Alversund (municipality)

Alversund is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1885 until 1964. It was located in the southwestern part of the mainland portion of the present-day Alver Municipality in Vestland county. It originally included area on the island of Holsnøy as well, but that was later separated. Alversund covered upon its dissolution in 1964. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Alversund, where Alversund Church is located. The municipality of Alversund was established on 1 January 1885 when the old municipality of Hammer was divided into two separate municipalities. The northwestern part of the old Hammer municipality became Alversund, and it also included the annex of Seim which had been a part of the municipality of Hosanger before that time. The initial population of Alversund was 2,793. On 1 January 1904, a small area near Hanevik on the island of Askøy (population: 32) was transferred from the municipality of Askøy to Alversund. On 15 October 1923, the western district of Alversund (population: 1716) was separated to form the new municipality of Meland. This left Alversund with 1,771 residents. On 1 January 1964, all of Alversund was merged with parts of the municipalities of Modalen, Hosanger, Hamre, Sæbø, and Lindås to form a new, larger municipality of Lindås. At its dissolution, Alversund had 2,099 residents. The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Alver farm (Alviðra) since the first Alversund Church was built there. The first element is a compound word derived from allr which means "all" or "entire" and the other part comes from veðr which means "weather". Thus the farm name means "all weather" or "weather from all directions"–describing a farm with an exposed and unsheltered location. The last element of the name is sund which means "sound" or "strait", referring to the nearby Alverstraumen strait. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives.