Veøy is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The 249 km2 municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. It initially consisted of all of the present-day Vestnes Municipality, as well as the southern part of Molde Municipality and the northern part of Rauma Municipality. Vestnes Municipality was only part of Veøy for a few months in 1838 before it was made into a separate municipality. In 1964, the municipality was split between Molde and Rauma municipalities. Veøy Municipality was named after the island of Veøya, the administrative centre, where the main church for the municipality (Old Veøy Church) was located. There are no inhabitants on the island of Veøya (as of 2020).

History

Landslide

Just before 8:00 p.m. on 22 February 1756, a landslide with a volume of 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 m3 — the largest known landslide in Norway in historic time — traveled at high speed from a height of 400 m on the side of the mountain Tjellafjellet into the Langfjorden 25 km from Veøy. The slide generated three mega-tsunamis in the immediate area in the Langfjorden and the Eresfjorden with heights of 40 to 50 m. Damaging waves reached Veøy, where, although reduced in size, they washed inland 20 m above normal flood levels.

Municipality

The parish of Veøy was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The western district of Veøy was separated in the fall of 1838 to become Vestnes Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the islands of Sekken and Veøya as well as the Nesjestranda district on the mainland north of the Langfjorden (with a total population of 756) were incorporated into the newly enlarged Molde Municipality. The remainder of Veøy on the south side of the Langfjorden and the Vågstranda area (population: 1,400) were merged with the small municipalities of Eid, Grytten, Hen, and Voll to form the new Rauma Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Veøya since the first Veøy Church was built there and it was the religious center of the whole Romsdal region. The first element part is which means "sanctuary" (Vé is a word that comes from German paganism). The last element is which means "island". Thus, the name refers to it being a holy island. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Veø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Veøy.

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.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Veøy was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows: