Lindesnes


Lindesnes is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Vigeland. Other villages in Lindesnes include Åvik, Høllen, Skofteland, Svenevig, and Vigmostad.
The municipality is the 271st largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Lindesnes is the 202nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 4,950. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 9.5% over the last decade.

General information

The municipality of Lindesnes was created as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 after the merger of the older municipalities of Spangereid, Sør-Audnedal, and Vigmostad.
On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of Mandal, Marnardal, and Lindesnes will be merged into one large municipality called Lindesnes with its administrative centre being the town of Mandal.

Name

The oldest Old Norse form of the name was Líðandi. That name is derived from the verb líða which means "lead/go to an end" and the meaning is probably just "the end". A later form was Líðandisnes where the word nes which means "headland" was added. The traditional English language version of the name is just the Naze, derived from ness meaning headland.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 25 April 1986. The arms are blue with a white or silver lighthouse on the center. The lighthouse represents the local Lindesnes Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Norway. It was built in 1655 on the Lindesnes peninsula.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes ' within the municipality of Lindesnes. It is part of the Mandal prosti in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
Parish 'Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
SpangereidSpangereid ChurchHøllenc. 1140
ValleValle ChurchVigeland1793
VigmostadVigmostad ChurchVigmostad1848

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Lindesnes, are responsible for primary education, outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elect a mayor.

Municipal council

The municipal council of Lindesnes is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:

Geography

Lindesnes is a coastal municipality, with a long stretch of coastline to the south. It borders Audnedal municipality to the north, Lyngdal to the west, and Mandal and Marnardal to the east. The Lindesnes Lighthouse stands on the southernmost point of the mainland of Norway, nearly southwest of Knivskjellodden, the northernmost point of mainland Norway. The southern coast of Lindesnes is rugged and includes several fjords such as the Snigsfjorden and Grønsfjorden as well as many islands such as Svinør. The interior of the municipality follows the Audnadalen valley through which the river Audna flows south into the Snigsfjorden.

Climate

Notable residents