Tingvoll

General information

Tingvoll was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). On 1 January 1866, the northern part of the municipality (population: 1,222) was separated to form the new municipality of Straumsnes. On 1 January 1874, a part of Stangvik municipality (population: 61) was transferred to Tingvoll. On 1 January 1877, the Tiltereidet and Meisalstranden part of Tingvoll (population: 212) on the west side of the Sunndalsfjorden was transferred to Nesset Municipality. On 1 January 1880, the Torjulvågen area of Halsa Municipality (population: 240) was transferred to Tingvoll. On 1 January 1890, the Rausand area of Tingvoll (population: 101) was transferred to Nesset Municipality.

On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Straumsnes (population: 1,160) and the part of Frei Municipality on the island of Aspøya (population: 147) were merged into Tingvoll. On 1 January 1965, the part of Tingvoll located on the western side of the Tingvollfjorden (population: 778) was transferred to Gjemnes Municipality and the Åsprong-Sandnes area near Meisingset (population: 26) was transferred from Stangvik municipality to Tingvoll.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Tingvoll farm (Old Norse: Þingvǫllr), since the first church (Tingvoll Church) was built there. The first element is þing which means "thing" or "assembly" and the last element is vǫllr which means "meadow" (so Tingvoll means "meeting place"). Before 1918, the name was written Tingvold.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 7 September 1984. The arms show five green oak leaves on a gray background. Each leaf represents one of the five main villages in the municipality: Tingvollvågen, Straumsnes, Gyl, Torjulvågen, and Meisingset. The oak leaves are chosen as a symbol for the municipality as Norway's northernmost oak forests can be found in the municipality.

Churches

The Church of Norway has two parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Tingvoll. It is part of the Indre Nordmøre deanery in the Diocese of Møre.

History

Eight or nine centuries ago, Tingvoll was the site of the Nordmøre Ting. There was a flat field there, which in Norwegian is called voll. It was here that meetings were held, called ting, thus the name Tingvoll. The name has the same origin as the Scottish town of Dingwall, the parliament of the Isle of Man Tynwald, the English town of Thingwall (which Norwegian Vikings colonised) Wirral Peninsula, and Þingvellir in Iceland.

Tingvoll Church, also known as the Nordmøre Cathedral (Nordmørsdomen), was built around 1180 at the village of Tingvollvågen.

Geography

Tingvoll Municipality is a peninsula surrounded by the Tingvollfjorden, Vinjefjorden, Freifjorden, Halsafjorden, and Trongfjorden. The municipality also includes some islands including Aspøya. The Bergsøysund Bridge (part of the European route E39 highway) connects Aspøya to the neighboring island of Bergsøya to the west.

Eco-municipality

Tingvoll has been a self declared Eco-municipality since 1990, when the municipal council (Kommunestyre) signed the declaration. The movement of eco-municipalities started among rural municipalities in Finland and later in Sweden in the 1980s. The idea was to inspire local economic and cultural development within a sustainable framework. In Tingvoll, the work started with a program for environmental education of the members of the council and the executive officers. The schools adapted national programs for environmental education.

A main part of the early years of eco-municipality, was the program for composting waste from the households. A new type of insulated bin was developed (Hagakompen) to assure composting could handle meat and fish waste, and work well in wintertime as well.

The Bioforsk Organic Food and Farming Division is located at Tingvoll.

Sister cities

Tingvoll has sister city agreements with the following places: