Nedstrand (municipality)

Nedstrand is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality was located along the Nedstrandfjorden, an inner branch off the main Boknafjorden. The municipality encompassed the majority of the Nedstrand peninsula. Originally (from 1838 to 1868) it also included the Sjernarøyane islands and the western part of the island of Ombo in the fjord to the south. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Nedstrand. Nedstrand Church is located in Hindaråvåg, a small village just west of Nedstrand village. Today, the area is part of the large municipality of Tysvær. The parish of Nærstrand was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). Originally, it encompassed the two sokn (parishes) of Hinderaa and Sjærnerø, located on the northern (mainland) part of the municipality and the southern (islands) in the Nedstrandfjorden, respectively. On 1 January 1868, the southern islands were separated to become the new municipality of Sjærnerø (population: 922). The remaining northern mainland portion of Nærstrand was renamed as Hinderaa (population: 1,680). On 10 August 1881, a royal resolution was handed down that changed the name of Hinderaa municipality was changed back to Nerstrand (with a slight spelling change from its previous spelling). Later, between 1910 and 1920 the spelling was changed slightly to Nedstrand to better match the local pronunciation. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Nedstrand (population: 1,200) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Tysvær and parts of the municipalities of Avaldsnes, Skjold, Vats, and Vikedal to form the new municipality of Tysvær. The municipality (originally the parish) was first named after the old Nerstrand farm (Nesjarstrǫnd). The first element is the plural form of the word nes which means "headland". The last element is strǫnd which means "beach" or "shore".