Holtålen

Holtålen kommune
Holtålen kommune
	Municipality
	View of the Båttjønndalen valley in Holtålen
; Coat of arms	; Trøndelag within ; Norway
	; Holtålen within Trøndelag
	Coordinates: 62°52′07″N 11°16′38″E / 62.86861°N 11.27722°ECoordinates: 62°52′07″N 11°16′38″E / 62.86861°N 11.27722°E
Country	Norway
County	Trøndelag
District	Gauldal
Established	1 Jan 1838
Administrative centre	Renbygda/Ålen
Government
• Mayor (2011)	Jan Håvard Refsethås (Sp)
Area
• Total	1,209.50 km2 (466.99 sq mi)
• Land	1,171.47 km2 (452.31 sq mi)
• Water	38.03 km2 (14.68 sq mi) 3.1%
Area rank	#82 in Norway
Population (2017)
• Total	2,046
• Rank	#326 in Norway
• Density	1.7/km2 (4/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	-1.4%
Demonym(s)	Holtåling[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-5026
Official language form	Neutral
Website	holtalen.kommune.no
	Data from Statistics Norway

Holtålen is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Gauldalen region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located in the Ålen area of the village of Renbygda. Other villages in the municipality include Hessdalen, Aunegrenda, and Haltdalen.

The 1,210-square-kilometre (470 sq mi) municipality is the 82nd largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Holtålen is the 326th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,046. The municipality's population density is 1.7 inhabitants per square kilometre (4.4/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 1.4% over the last decade.^[2]

General information

Map of Holtålen

Farm in the Hessdalen valley (c. 1950s)

Ålen Church

The municipality of Holtaalen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1841, the western part of the municipality was separated to become the municipality of Singsaas. This left Holtaalen with 1,885 residents. Then in 1855, the southeastern part of Holtaalen was separated to become the municipality of Aalen, leaving Holtaalen with 809 residents. The spelling of the name was changed to Holtålen in 1921. In 1937, the name was changed from Holtålen to Haltdalen. On 1 January 1972, the municipality of Haltdalen was merged with the neighboring municipality of Ålen to form the new (present-day) municipality of Holtålen (resurrecting an old name for the area as the name of the new municipality). Prior to the merger, Haltdalen had 778 residents. On 21 April 1989, a small unpopulated part of the neighboring municipality o fRøros was transferred to Holtålen.^[3] On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Nord-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

Name

The Old Norse forms of the name was Holtdalr and (later) Holtáll. The first element is the old name of the local river Holda. The last element was originally dalr which means "valley" or "dale", but this name was later (around 1400 AD) replaced by the word áll which means "ditch" or "gully" (ålen is the modern definite form of this word). Historically, the spelling was Holtaalen, and in the 20th century the spelling was changed to the current Holtålen.^[4]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms is from modern times; they were granted in 1988. The arms show a willow ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus) in silver or white on a red background. This common local bird was chosen to reflect the importance of hunting in the municipality.^[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Holtålen. It is part of the Gauldal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

**Churches in Holtålen**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Year Built	Location of the Church
Haltdalen	Haltdalen Church	1881	Haltdalen
	Haltdalen Stave Church	1170	Trondheim**
	Aunegrenda Chapel	1952	Aunegrenda
Hessdalen	Hessdalen Church	1940	Hessdalen
Ålen	Ålen Church	1881	Renbygda
**This church was moved to a museum in Trondheim, but was originally in Haltdalen.

Geography

View of the Eafossen waterfall

The old, stone Eidet bridge that was built in 1853. It crosses the river Gaula near Hyttfossen.

The Gauldalen valley with the river Gaula originates from the mountainous area near the mining town of Røros, about 35 kilometres (22 mi) south of Renbygda, which is listed as a World Heritage Site. At the village of Renbygda the deep Gauldalen valley disappears into the mountains, not far from the lake Riasten.

The western part of Holtålen is where the Forollhogna National Park is located with the mountain Forollhogna on the border with Midtre Gauldal municipality. The lake Øyungen lies just outside the park.

The Kjøli and Killingdal copper mines are located in the southeastern part of Holtålen. The last mine in production was Killingdal until it closed down in 1986.

Hessdalen is a mountain valley joining the Gauldal valley close to the village of Renbygda. Around 1983, Hessdalen became famous for UFO observations and the Hessdalen lights. Because of this the Hessdalen AMS station was founded in the valley.

The Rørosbanen railway line runs through the municipality, stopping at the Ålen Station and Haltdalen Station.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Holtålen, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), 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 Sør-Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Holtålen is made up of 15 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:^[6]

*Holtålen Kommunestyre 2015–2019*
Party Name		Name in Norwegian	Number of representatives
	Labour Party	Arbeiderpartiet	7
	Conservative Party	Høyre	1
	Socialist Left Party	Sosialistisk Venstreparti	1
	Local Lists	Lokale lister	6
Total number of members:			15

References

↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
↑ Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-07.
↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
↑ Rygh, Oluf (1901). Norske gaardnavne: Søndre Trondhjems amt (in Norwegian) (14 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 220.
↑ "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.

External links

Trøndelag travel guide from Wikivoyage
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.

[ssb_pop-2] Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-10-07.

[3] Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.

[4] Rygh, Oluf (1901). Norske gaardnavne: Søndre Trondhjems amt (in Norwegian) (14 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 220.

[5] "Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2018-01-20.

[6] "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.