Hægeland is a former municipality in the old Vest-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1896 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Vennesla Municipality in the Kristiansand Region of Agder county. The administrative centre was the village of Hægelandskrossen where Hægeland Church is located.
Prior to its dissolution in 1964, the municipality was the 375th largest by area out of the 689 municipalities in Norway. Hægeland Municipality was the 637th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about . The municipality's population density was and its population had decreased by 5.6% over the previous 10-year period.
General information The municipality of Hægeland was established on 1 July 1896 when the old Øvrebø og Hægeland Municipality was divided to create two new municipalities: the southern district (population: 888) became the new Øvrebø Municipality and the northern district (population: 843) became the new Hægeland Municipality.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Hægeland Municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Vennesla Municipality (basically re-creating the old Øvrebø Municipality which existed from 1838 until 1865): all of Hægeland Municipality (population: 849) all of Vennesla Municipality (population: 7,321) most of Øvrebø Municipality (population: 925), except for the Eikeland area which became part of Songdalen Municipality
Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hægeland farm () since the first Hægeland Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "holy", likely since this area was important to ancient Norse pagan worship. The last element is which means "land" or "district".
Churches The Church of Norway had one parish () within Hægeland Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Vennesla prestegjeld and the Otredal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder.
Churches in Hægeland MunicipalityParish ()Church nameLocation of the churchYear builtHægelandHægeland ChurchHægeland1830
Geography Øvrebø Municipality was located along the west side of the river Otra. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Oksla, located in the northern part of the municipality. Hornnes Municipality (in Aust-Agder county) was located to the north, Iveland Municipality (also in Aust-Agder county) was located to the east, Vennesla Municipality was located to the southeast, Øvrebø Municipality was located to the south, Finsland Municipality was located to the southwest, and Bjelland Municipality was located to the west.
Government While it existed, Hægeland Municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Setesdal District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.
Municipal council The municipal council of Hægeland 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.
Mayors The mayor () of Hægeland Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:
1896–1910: Anders A. Robstad 1911–1913: Tomas Gunstveit 1914–1916: Jens Gunstveit 1917–1919: Tomas Gunstveit 1920–1922: Gustav Skisland 1923–1928: Thomas Aasen (Bp) 1929–1934: Torkild Aagedal 1935–1945: Thomas Aasen (Bp) 1945–1947: Gunvald A. Robstad 1947–1951: Nils Omdal 1951–1955: Bertinius Godtfredsen 1955–1959: Kristian Frivoll 1959–1963: Odd Ropstad (Sp)
See also List of former municipalities of Norway
References