Nærøy


Nærøy is a former municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020 when it joined Nærøysund Municipality. It was part of the Namdalen region. Norway's smallest town, Kolvereid, was the administrative centre of the municipality. Some villages in Nærøy included Abelvær, Foldereid, Gravvik, Lund, Ottersøy, Salsbruket, Steine, and Torstad.
At the time of its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 96th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Nærøy was the 200th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 5,117. The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 2% over the previous decade.

General information

Nærøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. On 1 July 1869, the western island district was separated from Nærøy to become the new municipality of Vikten. This left Nærøy with 1,477 residents. On 1 January 1902, an unpopulated area of Kolvereid was transferred to Nærøy municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring municipalities of Kolvereid, Nærøy, Gravvik, and the western two-thirds of Foldereid were merged to form the new, larger municipality of Nærøy.
On 1 January 2018, the municipality of Nærøy switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.
On 1 January 2020, the municipality of Nærøy was merged with most of the neighboring municipality of Vikna to form the new Nærøysund Municipality. The Lund area in Nærøy was not part of the merger. It became part of the newly enlarged Namsos Municipality on the same date.

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Njarðøy. The first element is maybe the stem form of the name of the Norse god Njord. The last element is øy which means "island". Historically, the name has had varying spellings such as Nærø or Nærøen.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 22 May 1987. The arms are based on the seal of King Håkon Magnusson from 1344, on a document in which the King granted several rights to the local farmers. The seal shows the St. Mary in a portal decorated with fleur-de-lis, the symbol of the St. Mary. The arms show a combination of three fleur-de-lis on a gold background. The fleur-de-lis design is red, since the local water lilies generally have a red color.

Churches

The Church of Norway had four parishes within the municipality of Nærøy. It is part of the Namdal prosti in the Diocese of Nidaros.
Parish Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
FoldereidFoldereid ChurchFoldereid1863
GravvikGravvik ChurchGravvik1875
KolvereidKolvereid ChurchKolvereid1874
KolvereidLund ChapelLund1965
KolvereidSalsbruket ChapelSalsbruket1950
NærøyLundring ChurchLundring1885
NærøySteine ChapelSteine1911
NærøyTorstad ChapelTorstad1936

Geography

The municipality was located in the northwestern part of Trøndelag county, along the Foldafjord. It included the islands of Austra and Gjerdinga and the Kvingra peninsula. Several large lakes were located in the municipality including Mjosundvatnet, Salvatnet, and Storvatnet.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Nærøy, are responsible for primary education, 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. The municipality falls under the Namdal District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Nærøy is made up of 27 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Transportation

crosses the northeastern part of the municipality. There is a large network of bridges in the municipality that connect islands and cross fjords. Most notably is the Marøysund Bridge and Nærøysund Bridge which connect Nærøy to Vikna to the west. Also Hestøy Bridge and Smines Bridge connect the village of Lund to Fosnes municipality to the south.

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