Gildeskål Municipality

Gildeskål is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Bodø Region and the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inndyr. Other villages include Forstranda, Lekanger, Mevik, Mårnes, Nygårdsjøen, Saura, Storvik, Sør-Arnøy, Sørfinnset, and Våg.

The municipality is the 170th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Gildeskål Municipality is the 285th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,958. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 3.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

thumb|left|200px|[[Fugløya, Gildeskål|Fugløya ('Bird Island')]]

thumb|left|200px|The 900-year-old [[Old Gildeskål Church]]

The municipality of Gildeskaal (later spelled Gildeskål) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1853, the eastern (inland) district of Gildeskaal Municipality (population: about 1,150) was separated to become the new Beiarn Municipality. This left Gildeskaal Municipality with about 2,400 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gildeskaal farm () since the first Gildeskål Church was built there. The first element is the plural genitive case of which means "feast" or "banquet". The last element is which means "hall". On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Gildeskaal with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Gildeskål, using the letter å instead.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 12 February 1988. The official blazon is "Azure, a chalice argent" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a chalice. The chalice 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 are canting since the meaning of the municipal name Gildeskål refers to a banquet hall (or guildhall) which, of course, is a place where one might drink from a chalice. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish () within Gildeskål Municipality. It is part of the Bodø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

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

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

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

|rowspan="6"|Gildeskål||Gildeskål Church||Inndyr||1881

|Old Gildeskål Church||Inndyr||12th century

|Saura Church||Saura||1884

|Mevik Chapel||Mevik||1910

|Nordstranda Chapel||Lekanger||1963

|Sørfjorden Chapel||Sørfinnset||1957

Geography

Gildeskål is a coastal municipality that encompasses part of the mainland as well as many islands. Major islands include Fleina, Fugløya, Nord-Arnøya, Sør-Arnøya, and Sandhornøya. The southern part of the municipality includes part of the Saltfjellet mountains and the northern part of the municipality borders the Saltfjorden and the Vestfjorden.

There are many lakes in the municipality including: Fellvatnet, Langvatnet, Litle Sokumvatnet, and Sokumvatnet. The highest point in the municipality is the tall mountain Memaurtinden. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Salten og Lofoten District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council () of Gildeskål Municipality is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor () of Gildeskål Municipality is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:

1838–1847: Stein Eilert Berner
1848–1849: Ole Helgesen
1850–1851: Peder H. Berg
1852–1860: Edvard Pedersen
1860–1862: Hans Henrik Holck Daae
1863–1866: Jørgen Blix
1867–1868: Hans Henrik Holck Daae
1869–1870: Hans Olsen
1871–1872: Eilert Nicolai Friis
1873–1876: Hans Hansen
1877–1878: Abel Ellingsen
1879–1882: Hans Hansen
1883–1884: Christoffer Arntzen
1885–1888: Hans Hansen
1889–1894: Håkon Hansen
1895–1910: O. Laugsand
1911–1913: Paulius Danielsen
1914–1919: Jens Johansen
1920–1922: Daniel Johan Eilertsen
1923–1925: Johan Nilsen-Nygaard
1926–1926: Daniel Johan Eilertsen
1927–1928: Øyvind Heen
1929–1940: Peder Johnsen
1941–1941: Øyvind Heen
1941–1945: Lars Norum
1945–1945: Peder Johnsen
1946–1947: Astrup Johansen
1948–1958: Reidar Juliussen Myrhaug
1958–1961: Magnus Sundsfjord
1962–1963: Øivind Kaspersen
1964–1969: Meyer Madsen
1970–1971: Rolf Fagermo
1972–1972: Meyer Madsen
1972–1975: Andreas Opsahl
1976–1979: Håkon Willumsen
1980–1981: Harald Joakimsen
1982–1983: Svein Christensen
1984–1995: Roger Granberg (Ap)
1995–1999: Jon Gisle Karlsen
1999–2003: Gunnar T. Skjellvik (Ap)
2003–2011: Walter Pedersen (H)
2011–2019: Petter Jørgen Pedersen (Ap)
2019–present: Bjørn Magne Pedersen (H)

Buildings and structures

thumb|350px|right|View from Sandhornøya, in Gildeskål

Sandhornøy Bridge connects the island of Sandhornøya to the mainland. The Kjellingstraumen Bridge crosses the outer end of the Beiar Fjord.

There is a VLF-transmitter in Gildeskål that is used for sending messages to submerged submarines (call sign: JXN, frequency: 16.4 kHz). It uses as antenna multiple wires spun between two mountains (photo). The transmitter building is located at .