Gransherad is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The 417-square-kilometre (161 sq mi)[5] municipality existed from 1860 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Notodden Municipality (in Telemark) and Kongsberg Municipality (in Buskerud). The administrative centre was the village of Gransherad where Gransherad Church is located.[6]

Gransherad Municipality
Gransherad herred
Gransherred herred  (historic name)
Grandsherred herred  (historic name)
View of the village of Gransherad
View of the village of Gransherad
Telemark within Norway
Telemark within Norway
Gransherad within Telemark
Gransherad within Telemark
Coordinates: 59°41′26″N 9°02′18″E / 59.69062°N 9.03835°E / 59.69062; 9.03835
CountryNorway
CountyTelemark
DistrictAust-Telemark
Established1860
 • Preceded byHjartdal Municipality
Disestablished1 Jan 1964
 • Succeeded byNotodden Municipality
Administrative centreGransherad
Area
 (upon dissolution)
 • Total
417 km2 (161 sq mi)
Population
 (1964)
 • Total
1,247
 • Density3.0/km2 (7.7/sq mi)
DemonymGranshering[1]
Official language
 • Norwegian formNynorsk[2]
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 codeNO-0824[4]

History

edit
 
Gransherad Church
 
Farm in Gransherad
 
View of the village of Gransherad

Grandsherred (later spelled Gransherad) was established as a municipality in 1860 after the parish of Hovin (population: 815) in southeastern Tinn Municipality and the parish of Grandsherred (population: 1,310) in western Hjartdal Municipality were merged to form the new municipality. On 1 January 1886, the growing municipality was divided based on its "old" borders, with the old parish of Hovin (population: 885) becoming its own municipality. This left the remainder of Gransherad with a population of 1,393 residents in the now-smaller municipality.[7]

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the upper Jondalen valley area (population: 132) of eastern Gransherad was transferred to the neighboring Kongsberg Municipality (in Buskerud county). Also on the same date, Gransherad municipality was dissolved and the following areas were merged to form a new, larger Notodden Municipality:[7]

Name

edit

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after an old name for the area (Old Norse: Grandalsherað). The first element of the genitive case of the name Grandalr, an old name for a local valley and/or farm area. The first part of this is derived from the word grǫn which means "spruce" and the last part of this is identical to the word dalr which means "valley" or "dale".The last element of the word is herað which means "rural district".[8] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Gransherred. In 1867, the spelling was changed to Grandsherred. This was short-lived, however, because in 1888, the spelling was changed back to Gransherred. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Gransherad, using the Nynorsk spelling instead of the Bokmål spelling.[9]

Government

edit

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.[10]

Municipal council

edit

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Gransherad 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.

Gransherad herredsstyre 1960–1963 [11]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 14
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 7
Total number of members:21
Gransherad herredsstyre 1956–1959 [12]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 13
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 8
Total number of members:21
Gransherad herredsstyre 1952–1955 [13]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 13
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 7
Total number of members:20
Gransherad herredsstyre 1948–1951 [14]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 11
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 2
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 7
Total number of members:20
Gransherad herredsstyre 1945–1947 [15]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 11
  Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti) 3
  Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet) 3
  Joint list of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Radical People's Party (Radikale Folkepartiet) 3
Total number of members:20
Gransherad herredsstyre 1938–1941* [16]  
Party name (in Norwegian) Number of
representatives
  Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) 11
  Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister) 9
Total number of members:20
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.

Notable people

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ^ "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1932. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norway: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 453–471. 1932.
  3. ^ "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
  4. ^ Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
  5. ^ Helland, Amund (1900). "Gransherred herred". VIII. Bratsberg Amt. Anden del. Norges land og folk (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 455. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  6. ^ Mæhlum, Lars, ed. (29 June 2022). "Gransherad (tidligere kommune)". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
  7. ^ a b Jukvam, Dag (1999). Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
  8. ^ Rygh, Oluf (1914). Norske gaardnavne: Bratsbergs amt (in Norwegian) (7 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 287 and 296.
  9. ^ "Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m". Norsk Lovtidend (in Norwegian). Kristiania, Norge: Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri: 1057–1065. 1917.
  10. ^ Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  11. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960.
  12. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo, Norge: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957.
  13. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952.
  14. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948.
  15. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947.
  16. ^ "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938.