværøyene, Stokkvågen, and Tonnes.
The municipality is located on the coast just south of the Arctic Circle, on the western edge of the Saltfjellet mountain range. The Lurøygården on the island of Lurøya is a more-than-200-year-old renaissance garden with old plants, a pool, and a nearly high Copper Beech.
The municipality is the 275th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Lurøy Municipality is the 288th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,886. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 0.8% over the previous 10-year period.

WWW luroy.kommune.no

General information

Lurøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1872, the far western island district was separated from Lurøy to become the new Træna Municipality. This left Lurøy with 1,554 residents. The borders of Lurøy have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality is named after the island of Lurøya since the first Lurøy Church was built there. The first element is which means "hollowed log". The last element is which means "island". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Lurø. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Lurøy.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 22 August 1986. The official blazon is "Or, a navigation cairn sable". This means the arms have a field that has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The charge is black navigational cairn. This was chosen to symbolize the local dependence on fishing and sailing in this island municipality. The arms were designed by Olga Nilsen after a proposal by Dagmar Vilfridadottir Olaisen.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes within Lurøy Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland prosti in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Aldersund	Aldersund Church	Haugland	1971
Lurøy	Lovund Church	Lovund	1960
Lurøy	Lurøy Church	Lurøya	1812
Lurøy	Moflag Church	Moflaget	1921

Geography and climate

Lurøy is located on the western coast of Helgeland. The small strip of mainland Lurøy runs from Tonnes in the north along Norwegian County Road 17 to Stokkvågen along the Sjona fjord in the south. The rest of the municipality is located on 1,375 islands located to the west of the mainland. The major islands include Aldra, Lurøya, Onøya, Stigen, Solvær, and Lovund. There are also two islands in the northern part of Lurøya that are divided between Lurøy and neighboring Rødøy Municipality: Nesøya and Hestmona. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Strandtindan, a tripoint on the border of Lurøy Municipality, Rødøy Municipality, and Rana Municipality.
The populated islands are reached by car ferry from Stokkvågen on the mainland. The ferry reaches Onøy, Solvær and Lovund 5 times per day.

Climate

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has operated weather stations on Solvær islands since 1939. Data shows a marine west coast climate with very mild winters for the high latitude. Spring and summer are the driest seasons, while December is the wettest month. The all-time high was recorded in July 2018, and the all-time low is from February 1966. The average date for the last overnight freeze in spring is 20 April and average date for first freeze in autumn is 5 November giving a frost-free season of 198 days.

Farms of Lurøy

Historically, the land of Lurøy was divided up into named farms. These farms were used in census and tax records and are useful for genalogical research.

Farm maps

Note: Coordinates are approximate. The map has been divided into parts consistent with the in the 1920 census of Norway. This map will include one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist.

Farm names and numbers

Following are the farms in Lurøy municipality, as they are listed in O. Rygh's series "Norske Gaardnavne", the Nordland volume of which was published in 1905.
The farm numbers are used in some census records, and numbers that are near each other indicate that those farms are geographically proximate. Handwritten Norwegian sources, particularly those prior to 1800, may use variants on these names. For recorded variants before 1723, see the digital version of O. Rygh.
Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and patronymic or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, or, as a surname when they emigrated, so in those cases tracing a surname may tell you specifically where in Norway the family was from. This tradition began to change in the mid to late 19th century, and inherited surnames were codified into law in 1923.
If you can't find an entry when you are searching for a word that starts with AE, Ae, O, A or Aa, it may have been transcribed from one of those letters not used in English. Try looking for it under the Norwegian letter; Æ, Ø, and Å appear at the end of the Norwegian alphabet.

Farm Name	Farm Number
Lovunden	1
Grønningen	2
Troldøen	3
Sengsdraget	4
Juløen	5
Risvær	6
Solvær søndre	7
Moflaget	8
Slaaterøen	9
Ulvøen	10
Lunderøen	11
Solvær norde	12
Reløen	13
Kvitvær	14
Sandvær	15
Maavær	16
Sutternes	17
Lurøen	18
Svinøen	19
Onøen indre	20
Onøen ytre	21
Stoksvik	22
Sjonøen	23
Sundet	24
Klippingvaag	25
Kokviken	25, 3
Silen	26
Bogen	27
Røitvik	28
Selnes	29
Haugland	30
Aas	31
Vatnet	32
Bratland	33
Lien	34
Olvikvatnet	35
Alderen	36
Hjart	37
Aspnes	38
Ørnes	39
Stuvland	40
Okstind	41
Fingammen	42
Kvinen	43
Konsvik	44
Kokviken	45
Aspdalen	46
Tonnes	47
Kvarøen indre	48
Kvarøen ytre	49
Hestmoen	50
Nesøen søndre	51

Government

Lurøy Municipality is 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 is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Lurøy Municipality is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Lurøy Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

1838–1840: Christian Eilert Rasch
1840–1845: Daniel Strøm Dundas
1846–1850: Carl Nicolai Bugge
1850–1854: Benjamin Olsen
1854–1860: Jeremias Willichsen
1860–1864: John Erik Steffensen
1865–1865: Paul Christian Føyn
1865–1866: Jens Christian Pettersen Tønder
1867–1869: John Erik Steffensen
1869–1870: Cornelius Eitran
1871–1875: Iver Olsen Riise
1875–1881: Knut Hansen
1881–1884: Anders Knutsen
1885–1886: Laurits Torgersen
1886–1886: Martin Israelsen
1887–1896: Mathias Knutsen
1896–1922: Isak Dundas
1922–1941: Jakob Victor Hansen
1941–1943: Fredrik Thorstein Krüger
1943–1945: Peder Larsen
1945–1947: Aubert Jentoft
1947–1961: Torvald Brandser
1961–1963: Ivar Riise
1963–1971: Torleif Hansen
1971–1973: Per Rise
1973–1975: Egil Fjellgård
1975–1978: Nils Nermark
1979–1988: Johannes Bentzen
1988–2007: Steinar A. Joakimsen
2007–2011: Carl Einar Isachsen, Jr.
2011–2015: Bjørnar Skjæran
2015–2019: Carl Einar Isachsen, Jr.
2019–present: Håkon Lund

Notable people

Harry Johan Olai Klippenvåg, a Norwegian politician, Mayor of Sør-Varanger in 1940's & 50's
Herluf Nygaard, a Norwegian military officer, active resistance fighter during WWII