Lurøy is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is located on the island of Onøya. Other villages in Lurøy include Aldra, Haugland, Konsvikosen, Lovund, Lurøy, Sleneset / Solværøyene, Stokkvågen, and Tonnes. The municipality is located on the coast just south of the Arctic Circle, on the western edge of the Saltfjellet mountain range. The Lurøygården (Lurøy Farm) on the island of Lurøya is a more-than-200-year-old renaissance garden with old plants, a pool, and a nearly 20 m high Copper Beech. The 265 km2 municipality is the 275th largest by area out of the 357 municipalities in Norway. Lurøy is the 288th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,886. The municipality's population density is 7.1 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 0.8% over the previous 10-year period.

General information

Lurøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1872, the far western island district (population: 289) was separated from Lurøy to become the new Træna Municipality. This left Lurøy with 1,554 residents. The borders of Lurøy have not changed since that time.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Lurøya since the first Lurøy Church was built there. The first element is which means "hollowed log" (here probably referring to the form of the mountain of the island). The last element is which means "island". Historically, the name of the municiaplity was spelled Lurø. On 6 January 1908, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Lurøy.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 22 August 1986. The official blazon is "Or, a navigation cairn sable". This means the arms have a field (background) that 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 charge is black navigational cairn. This was chosen to symbolize the local dependence on fishing and sailing in this island municipality. The arms were designed by Olga Nilsen after a proposal by Dagmar Vilfridadottir Olaisen.

Churches

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

Geography and climate

Lurøy is located on the western coast of Helgeland. The small strip of mainland Lurøy runs from Tonnes in the north along Norwegian County Road 17 to Stokkvågen along the Sjona fjord in the south. The rest of the municipality is located on 1,375 islands located to the west of the mainland. The major islands include Aldra, Lurøya, Onøya, Stigen, Solvær, and Lovund. There are also two islands in the northern part of Lurøya that are divided between Lurøy and neighboring Rødøy Municipality: Nesøya and Hestmona. The highest point in the municipality is the 1172.7 m tall mountain Strandtindan, a tripoint on the border of Lurøy Municipality, Rødøy Municipality, and Rana Municipality. The populated islands are reached by car ferry from Stokkvågen on the mainland. The ferry reaches Onøy (which has a bridge to Lurøya), Solvær and Lovund 5 times per day.

Climate

The Norwegian Meteorological Institute has operated weather stations on Solvær islands since 1939. Data shows a marine west coast climate (oceanic climate) with very mild winters for the high latitude. Spring and summer are the driest seasons, while December is the wettest month. The all-time high was recorded in July 2018, and the all-time low is from February 1966. The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C) in spring is 20 April and average date for first freeze in autumn is 5 November giving a frost-free season of 198 days (1981-2010 average for Solvær).

Farms of Lurøy

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

Farm maps

Note: Coordinates are approximate. The map has been divided into parts consistent with the enumeration districts in the 1920 census of Norway. This map will include one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist.

Farm names and numbers

Following are the farms in Lurøy municipality, as they are listed in O. Rygh's series "Norske Gaardnavne" ("Norwegian Farm Names"), the Nordland volume of which was published in 1905. 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. 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. If you can't find an entry when you are searching for a word that starts with AE, Ae, O, A or Aa, it may have been transcribed from one of those letters not used in English. Try looking for it under the Norwegian letter; Æ, Ø, and Å appear at the end of the Norwegian alphabet.

Government

Lurøy 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. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Lurøy is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors

The mayor of Lurøy 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:

Media gallery

Notable people