Stjørna Municipality

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Stjørna was a municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. It existed from 1899 until 1964 and covered about 322 square kilometers around the Stjørnfjorden on the Fosen peninsula. The administrative centre was the village of Husbysjøen, and other villages included Høybakken, Råkvåg, and Fevåg. The main church was Stjørna Church, which is now known as Heggvik Church.

History and name
The municipality began in 1899 when Bjugn Municipality was divided into Bjugn, Skjørn, and Nes. The area was originally named Skjørn, but the spelling was changed to Stjørna in 1917. The name comes from the nearby Stjørnfjorden; the old river name may derive from Old Norse “stjórn,” meaning governance.

Dissolution and geography
In 1964, during nationwide municipal mergers, Stjørna was dissolved. Its lands were divided between Ørland Municipality and Indre Fosen Municipality, which are the areas that now correspond to parts of Trøndelag county. Stjørna lay on the coast of the Stjørnfjorden, with Ørland to the west and Bjugn to the west, Jøssund to the northwest, Åfjord to the north, and Rissa to the southeast. The highest point in the area was Seksortklumpen, at 492.5 meters.

Population and government
In 1963, Stjørna had about 2,572 residents, a population density of around 8 people per square kilometer, and a 10-year population decrease of about 7.8%. The municipality faced responsibilities like primary education, health services, welfare, zoning, and roads, and was governed by a 17-member council. The mayor from 1956 to 1963 was Georg Breivoll of the Liberal Party (Venstre). The area used Norwegian as its official language, in the Nynorsk form. The Church of Norway had one parish in Stjørna at the time of dissolution.