Øvre Sirdal

Øvre Sirdal is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 1,156-square-kilometre (446 sq mi) municipality^[3] existed from 1905 until its dissolution in 1960. It was located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Sirdal in Agder county. The administrative centre was the village of Lunde where Lunde Church is located.

Øvre Sirdal Municipality Øvre Sirdal herred
Former municipality
Øvre Sirdalen herred  (historic name)
Vest-Agder within Norway
Øvre Sirdal within Vest-Agder
Coordinates: 58°48′30″N 06°45′51″E
Country	Norway
County	Vest-Agder
District	Lister
Established	1 Jan 1905
• Preceded by	Sirdal Municipality
Disestablished	1 Jan 1960
• Succeeded by	Sirdal Municipality
Administrative centre	Lunde
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	1,156 km2 (446 sq mi)
Population  (1960)
• Total	549
• Density	0.47/km2 (1.2/sq mi)
Demonym	Sirdøl[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1047[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

History

The municipality of Øvre Sirdal was established on 1 January 1905 when the old Sirdal formannskapsdistrikt was split into two municipalities: Øvre Sirdal (population: 753) and Tonstad. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, Øvre Sirdal (population: 549) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Tonstad (population: 651) and the Øksendal area of the municipality of Bakke (population: 226) to form a new municipality of Sirdal.^[4]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Sirdalen valley (Old Norse: Sírudalr) since the valley runs through the municipality. The prefix øvre means "upper" (since this was created from the upper part of the old Sirdal municipality). The first element of the name is the genitive case of the river name Síra (now the Sira river). The river name has an unknown meaning, but it could be something like "strong stream". The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale".^[5] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Øvre Sirdalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Øvre Sirdal, removing the definite form ending -en.^[6]

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.^[7]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Øvre Sirdal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.

Øvre Sirdal herredsstyre 1956–1959 ^[8]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	13
Total number of members:		13

Øvre Sirdal herredsstyre 1952–1955 ^[9]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	12
Total number of members:		12

Øvre Sirdal herredsstyre 1948–1951 ^[10]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	12
Total number of members:		12

Øvre Sirdal herredsstyre 1945–1947 ^[11]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	12
Total number of members:		12

Øvre Sirdal herredsstyre 1938–1941* ^[12]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	12
Total number of members:		12
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.

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
3. Helland, Amund (1903). "Siredalen herred". X Lister og Mandals amt. Anden del. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 629. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
4. Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
5. Rygh, Oluf (1912). Norske gaardnavne: Lister og Mandals amt (in Norwegian) (9 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 328-329 and 340.
6. "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norge: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 1057–1065. 1917.
7. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
8. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
9. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
10. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
11. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
12. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 22 November 2020.

External links

• Vest-Agder travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Sirdolen.no (in Norwegian)
• Weather information for Øvre Sirdal (in Norwegian)