Klepp

Klepp is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Jæren. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Kleppe. Other villages in Klepp include Klepp stasjon, Orre, Orstad, Pollestad, Verdalen, and Voll. Klepp is a flat and open agricultural landscape. The highest point, Tinghaug, is at above sea level. There are long stretches of sand beaches along the North Sea coastline in the west. The municipality is the 324th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Klepp is the 63rd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 20,163. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 13.6% over the previous 10-year period. The population around Kleppe is growing rapidly, mostly in the form of suburban single-family homes, but also in the form of some apartment blocks. There is a shopping mall in Kleppe called Jærhagen. The old parish of Klep was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The boundaries of the municipality have not changed since that time. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Klepp farm (Kleppi) since the first Klepp Church was built there. The name is the dative case of the word kleppr which means "rocky hill". The inscription on the Klepp I Runestone indicates that the name has been in use since the late 10th or early 11th century. Before 1912, the name was written "Klep". The coat of arms was granted on 18 February 1972. The official blazon is "Azure, a Cossack cross Or" (På blå botn ein svevande, utskrådd gul kross). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a Cossack cross. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The cross on the arms symbolizes the large stone cross at Krosshaug in Klepp. Krosshaug is a grave hill located near the site where the local thing met for centuries.