Country Norway County Sogn og Fjordane Municipality ID NO-1416 Area 681 km² | Region Western Norway District Sogn Adm. Center Kyrkjebø Local time Sunday 5:06 PM | |
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Weather 4°C, Wind SE at 19 km/h, 79% Humidity | ||
Kyrkjebø is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the northwestern part of the present-day municipality of Høyanger. The municipality existed from 1858 until 1964 when it became part of the new municipality of Høyanger. Prior to its dissolution, the municipality of Kyrkjebø covered a total of 681 square kilometres (263 sq mi) of land on the north and south side of the Sognefjorden. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Kyrkjebø, where the main Kyrkjebø Church is located.
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Map of 6995 Kyrkjeb%C3%B8, Norway
Name
The municipality was originally named after the old Klævold farm (Old Norse: Kleppavǫllr). The first element comes from the Old Norse word kleppr meaning "hill" and the second element is identical to the Old Norse word vǫllr meaning "level ground". Therefore, the meaning could be a hill in the middle of level ground.
The municipality was later named after the old Kirkebø farm, since Kyrkjebø Church was located there. The first element of the name is identical with the name for "church", and the second element of the name is identical with the word for "farm". It was named this because it was the farm where the church was located. From 1890 until 1917 the name was spelled Kirkebø (using the Bokmål spelling) and then in 1917 it was changed to Kyrkjebø (using the Nynorsk spelling).
History
The parish of Klævold was established as a municipality in 1858 when it was separated from the municipality of Lavik. At the time of its creation, it had a population of 1,645. On 1 January 1875, a border adjustment took place, moving part of Klævold with 90 inhabitants to the neighboring municipality of Lavik og Brekke. On 1 July 1890, the name was changed from Klævold to Kirkebø, and then in 1917 it was changed again to Kyrkjebø. On 1 January 1964, Kyrkjebø, with its 4,742 inhabitants, it was merged with Lavik and part of Vik to become a part of the newly created municipality of Høyanger.