Grong

Grong kommune
Municipality

Grong in early-August 2007

Coat of arms
Nord-Trøndelag within
Norway

Grong within Nord-Trøndelag
Coordinates: 64°31′53″N 12°37′12″E / 64.53139°N 12.62000°E / 64.53139; 12.62000Coordinates: 64°31′53″N 12°37′12″E / 64.53139°N 12.62000°E / 64.53139; 12.62000
Country Norway
County Nord-Trøndelag
District Namdalen
Administrative centre Mediå
Government
 • Mayor (2003) Erik Seem (Sp)
Area
 • Total 1,136.17 km2 (438.68 sq mi)
 • Land 1,097.65 km2 (423.81 sq mi)
 • Water 38.52 km2 (14.87 sq mi)
Area rank 87 in Norway
Population (2011)
 • Total 2,357
 • Rank 301 in Norway
 • Density 2.1/km2 (5/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) -8.4 %
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1742
Official language form Neutral
Website www.grong.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

 Grong  (Southern Sami: Kråangke) is a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Namdalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Medjå. Other villages in the municipality include Bergsmoen, Formofoss, Gartland, and Harran.

General information

Grong was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1901, the northwestern district of Høylandet (population: 1,046) was separated from Grong to form its own municipality. On 1 January 1923, the northeastern district of Røyrvik (population: 392), the northwestern district of Namsskogan (population: 469), and the central district of Harran (population: 630) were all split from Grong to form separate municipalities. This left a vastly smaller municipality of Grong with only 1,272 residents. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Harran (population: 1,085) was merged back into Grong.[1]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Grong farm (Old Norse: Granungar), since the first church was built there. The first element is grǫn which means "spruce" and the last element is the plural form of the suffix -ungr.[2]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 6 February 1987. The arms show three green triangles on a silver/gray background. The green triangles represent spruce trees (gran), making them canting arms. The name is supposedly derived from Granungar. The number three symbolizes the three main villages in the municipality: Harran, Bergsmoen, and Medjå.[3]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Grong. It is part of the Namdal deanery in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Churches in Grong
Parish
(Sokn)		Church NameLocation
of the Church		Year Built
GrongGrong ChurchGrong1877
HarranHarran ChurchHarran1874
Gløshaug ChurchGartland1689

Geography

Grong is located along the river Namsen in the Namdalen valley. Two major tributaries of the Namsen flow through Grong too: the river Sanddøla and the river Neselva. The Bangsjøene lakes lie at the extreme southern border with Snåsa and Overhalla. The Blåfjella–Skjækerfjella National Park covers a small part of the southeastern part of Grong.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Grong, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Grong is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[4]

Grong Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet9
 Conservative PartyHøyre1
 Centre PartySenterpartiet5
 Socialist Left PartySosialistisk Venstreparti2
Total number of members:17

Transportation

The European route E6 highway follows the river Namsen across the municipality, as does the Nordlandsbanen railway line. The two main stations on the Nordlandsbanen are Grong Station in Medjå and Harran Station in Harran. The old Namsos Line railway used to run from Grong to Namsos, but that is now closed.

References

  1. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  2. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1903). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Trondhjems amt (dokpro.uio.no) (in Norwegian) (15 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 295.
  3. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 29 October 2008.
  4. ↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.
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