Finnøy Municipality

Finnøy is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2020. The area is now part of Stavanger Municipality in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre was the village of Judaberg.

The municipality consisted of a number of islands on the south side of the Boknafjorden, about northeast of the city of Stavanger. The Finnøy Tunnel connects the two islands of Finnøy and Talgje to the mainland. The rest of the islands are accessible only by boat. Finnøy was an agricultural community dominated by dairy, meat, poultry, and fish farming products, with strong horticultural traditions, mainly greenhouse production of tomatoes, as well as some tourism.

Prior to its dissolution in 2020, the municipality was the 375th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Finnøy Municipality was the 258th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about . The municipality's population density was and its population had increased by 12.9% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

thumb|left|upright|Map of Finnøy Municipality

thumb|left|upright|[[Talgje Church]]

thumb|upright|left|[[Sjernarøy Church]]

The parish of Finnø (later spelled Finnøy) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). It originally encompassed the islands of Finnøy, Talgje, and Fogn as well as the small surrounding islets and the southeasternmost corner of the island of Rennesøy. On 1 July 1918, the part of Finnøy Municipality located on the island of Rennesøy (population: 72) was transferred from Finnøy Municipality to the neighboring Rennesøy Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the following areas were merged to form a much larger Finnøy Municipality:

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Finnøy () since the historic Hesby Church was built there. The meaning of the first element is uncertain. It is possibly from the word finna which is the local name for Nardus stricta. Another possibility is that it comes from the old male name . The last element is which means "island".

Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Finnø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Finnøy. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name ( is the Danish word for "island" and is the Norwegian word).

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 23 September 1983 and it was in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official blazon is "Azure, a winged arrowhead argent in bend" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a winged arrowhead. The charge has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms were derived from the arms of the Hestbø family (which included Ogmund Finnsson), one of the mightiest families in the area in the 14th century. They had their stronghold on their Hesby estate on the island of Finnøy in Finnøy Municipality. The arms were designed by Harald Hallstensen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The Church of Norway had three parishes () within Finnøy Municipality. It was part of the Tungenes prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

|+ style="font-size:medium"|Churches in Finnøy Municipality

!Parish ()!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built

|rowspan="1"|Hesby||Hesby Church||Hesby on Finnøy||c. 1100

|rowspan="2"|Sjernarøy||Sjernarøy Church||Kyrkjøy in Sjernarøyane islands||1647

|Jørstad Church||Jørstadvågen on Ombo||1929

|rowspan="2"|Talgje||Fogn Church||Fogn||1991

|Talgje Church||Talgje||c. 1100

History

thumb|right|Drawing of the Finnøy prestegård

thumb|right|Fields on Finnøy

The island of Finnøy was at the top of its power in the middle of the fourteenth century when the King's representative Ogmund Finnsson had his seat at Hesby on the west side of the island of Finnøy. The medieval, stone Hesby Church, dating back to at least the thirteenth century, still stands at Hesby.

It is often claimed that the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) was born on Finnøy island since his father Søren Georg Abel acted as rector there. Recent studies indicates, however, that he was born in the Nedstrand Church parish located to the north of Finnøy. However, he was raised on the island of Finnøy.

Geography

The island municipality of Finnøy was located on the south side of the Boknafjorden. The main islands of Finnøy included Finnøy, Talgje, Fogn, Halsnøya, Sjernarøyane, and the north and west parts of the island of Ombo. The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Bandåsen on the island of Ombo. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Ryfylke District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Finnøy Municipality was made up of 21 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 Finnøy Municipality was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. The following people have held this position:

1838–1843: Ole Christian Selvaag
1844–1851: Thormod Asgoutsen Regelstad
1852–1853: Erik Sørensen Faae
1854–1857: Svend Olsen Gjesdahl
1858–1859: Ole Schavland
1860–1861: Nils Nilsen Ladsteen
1862–1869: Ole Schavland
1870–1873: Rasmus Asgoutsen Nordbø
1874–1877: Ole Schavland
1878–1893: Asgout Eriksen Steennæs
1894–1901: Erik E. Steennæs
1902–1904: Gudtorm Lauvsnæs
1905–1907: Nils M. Ladstein
1908–1913: Gudtorm Lauvsnæs
1914–1942: Asseus Steinnes
1943–1945: Einar M. Hviding
1945–1955: Bellest Vestbø
1955–1959: Kasper Mjølsnes
1959–1971: Nils Ladstein Vestbø
1971–1979: Petter Nærland (Sp)
1979–1983: Johannes Løyning (H)
1983–1987: Kjell Vastveit (Sp)
1987–1991: Sigurd Risa (KrF)
1991–2007: Jorunn Strand Vestbø (Sp)
2007–2011: Kjell Nes (KrF)
2011–2015: Gro Skartveit (V)
2015–2019: Henrik Halleland (KrF)

Notable people

Torolf Nordbø (also known as Han Innante), a Norwegian musician and comedian