Hillesøy

Hillesøy is a former municipality in the old Troms county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1855 until its dissolution in 1964. It was located on both sides of the Malangen fjord in what is now the present-day municipalities of Tromsø and Senja. The administrative centre was located at Brensholmen on the western shore of the island of Kvaløya. Brensholmen is also the location of Hillesøy Church, the main church for the municipality. Hillesøy Municipality included about of land with on the island of Senja, about on the island of Kvaløya, and about of smaller islands including Hillesøya and Sommarøya. On Senja island, Hillesøy Municipality included the larger villages of Fjordgård, Husøy, and Botnhamn. On Kvaløya island, it included Ersfjordbotn and Brensholmen. The island of Sommarøya is connected to the large island of Kvaløya by the Sommarøy Bridge. Most of the other islands are only accessible by boat. The municipality of Hillesøy (originally spelled Hillesø) was established in 1855 when it was separated from the large Lenvik Municipality (or it might have been in 1871–some sources do not concur). The initial population of Hillesøy was around 800 people. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Hillesøy Municipality was dissolved and its lands were divided as follows: The areas of Hillesøy on Kvaløya as well as all of the islands north of the Malangen fjord (with 1,316 inhabitants in total) were merged with the city of Tromsø (population: 12,602), the whole municipality of Tromsøysund (population: 16,727), and all of the municipality of Ullsfjord except the Svensby area (population: 2,019) to form a new, enlarged Tromsø Municipality. The areas of Hillesøy on the island of Senja and the little island of Hekkingen (with 1,159 inhabitants in total) merged with Lenvik Municipality (population: 8,825), the part of Tranøy Municipality along the south shore of the river Lakselva (population: 106), and the part of Sørreisa Municipality on Senja island (population: 129) to form a new, larger Lenvik Municipality.