Finnøy

This article is about the municipality in Rogaland, Norway. For other uses, see Finnøy (disambiguation).

Finnøy is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The 104 square kilometres (40 sq mi) island municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it was merged into Stavanger Municipality. It was located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Judaberg.

Finnøy Municipality Finnøy kommune
Former municipality
Finnø herred  (historic name)
View of the shorelines of Ombo in Finnøy
Flag Coat of arms
Rogaland within Norway
Finnøy within Rogaland
Coordinates: 59°09′53″N 05°49′46″E
Country	Norway
County	Rogaland
District	Ryfylke
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Disestablished	1 Jan 2020
• Succeeded by	Stavanger Municipality
Administrative centre	Judaberg
Government
• Mayor (2015-2019)	Henrik Halleland (KrF)
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	104.39 km2 (40.31 sq mi)
• Land	102.90 km2 (39.73 sq mi)
• Water	1.49 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
• Rank	#375 in Norway
Population  (2017)
• Total	3,235
• Rank	#256 in Norway
• Density	31.4/km2 (81/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+21.1%
Demonym	Finnøybu[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Nynorsk
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1141[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

The municipality consisted of a number of islands on the south side of the Boknafjorden, about 24 kilometres (15 mi) northeast of the city of Stavanger. The Finnøy Tunnel connects the two islands of Finnøy and Talgje to the mainland. The rest of the islands are accessible only by boat.

Finnøy is an agricultural community dominated by dairy, meat, poultry, and fish farming products, with strong horticultural traditions, mainly greenhouse production of tomatoes, as well as some tourism.

Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the 104-square-kilometre (40 sq mi) municipality is the 375th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Finnøy was the 256th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 3,235. The municipality's population density was 31.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (81/sq mi) and its population has increased by 21.1% over the last decade.^[4]

General information

Map of Finnøy

Talgje Church

Sjernarøy Church

The parish of Finnø was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). It originally encompassed the islands of Finnøy, Talgje, and Fogn as well as the small surrounding islets and the southeasternmost corner of the island of Rennesøy. On 1 January 1918, the part of Finnøy located on the island of Rennesøy (population: 72) was transferred from Finnøy to the neighboring municipality of Rennesøy.^[5]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Finnøy was enlarged when it was merged with the entire municipality of Sjernarøy (population: 819), the northeastern part of Ombo island (population: 89) from the municipality of Jelsa, and the Fisterøyene islands (population: 246) from the municipality of Fister.^[5]

On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of Finnøy, Rennesøy, and Stavanger were merged into one, large municipality called Stavanger.^[6]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Finnøy (Old Norse: Finney) since the historic Hesby Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. It is possibly from the word finna which is the local name for Nardus stricta. Another possibility is that it comes from the old male name finni. The last element is ey which means "island".^[7] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Finnø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Finnøy. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name (ø is the Danish word for "island" and øy is the Norwegian word).^[8]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 23 September 1983 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official blazon is "Azure, a winged arrowhead argent in bend" (Norwegian: På blå grunn ei vengja sølv pil på skrå oppover). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a winged arrowhead. The charge 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 arms were derived from the arms of the Hestbø family (which included Ogmund Finnsson), one of the mightiest families in the area in the 14th century. They had their stronghold on their Hesby estate on the island of Finnøy in the municipality of Finnøy. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[9][10][11]

Churches

The Church of Norway had three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Finnøy. It was part of the Tungenes prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Churches in Finnøy

Parish (sokn)	Church name	Location of the church	Year built
Hesby	Hesby Church	Hesby on Finnøy	c. 1100
Sjernarøy	Sjernarøy Church	Kyrkjøy in Sjernarøyane islands	1647
	Jørstad Church	Jørstadvågen on Ombo	1929
Talgje	Fogn Church	Fogn	1991
	Talgje Church	Talgje	c. 1100

History

Drawing of the Finnøy prestegård

Fields on Finnøy

Finnøy was at the top of its power in the middle of the fourteenth century when the King's representative Ogmund Finnsson had his seat at Hesby on the west side of the island of Finnøy. The medieval, stone Hesby Church, dating back to at least the thirteenth century, still stands at Hesby.

