Nesna Municipality

Nesna Municipality Nesna kommune
Municipality
Nesne herred  (historic name)
View of the Nesna peninsula (front), Tomma (middle), Handnesøya (right), Hugla (left)
Flag Coat of arms
Nordland within Norway
Nesna within Nordland
Coordinates: 66°15′28″N 13°02′06″E / 66.25778°N 13.03500°E / 66.25778; 13.03500
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Helgeland
Established	1 January 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Nesna
Government
• Mayor (2015)	Hanne Davidsen (Ap)
Area
• Total	183.19 km2 (70.73 sq mi)
• Land	181.30 km2 (70.00 sq mi)
• Water	1.89 km2 (0.73 sq mi)  1%
• Rank	#310 in Norway
Highest elevation [1]	921.75 m (3,024.11 ft)
Population  (2024)
• Total	1,808
• Rank	#294 in Norway
• Density	9.9/km2 (26/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−4.9%
Demonym	Nesnaværing[2]
Official language [3]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1828[4]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Nesna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Nesna. Other villages in Nesna include Handnesneset, Husby, Saura, and Vikholmen.

The municipality consists of the three main islands Tomma, Hugla (known as "Hugløy" by its inhabitants), and Handnesøya, and one peninsula that bears the name of the municipality, Nesna. The old Husby Estate is headquartered in Husby on Tomma island.

The Coastal Express arrives two times a day at the village of Nesna, the northbound arrives 05:30 and the southbound 11:15. The village of Nesna is also home to the Nesna campus of Nord University, and there is also the KVN High School, and Nesna Church.

The 183.2-square-kilometre (70.7 sq mi) municipality is the 310th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Nesna is the 294th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,808. The municipality's population density is 9.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (26/sq mi) and its population has decreased by 4.9% over the previous 10-year period.^[5][6]

Nesna was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The western island district of Nesna Municipality (population: 1,348) was separated from Nesna Municipality on 1 July 1888 to form the new Dønnes Municipality. This left Nesna Municipality with 2,958 residents. On 1 January 1919, the Bardalssjøen farm (population: 4) was transferred from Hemnes Municipality to Nesna Municipality. In 1945, a small area of southern Nesna Municipality (population: 26) was transferred to Leirfjord Municipality.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962, the part of the island of Løkta (population: 80) belonging to Nesna Municipality was transferred to the new Dønna Municipality. The part of the island of Tomma (population: 80) belonging to Dønnes Municipality was transferred to Nesna Municipality. Then on 1 January 1964, the Bardalssjøen area of Nesna Municipality (located south of the Ranfjorden), was transferred to Leirfjord Municipality. On that same date, the part of Nesna around the inner part of the Sjona fjord was transferred to Rana Municipality.^[7]

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Nesna farm (Old Norse: Nesnar) since the first Nesna Church was built there. The name is derived from the word nes which means "headland".^[8] Historically, the name of the municiaplity was spelled Nesne. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Nesna.^[9]

The coat of arms was granted on 23 June 1989. The official blazon is "Per chevron inverted Or and Azure" (Norwegian: Delt av gull og blått ved omvendt sparresnitt). This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided by a line in the form of an inverted chevron pattern. The background above the line has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The background below the line has a tincture of azure. The arms are a canting of the name of the municipality (Nesna comes form nes which means headland in Norwegian). The arms show a yellow-colored "headland" or peninsula surrounded by blue water. The arms were designed by Jarle E. Henriksen.^{[10][11][12][13]}

The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within Nesna Municipality. It is part of the Nord-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Nesna Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[14] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Nesna is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four-year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

The mayor (Norwegian: ordfører) of Nesna is the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who have held this position:^[34]

The highest point in the municipality is the 921.75-metre (3,024.1 ft) tall mountain Tommskjevelen.^[1] Nesna is located west of Rana Municipality, north of Leirfjord Municipality (across the Ranfjorden), east of Dønna Municipality (an island municipality), and south of Lurøy Municipality.

Historically, the land of Nesna was divided up into named farms. These farms were used in census and tax records and are useful for genealogical research.

Nesna municipality, tellingskrets 1-3, 6-7, from 1920 census

4km
2.5miles

49: Nesna kirke

48: Husby kapell

47: Handnesøya kirke

45

44

43

42

41

40

39

38

37

36

35

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31

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29

28

27

26

25

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5

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2

1

  

Tellingskrets (enumeration districts): 1, Tomøy (lime); 2, Hannesøy (red); 3, Hugløya og Horn (blue); 6, Nesnastranden (purple); 7, Nesna og Strandlandet (black). List of farms:

1

1: Finvik

2

2: Sellåt

3

3: Forsland

4

4: Skjeivstad

5

5: Alsøy

6

6: Nordstrand

7

7: Valla

8

8: Hansteen

9

9: Hagen

10

10: Ravnfløi

11

11: Skaganeset

12

12: Øbo

13

13: Fjelstad

14

14: Steiro

15

15: Stokka

16

16: Hines

17

17: Riksen

18

18: Saura

19

19: Dilleren

20

20: Svaleng

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21: Huglen

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22: Horn

23

23: Halland

24

24: Feøy

25

25: Nordbostad

26

26: Vik

27

46: Einmo

28

47: Langseth

29

48: Engen

30

49: Remmen

31

50: Skog

32

51: Remmaa

33

52: Oldersletten

34

53: Huske

35

54: Herseth

36

55: Handaa

37

56: Sletstrand

38

57: Nesna

39

58: Utsyn

40

59: Sandnes

41

60: Strandheim

42

61: Strand øvre

43

62: Mehus

44

63: Hammerø

45

64: Hinderå

47

Handnesøya kirke (church), built 1921, consecrated 1969

48

Husby kapell (chapel), built 1905

49

Nesna kirke (church), built 1880

Note that each map has a maximum number of listings it can display, so the map has been divided into parts consistent with the enumeration districts (Norwegian: tellingskrets) in the 1920 census. This map includes one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist. (Note: The historical tellingskrets 4, Nordsjona og Kvalnes, and 5, Myklebostad og Venes, are now part of Vefsn Municipality, while the historical tellingskrets 8, Bardal; 9, Sørlandet; and 10, Lilandet Fagerviken, are now part of Leirfjord Municipality).

The farms in the Nesna municipality are listed in O. Rygh's series Norske_Gaardnavne ("Norwegian farm names"), the Nordland volume of which was published in 1905.

See also: Digital version of Norske Gaardnavne - Nordland (in Norwegian)

The farm numbers are used in some census records, and numbers that are near each other indicate that those farms are geographically proximate. Handwritten Norwegian sources, particularly those prior to 1800, may use variants on these names. For recorded variants before 1723, see the digital version of O. Rygh. Note that the 1920 census records mapped above may not match O. Rygh.

Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and patronymic or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, or toponymic, as a surname when they emigrated, so in those cases tracing a surname may tell you specifically where in Norway the family was from. This tradition began to change in the mid to late 19th century, and inherited surnames were codified into law in 1923.

• Johan Augustinussen (born 1808 at Langset - 1888 in Nesna), a curate/choirmaster, teacher, and politician
• Hans Christiansen (1867 in Nesna – 1938), a sailor who competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics
• Birger Fredrik Motzfeldt OBE, CVO (1898 in Nesna – 1987), an aviator and senior military officer
• Ida Maria (born 1984), a musician and singer-songwriter who was born and lives in Nesna
• Emil Weber Meek (born 1988), a professional mixed martial artist who was brought up in Nesna
• Ulrik Berglann (born 1992 in Nesna), a footballer with 180 club caps

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway (in Norwegian)
• Official site of Nesna Municipality
• Hammerø nature reserve
• Dillern-Ørnes nature reserve at Handnesøya
• Husbymarka nature reserve at Tomma