Leksvik

Leksvik kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Nord-Trøndelag within
Norway

Leksvik within Nord-Trøndelag
Coordinates: 63°39′59″N 10°29′29″E / 63.66639°N 10.49139°E / 63.66639; 10.49139Coordinates: 63°39′59″N 10°29′29″E / 63.66639°N 10.49139°E / 63.66639; 10.49139
Country Norway
County Nord-Trøndelag
Administrative centre Leksvik
Government
 • Mayor (2007) Einar Strøm (Sp)
Area
 • Total 430.21 km2 (166.11 sq mi)
 • Land 399.68 km2 (154.32 sq mi)
 • Water 30.53 km2 (11.79 sq mi)
Area rank 230 in Norway
Population (2011)
 • Total 3,522
 • Rank 246 in Norway
 • Density 8.8/km2 (23/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 0.1 %
Demonym(s) Leksværing[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-1718
Official language form Neutral
Website www.leksvik.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Leksvik is a village and a municipality in Nord-Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative center of the municipality is the village of Leksvik. Other villages in Leksvik include Vanvikan, Seter, and Dalbygda. Norwegian County Road 755 is the main road that connects the whole municipality from north to south.

The 1.18-square-kilometre (290-acre) village of Leksvik has a population (2013) of 1,092. The population density of the village is 925 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,400/sq mi).[2] Leksvik and Vanvikan are especially known for their high tech industries which have developed to become advanced and in demand. Areas with agriculture are also widespread, but most of the municipality is covered in forests and mountains where the wildlife rules with animals such as moose and reindeer. The moose go all the way down to the heart of Leksvik and Vanvikan, where modern downtown areas with commercial and residential developments are growing.

Leksvik as seen from Våttåhaugen. Photo: Christian Nesset

General information

Leksvik was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It is one of very few municipalities in Norway with unchanged borders since that date.[3]

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Lexuvík. The first element is the genitive case of a river name Lexa and the last element is vík which means "inlet". The river name is, maybe, derived from the word lax which means "salmon". The name has also, historically, been spelled Lexvigen or Leksviken.[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 28 September 1990. The arms show the blue Trondheimsfjorden and a silver part representing the land with a clover at the end of it to represent life and growth.[5]

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Leksvik. It is part of the Fosen deanery and the Diocese of Nidaros.

Churches in Leksvik
Parish
(Sokn)		Church NameLocation
of the Church		Year Built
LeksvikLeksvik ChurchLeksvik1670
StrandaStranda ChurchVanvikan1897

Geography

View of the Bjørnåa river and falls

Leksvik is located on the eastern side of the Fosen peninsula along the coast of the Trondheimsfjord. There are two large lakes located in Leksvik: Storvatnet and Meltingvatnet.

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Leksvik, are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Leksvik is made up of 25 representatives that are elected to every four years. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:[6]

Leksvik Kommunestyre 2015–2019
Party NameName in NorwegianNumber of
representatives
 Labour PartyArbeiderpartiet10
 Progress PartyFremskrittspartiet2
 Conservative PartyHøyre5
 Christian Democratic PartyKristelig Folkeparti1
 Centre PartySenterpartiet5
 Socialist Left PartySosialistisk Venstreparti1
 Liberal PartyVenstre1
Total number of members:25

History

The first inhabitants are believed to have moved to Leksvik some 3,000 years ago. They left several pieces of cutting tools which are now placed in museums. But Leksvik does not appear in recorded history before the Viking Age when the villages Leksvik and Hindrem became quite important in the local area. In both Leksvik and Hindrem there have been found great tombs and ruins of buildings and longboats. On Borgen, there is a hill between Hindrem and Seter that may have been a great Viking fortress, but this could also be tracks made by the glaciers during the last ice age. After the Black Death struck Norway in 1349, Leksvik fell into silence for some 300 years.

In more modern history, Leksvik and Hindrem are small and relatively isolated villages, north of the Trondheimsfjorden. Two churches stood here, a church in Leksvik and a stave church in Hindrem, but this broke down in 1655 and was replaced by a modern wooden church. In the 19th century, the church of Hindrem was demolished, and the new Stranda Church was built in Vanvikan. Leksvik became well known for its goats and had 5,000 of them at their peak number.

During World War II, Leksvik was settled by German troops with the main camp on the top of Våttåhaugen, a hill north of the village of Leksvik. But as a small and isolated village, nothing of great importance happened there during the war, and it was mostly peaceful although bombs fell over Trondheim, on the south side of the fjord. After electric power first came to Leksvik, Bjørn Lyng founded the first industry in Vanvikan and Leksvik. After the first road was finally finished in the early 1960s, industry grew rapidly and replaced the goats.

Attractions

References

  1. ↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
  2. ↑ Statistisk sentralbyrå (1 January 2013). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality.".
  3. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
  4. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1903). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Trondhjems amt (dokpro.uio.no) (in Norwegian) (15 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 48.
  5. ↑ "Leksvik kommunevåpen" (in Norwegian). Leksvik kommune. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
  6. ↑ "Table: 04813: Members of the local councils, by party/electoral list at the Municipal Council election (M)" (in Norwegian). Statistics Norway. 2015.
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