Skaun Municipality

Skaun is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Børsa. Other villages include Buvika, Eggkleiva, Melby, Skaun, and Viggja.
The municipality is the 298th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Skaun Municipality is the 128th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 8,484. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 14.8% over the previous 10-year period.
Skaun is predominantly rural, but is nonetheless situated only from Norway's third largest city, Trondheim. Most inhabitants, except agricultural and public sector workers, work outside of the municipality in Trondheim, Orkanger, or Melhus. The European route E39 highway runs east to west across the northern part of the municipality and Norwegian County Road 709 runs north and south through the municipality.

General information

The municipality of Børseskognen was established on 1 January 1890 when Børsa Municipality was divided into two: Børseskognen Municipality was in the south and a smaller Børsa Municipality in the north. In 1930, the name was changed to Skaun Municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Skaun Municipality, Børsa Municipality, and Buvik Municipality were merged to form a new, larger Skaun Municipality.
On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name

The municipality was originally named Børsaskognen meaning "the forest of Børsa", referring to its more rural forested nature compared to the more built up area of the neighboring Børsa Municipality to the north. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Børsaskogn, removing the definite form ending -en. On 13 October 1929, a royal resolution changed the name of the municipality to Skaun. This new name was chosen from the old Skaun farm since the first Skaun Church was built there. The name comes from the Old Norse word which means "to shine". This is believed to refer to the lake Laugen.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 9 January 1987. The official blazon is "Per fess urdy azure and argent". This means the arms have a field that is divided by a line with an "urdy" design. The background below the line 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 background above the line has a tincture of blue. The arms are designed to look like the four large, old standing stones found in the municipality. The four stones are most likely associated with a large grave site dating back to around 500-1000 AD. Local tradition states that these stones are where Einar Tambarskjelve moored his ships, and he owned a fort in Husaby in Skaun. The arms were designed by Einar H. Skjervold. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes within Skaun Municipality. It is part of the Orkdal prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Buvik	Buvik Church	Buvika	1819
Børsa	Børsa Church	Børsa	1857
Skaun	Skaun Church	Skaun	1183

Geography

The municipality of Skaun lies on the south side of the Gaulosen, an arm of the Trondheimsfjord. The river Mora flows north into the lake Laugen and the river Børselva flows north out of the lake Laugen up to the fjord. The lake Malmsjøen is located in the southeastern part of the municipality. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Ølshøgda, a tripoint on the border with Melhus Municipality and Orkland Municipality.
Skaun has three neighboring municipalities: Orkland Municipality to the west, Melhus Municipality to the south and east, and Trondheim Municipality to the north across the Gaulosen.

Government

Skaun Municipality are 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 Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Skaun Municipality is made up of 23 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 Skaun 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:

1890–1893: Knud Moe
1894–1904: Anders A. Krokstad
1905–1910: Anders O. Rø
1911–1916: Anders A. Krokstad
1917–1922: Enok Eidsmo
1923–1925: Anders O. Rø
1926–1928: Ole L. Lien
1929–1934: Ola Mehlum
1935–1937: Ole L. Lien
1938–1940: Ola Mehlum
1940–1941: Ole L. Lien
1942–1945: Johan Belsvik
1945–1945: Ola Mehlum
1946–1959: Petter Mellingsæter
1960–1967: Anders Morken
1968–1971: Jarle Rekstad
1972–1975: Bjarne Saltnes
1976–1979: Paul Opland
1980–1981: Leif Hammertrø
1982–1983: Steinar Mo
1984–1987: Bjarne Saltnes
1988–1995: Agnar Melby
1995–2003: Asbjørn Leraand
2003–2019: Jon P. Husby
2019–2023: Gunn Iversen Stokke
2023–present: Tove Sommerschild
Notable people
Einar Tambarskjelve, the Viking who according to legend used the four monumental standing stones in Børsa to moor his boats
Egil Aarvik, a newspaper editor, author, and politician
Bjarne Saltnes, a politician and Mayor of Skaun from 1971–1975 and 1979–1983
Jostein Wilmann, a former professional road racing cyclist who was the best placed Norwegian in the Tour de France
Kari Aalvik Grimsbø, a goalkeeper for the Norway women's national handball team
Fictional residents
Kristin Lavransdatter, who was the key character in a trilogy written by the Nobel Prize winner in literature, Sigrid Undset. There is a celebration of this every year the second week-end in August. It takes place at Husaby, where Sigrid Undset lived while writing the second book, Husfrue. The books also have large parts of their storyline from Husaby.