It is often claimed that the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) was born on Finnøy, since his father Søren Georg acted as rector there. Recent studies indicates, however, that he was born in Nedstrand, a nearby parish. However, he was raised on Finnøy.

Geography

The island municipality of Finnøy was located on the south side of the Boknafjorden. The main islands of Finnøy included Finnøy, Talgje, Fogn, Halsnøya, Sjernarøyane, and the north and west parts of the island of Ombo. The islands of Talgje and Finnøy are connected to the mainland by the undersea Finnøy Tunnel. The rest of the islands are only accessible by boats.

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[12] The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Ryfylke District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Finnøy was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown for the councils was as follows:

Finnøy kommunestyre 2015–2019 ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	4
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	6
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	4
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	5
Total number of members:		21

Finnøy kommunestyre 2012–2015 ^[14]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	3
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	5
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	4
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	1
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	4
Total number of members:		21

Finnøy kommunestyre 2008–2011 ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	7
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	6
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	1
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	1
Total number of members:		21

Finnøy kommunestyre 2004–2007 ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	7
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	6
	Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti)	1
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	1
Total number of members:		21

Finnøy kommunestyre 2000–2003 ^[13]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	8
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	9
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1996–1999 ^[15]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Progress Party (Framstegspartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	6
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	12
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1992–1995 ^[16]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	7
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	11
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	3
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1988–1991 ^[17]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	2
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	4
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	9
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	8
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	2
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1984–1987 ^[18]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	5
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	8
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	9
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	1
	Independent list (Uavhengig liste)	1
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1980–1983 ^[19]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	6
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	9
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	8
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	1
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1976–1979 ^[20]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	10
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	10
	Local list (Bygdelista)	1
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1972–1975 ^[21]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	8
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	10
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	4
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1968–1971 ^[22]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet)	1
	Conservative Party (Høgre)	2
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti)	7
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	10
	Liberal Party (Venstre)	5
Total number of members:		25

Finnøy kommunestyre 1964–1967 ^[23]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Finnøy heradsstyre 1960–1963 ^[24]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Centre Party (Senterpartiet)	13
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	4
Total number of members:		17

Finnøy heradsstyre 1956–1959 ^[25]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Finnøy heradsstyre 1952–1955 ^[26]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Finnøy heradsstyre 1948–1951 ^[27]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	16
Total number of members:		16

Finnøy heradsstyre 1945–1947 ^[28]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	16
Total number of members:		16

Finnøy heradsstyre 1938–1941* ^[29]  

Party name (in Nynorsk)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	16
Total number of members:		16
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

Mayors

The mayors (Norwegian: ordfører) of Finnøy (incomplete list):

• 1991-2007: Jorunn Strand Vestbø (Sp)
• 2007-2011: Kjell Nes (KrF)
• 2011-2015: Gro Skartveit (V)
• 2015-2019: Henrik Halleland (KrF)

Notable people

• Torolf Nordbø, also known as Han Innante, is a Norwegian musician and comedian

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
3. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
4. Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 4 November 2017.
5. Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
6. "Om nye Stavanger" (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
7. Rygh, Oluf (1915). Norske gaardnavne: Stavanger amt (in Norwegian) (10 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 245–246.
8. "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norge: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 1057–1065. 1917.
9. "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
10. "Finnøy, Rogaland (Norway)". Flags of the World. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
11. "Godkjenning av våpen og flagg". Lovdata.no (in Norwegian). Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet. 5 December 1983. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
12. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
13. "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway.
14. "Tall for Norge: Kommunestyrevalg 2011 - Rogaland". Valg Direktoratet. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
15. "Kommunestyrevalget 1995" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1996. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
16. "Kommunestyrevalget 1991" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1993. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
17. "Kommunestyrevalget 1987" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1988. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
18. "Kommunestyrevalget 1983" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo-Kongsvinger: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1984. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
19. "Kommunestyrevalget 1979" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1979. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
20. "Kommunevalgene 1975" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1977. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
21. "Kommunevalgene 1972" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1973. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
22. "Kommunevalgene 1967" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1967. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
23. "Kommunevalgene 1963" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1964. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
24. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
25. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
26. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
27. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
28. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
29. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 5 August 2020.

External links

• Media related to Finnøy (former municipality) at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of Finnøy at Wiktionary
• Rogaland travel guide from Wikivoyage