Gildeskål

Gildeskål is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Bodø Region and the traditional district of Salten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Inndyr. Other villages include Forstranda, Lekanger, Mevik, Mårnes, Nygårdsjøen, Saura, Storvika, Sør-Arnøy, Sørfinnset, and Våg.

The municipality is the 170th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Gildeskål is the 285th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,894. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 5.3% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

The municipality of Gildeskaal (later spelled Gildeskål) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1853, the eastern (inland) district of Gildeskaal (population: about 1,150) was separated to become the new municipality of Beiarn. This left Gildeskaal with about 2,400 residents. The municipal boundaries have not changed since.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Gildeskaal farm since the first Gildeskål Church was built there. The first element is the plural genitive case of which means "feast" or "banquet". The last element is which means "hall".

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 12 February 1988. The official blazon is "Azure, a chalice argent" (Norwegian: I blått en sølv kalk). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a chalice. The chalice has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms are canting since the meaning of the municipal name Gildeskål refers to a banquet hall (or guildhall) which, of course, is a place where one might drink from a chalice. The arms were designed by Arvid Sveen.

Churches

The Church of Norway has one parish within the municipality of Gildeskål. It is part of the Bodø domprosti (arch-deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography

Gildeskål is a coastal municipality that encompasses part of the mainland as well as many islands. Major islands include Fleina, Fugløya, Nordarnøya, Sørarnøya, and Sandhornøya. The southern part of the municipality includes part of the Saltfjellet mountains and the northern part of the municipality borders the Saltfjorden and the Vestfjorden.

There are many lakes in the municipality including: Fellvatnet, Langvatnet, Litle Sokumvatnet, and Sokumvatnet.

Buildings and structures

Sandhornøy Bridge connects the island of Sandhornøya to the mainland. The Kjellingstraumen Bridge crosses the outer end of the Beiar Fjord.

There is a VLF-transmitter in Gildeskål that is used for sending messages to submerged submarines (call sign: JXN, frequency: 16.4 kHz). It uses as antenna multiple wires spun between two mountains (photo). The transmitter building is located at (66°59' 13°52').

Notable people

• Elias Blix (1836–1902) a Norwegian professor, theologian, hymn writer and politician
• Harald Sund (1876–1940) a Norwegian architect, artist and illustrator
• Håvard Lund (born 1970) a Norwegian jazz musician (clarinet and saxophone) and composer

External links

• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway