Hjelmeland

Hjelmeland is known for its fruit (apples, pears, plums, cherries and strawberries) and fish production. Salmon has been important for the fish industry in Hjelmeland for a couple of decades, but white fish such as cod and halibut has increased its value in the latter years.

General information

View of the Hjelmeland countryside

View of the Jøsenfjorden

View of an old stone bridge in Hjelmeland

View of the Old Årdal Church

Hjelmeland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1859, Hjelmeland municipality was split into two: the southern portion of the municipality (population: 1,315) was split off to form the new municipality of Årdal and the remainder of the municipality became the municipality of Hjelmeland og Fister (population: 3,084). On 1 July 1884, the western islands and the western coast of the mainland (population: 832) were split off from Hjelmeland og Fister to form the new municipality of Fister and the rest of the municipality was renamed simply "Hjelmeland" which now had 2,249 residents.

On 1 January 1965, there were many big municipal mergers across Norway as a result of the Schei Committee. All of Hjelemland municipality (population: 1,691) was merged with most of the municipality of Årdal (except the Sundgardene area along the Årdalsfjorden), the mainland part and the island of Randøy from the municipality of Fister, and the small Buergårdene area on Ombo from the municipality of Jelsa. The population of the newly enlarged Hjelemland was 2,909; nearly doubling the size of the municipal population.^[3]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hjelmeland farm (Old Norse: Hjalmaland), since the first Hjelmeland Church was built there. Today the farm is a part of the Hjelmelandsvågen urban area. The first element of the name is the plural genitive case of hjalmr which means "helmet" and this is referring to two heights behind the farm which have the form of two helmets. The last element is land which means "land" or "farm".^[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 30 November 1984. The arms show a six yellow woven straws on a red background. They are based on the local tradition of making chairs and other furniture with seats of woven twigs (jærstoler). The process of weaving is symbolised in the arms. At the same time the arms show the strength and solidarity of the municipality.^[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Hjelmeland. It is part of the Ryfylke deanery in the Diocese of Stavanger.

**Churches in Hjelmeland**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Fister	Fister Church	Fister	1867
Hjelmeland	Hjelmeland Church	Hjelmelandsvågen	1858
Årdal	Årdal Church	Årdal	1919
Årdal	Old Årdal Church	Årdal	1619

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Hjelmeland, 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 Hjelmeland is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to every four years. For 2011–2015, the party breakdown is as follows:^[6]

*Hjelmeland Kommunestyre 2015–2019*
Party Name		Name in Norwegian	Number of representatives
	Labour Party	Arbeiderpartiet	3
	Conservative Party	Høgre	5
	Christian Democratic Party	Kristelig Folkeparti	4
	Centre Party	Senterpartiet	6
	Liberal Party	Venstre	1
Total number of members:			19

Geography

View of Årdal

The municipality stretches from the mountains bordering the Setesdal valley to the shores of the fjords that connect to the main Boknafjorden. The small Jøsenfjorden and Årdalsfjorden cut into the mainland. There are several islands that are part of Hjelmeland including Randøy and part of Ombo as well as some smaller surrounding islands. The island of Randøy is connected to the mainland by the Randøy Bridge.

There are several large lakes in the municipality including Nilsebuvatnet, Øvre Tysdalsvatnet, and Tysdalsvatnet. The large lake Blåsjø partially lies in the municipality. The Trollgarden glacial moraine lies atop a mountain in Hjelmeland. The Ritland crater is also located in the municipality.

References

↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
↑ Store norske leksikon. "Hjelmeland" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2016-02-01.
↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
↑ Rygh, Oluf (1915). Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt (in Norwegian) (10 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 321–329.
↑ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local coucils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

External links

Media related to Hjelmeland at Wikimedia Commons
The dictionary definition of Hjelmeland at Wiktionary
Rogaland travel guide from Wikivoyage
Ryfylke tourist bureau

Municipalities of Rogaland

Dalane	Bjerkreim Eigersund Lund Sokndal

Haugaland	Bokn Haugesund Karmøy Tysvær Utsira Vindafjord

Jæren	Gjesdal Hå Klepp Randaberg Sandnes Sola Stavanger Time

Ryfylke	Finnøy Forsand Hjelmeland Kvitsøy Rennesøy Sauda Strand Suldal

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