Vatne Municipality
Vatne is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1965. The municipality included land and islands surrounding the Midfjorden and Vatnefjorden in what is now part of Haram Municipality and Molde Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Vatne where Vatne Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1965, the municipality was the 387th largest by area out of the 525 municipalities in Norway. Vatne Municipality was the 340th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 2,558. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 11.8% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
On 1 January 1902, the large Skodje Municipality was divided. The northern part became the new Vatne Municipality and the southern part remained as Skodje Municipality.During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Vatne Municipality was dissolved. The island of Dryna and the western part of the island of Midøya were merged with Sør-Aukra Municipality to create the new Midsund Municipality. The remainder of Vatne Municipality was incorporated into the neighboring Haram Municipality.
Name
The municipality is named after the old Vatne farm since the first Vatne Church was built there. The name is the plural form of which means "water" or "lake" since the farm is located next to a lake.Churches
The Church of Norway had one parish within Vatne Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Skodje prestegjeld and the Nordre Sunnmøre prosti in the Diocese of Bjørgvin.| Parish | Church name | Location of the church | Year built |
| Vatne | Vatne Church | Vatne | 1868 |