Herad is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 85 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1965. The municipality encompassed the area northeast of the lake Framvaren inside the present-day municipality of Farsund in what is now Agder county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Sande where the Herad Church is located.

History

The parish of Herred was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 17 October 1893, the southern district of Herad was separated to create the new municipality of Spind. The split left Herad with 1,019 inhabitants. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, Herad (population: 359) was merged with the municipalities of Spind (population: 606), Lista (population: 4,544), and the town of Farsund (population: 2,208) to form the new, larger municipality of Farsund.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named Herred since the first Herad Church was built there. The name is identical to the word which means "village" or "hamlet". It was also a name that was used for all municipalities in Norway during the 1800s and early 1900s. Thus the name was Herred herred (lit. 'Herred municipality'). Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Herred. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Herad.

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors

The mayors of Herad:

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Herad was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.