Herefoss (municipality)

Herefoss is a former municipality in Aust-Agder county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1967 when it was merged into Birkenes municipality. Herefoss was a 148-square-kilometre (57 sq mi) area surrounding the Herefossfjorden (part of the river Tovdalselva). The administrative centre was the village of Herefoss where the Herefoss Church is located. The other main village was Søre Herefoss, located in the southern part of the municipality.[1]

Herefoss herred
Former Municipality
View of the village of Herefoss
Herefoss herred
Location of the municipality
Herefoss herred
Herefoss herred (Norway)
Coordinates: 58.5243°N 08.3511°E / 58.5243; 08.3511
CountryNorway
RegionSouthern Norway
CountyAust-Agder
Municipality IDNO-0933
Adm. CenterHerefoss
Area
 • Total148 km2 (57 sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Created asFormannskapsdistrikt in 1838
Merged intoBirkenes in 1967

History

The municipality of Heirefos was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). In 1900, 610 people lived in the municipality on 67 different farms. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1967, Herefoss (population: 585) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Birkenes (population: 1,883) and Vegusdal (population: 582), forming the new municipality of Birkenes with its administrative centre located at Birkeland.[2]

Herefoss was historically the seat of public officials in this region. The fogd resided here from 1680 to 1820, and the sorenskriver (district judge) also lived here from 1724 to 1852. Herefoss was established as a prestegjeld in 1875. Herefoss Church was consecrated by Bishop Jacob von der Lippe in 1865.[3]

Name

The first documented occurrence of the name Hegrafoss stems from 1487, and the Old Norse form of the name must then have been Hegrafors. The first element is the genitive case of the bird name hegri (grey heron) (same as the local river name, Hegra), and the last element is fors which means "waterfall". Later, it was spelled Heirefos and ultimately Herefoss.[4]

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See also

References
  1. Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (2016-01-29). "Herefoss". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  2. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. "Herefoss kommune". LokalhistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2017-06-08.
  4. Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nedenes amt (in Norwegian) (8 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 71.
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