Strandvik Municipality

Strandvik is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1903 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Bjørnafjorden Municipality in the traditional district of Midhordland in Vestland county. The administrative centre was the village of Strandvik where Strandvik Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 440th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Strandvik Municipality was the 424th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about. The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 10.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

This municipality was established on 1 January 1903 when Fusa Municipality was divided into three municipalities as follows:

the southern area became the new Strandvik Municipality
the northeastern area became the new Haalandsdalen Municipality
the northwestern area became a much smaller Fusa Municipality

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, this municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Fusa Municipality:

all of Strandvik Municipality
all of Hålandsdal Municipality
most of Fusa Municipality, except for the Bogstrand area which was transferred to Os Municipality
Name

The municipality is named after the old name for the coastal area, Strandvik since the first Strandvik Church was built there. The first element comes from the genitive case of which means "beach" or "shore". The last element comes from the word which means "bay" or "inlet".

Churches

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

Parish	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Strandvik	Strandvik Church	Strandvik	1857
Strandvik	Sundvor Chapel	Sundvor	1927

Geography

The municipality included the lands around the inner part of the Bjørnafjorden and Sævareidfjorden. It also included the areas surrounding the large lake Henangervatnet. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Våganipen.
Fusa Municipality was located to the north, Hålandsdal Municipality was located to the northeast, Varaldsøy Municipality was located to the east, Kvinnherad Municipality was located to the southeast, and Tysnes Municipality was located to the southwest. The Bjørnafjorden was located to the west.

Government

While it existed, Strandvik 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 Strandvik Municipality was made up of 15 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 Strandvik Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people held this position:

1903–1910: Thore Sundvor
1911–1919: Hans Baartveit
1920–1937: Mikal Leigland
1938–1941: Klement Eikeland
1941–1945: Johannes Reigstad
1945–1951: Klement Eikeland
1952–1963: Stein Hauge