Manger Municipality

Manger is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Alver Municipality in the traditional district of Nordhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Manger where Manger Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 607th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Manger Municipality was the 561st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 1.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The parish of Manger was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 January 1871, the northwestern island district was separated to form the new Herdla Municipality. This left Manger Municipality with a population of 4,364. Then on 1 January 1910, the rest of the islands in the western part of Manger Municipality was separated to form the new Hjelme Municipality. This left Manger Municipality with a population of 4,453.
On 1 July 1924, Manger Municipality was divided into three municipalities: Bø Municipality in the north, a much smaller Manger Municipality in the central part, and Sæbø Municipality in the south.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality was dissolved and a merged with the following places to form the new Radøy Municipality.

all of Manger Municipality
all of Hordabø Municipality
the island of Bogno from Herdla Municipality
most of Sæbø Municipality, except the Titland area on the Lindås peninsula
the Sletta area on the island of Radøy from Lindås Municipality
the Straume area on the island of Radøy and the small island of Fesøy from Austrheim Municipality
Name

The municipality is named after the old Manger farm since the first Manger Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "seagull". The last element is which means "bay" or "inlet". Thus the name means "seagull bay".

Churches

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

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Manger	Manger Church	Manger	1891

Geography

Manger unicipality originally included almost all of the island of Radøy, the northern part of the island of Holsnøy, and all the islands west of these areas all the way to the open sea. Over time, the municipality was reduced in size several times, so that by 1964, it was just the central part of the island of Radøy. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Morkefjellet.
Hordabø Municipality was located to the north, Lindås Municipality was located to the northeast, Sæbø Municipality was located to the southeast, Herdla Municipality was located to the south, and Hjelme Municipality was located to the west.

Government

While it existed, Manger 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 Manger Municipality was made up of 13 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 Manger Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1838–1839: Ole Jacobsen Sjurtvedt
1840–1843: Jacob Waagenæs
1844–1845: Michael Sars
1846–1851: Ole Jacobsen Sjurtvedt
1852–1859: Gudmund N. Kolstad
1860–1861: Halvor Olsen Brudeknapsholmen
1862–1865: I.L. Kobro
1866–1871: Jacob Severin Kars
1872–1873: Magne Magnesen Solheim
1874–1875: Knut R. Askeland
1876–1881: Wilhelm Askeland
1882–1907: Hans Smith
1908–1910: Ole Maraas
1911–1913: Lauritz Johan A. Tvedt
1914–1916: Ole Maraas
1916–1928: Lauritz Johan A. Tvedt
1929–1934: Olav Eikenes
1935–1945: Karl G. Kolstad
1946–1947: Ragnvald Færøy
1948–1951: Lauritz Johan A. Tvedt
1952–1955: Sverre Kolstad
1956–1959: Otto Holmås
1960–1963: Wilhelm Kartveit