Lurøy

Lurøy kommune
Municipality
View of Tonnes in northern Lurøy

Coat of arms

Nordland within
Norway

Lurøy within Nordland
Coordinates: 66°25′55″N 12°51′18″E / 66.43194°N 12.85500°E / 66.43194; 12.85500Coordinates: 66°25′55″N 12°51′18″E / 66.43194°N 12.85500°E / 66.43194; 12.85500
Country Norway
County Nordland
District Helgeland
Established 1838
Administrative centre Lurøy
Government
  Mayor (2015) Carl Einar Isachsen jr. (Sp)
Area
  Total 265.19 km2 (102.39 sq mi)
  Land 258.28 km2 (99.72 sq mi)
  Water 6.91 km2 (2.67 sq mi)
Area rank #290 in Norway
Population (2017)
  Total 1,920
  Rank #332 in Norway
  Density 7.4/km2 (19/sq mi)
  Change (10 years) -2.5%
Demonym(s) Lurøyværing[1]
Time zone UTC+01:00 (CET)
  Summer (DST) UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code NO-1834
Official language form Bokmål
Website luroy.kommune.no

Lurøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lurøy, located on the island of Lurøya. Other villages include Aldra, Haugland, Konsvikosen, Lovund, Sleneset / Solværøyene, Stokkvågen, and Tonnes.

View of the island Lovund

The municipality is located on the coast just south of the Arctic circle, on the western edge of the Saltfjellet mountain range. The Lurøygården (Lurøy Farm) on Lurøya is a more-than-200-year-old renaissance garden with old plants, a pool, and a nearly 20-metre (66 ft) high Copper Beech.

The 265-square-kilometre (102 sq mi) municipality is the 290th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Lurøy is the 332nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,920. The municipality's population density is 7.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (19/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 2.5% over the last decade.[2]

General information

Lurøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1872, the far western island district (population: 289) was separated from Lurøy to become the new municipality of Træna. This left Lurøy with 1,554 residents. The borders of Lurøy have not changed since that time.[3]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Lurøya (Old Norse: Lúðrøy), since the first church was built there. The first element is lúðr which means "hollowed log" (here probably referring to the form of the mountain of the island). The last element is øy which means "island".[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 22 August 1986. The arms show a black buoy on a gold background. The buoy is an appropriate symbol for a municipality since it is dependent on fishing and sailing.[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Lurøy. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Churches in Lurøy
Parish
(Sokn)
Church NameLocation
of the Church
Year Built
AldersundAldersund ChurchHaugland1971
LurøyLovund ChurchLovund1960
Lurøy ChurchLurøya1812
Moflag ChurchMoflaget1921

Geography

Lurøy is located on the western coast of Helgeland. The small strip of mainland Lurøy runs from Tonnes in the north along Norwegian County Road 17 to Stokkvågen along the Sjona fjord in the south. The rest of the municipality is located on 1,375 islands located to the west of the mainland. The major islands include Aldra, Lurøya, Onøya, Stigen, Solvær, and Lovund. There are also two islands in the northern part of Lurøya that are divided between Lurøy and neighboring Rødøy municipality: Nesøya and Hestmona.[6]

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Lurøy, 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.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Lurøy is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[7]

Lurøy Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet6
 Progress PartyFremskrittspartiet1
 Conservative PartyHøyre2
 Christian Democratic PartyKristelig Folkeparti1
 Centre PartySenterpartiet6
 Local ListsLokale lister3
Total number of members:19

References

  1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. Statistisk sentralbyrå (2017). "Table: 06913: Population 1 January and population changes during the calendar year (M)" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-09-16.
  3. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  4. Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. pp. 154, 156.
  5. Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  6. Store norske leksikon. "Lurøy" (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2012-01-30.
  7. "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.
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