Marnardal


Marnardal was a municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Heddeland. Other villages in Marnardal include Bjelland, Breland, Koland, Laudal, and Øyslebø.
The Sørlandet Line runs through the municipality stopping at Breland Station and Marnardal Station.
The municipality is the 240th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Marnardal is the 306th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,309. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 7.5% over the last decade.

General information

Marnardal was established as a new municipality on 1 January 1964 through the merger of several municipalities. These areas that became Marnardal included all Bjelland municipality except for the Midtbø and Ågedal areas, all of the municipality of Laudal, the Kleveland bru area of Finsland, and all of Øyslebø municipality except for the Brunvatne area.
On 1 January 2020, the three neighboring municipalities of Mandal, Marnardal, and Lindesnes were merged into one large municipality called Lindesnes with its administrative centre being the town of Mandal.

Name

The name of the municipality is a revival of the Old Norse name of the valley: Marnardalr. The first element is the genitive case of the river name Mǫrn and the last element is dalr meaning 'dale' or 'valley'. The meaning of the river name is unknown.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 19 June 1987. The arms show three gold-colored pine cones on a green background. The 3 cones symbolize each of the three former municipalities of Bjelland, Laudal, and Øyslebø which were merged into Marnardal in 1964. The green background refers to the importance of the forests which cover areas of the municipality.

Churches

The Church of Norway has three parishes ' within the municipality of Marnardal. It is part of the Mandal prosti in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.
Parish 'Church NameLocation of the ChurchYear Built
BjellandBjelland ChurchBjelland1793
LaudalLaudal ChurchLaudal1826
ØyslebøØyslebø ChurchØyslebø1797

Government

All municipalities in Norway, including Marnardal, 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 Marnardal is made up of 21 representatives that are elected to four year terms. Currently, the party breakdown is as follows:

Geography

Marnardal is an inland municipality which follows the Mandalselva river through the Mandalen valley. The municipality borders Evje og Hornnes municipality to the north in Aust-Agder county; Audnedal municipality to the west; Lindesnes, Mandal, and Søgne municipalities to the south; and Songdalen and Vennesla municipalities in the east.

Climate