Stjørna is a former municipality in the old Sør-Trøndelag county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1899 until its dissolution in 1964. The 322-square-kilometre (124 sq mi) municipality encompassed the land surrounding the Stjørnfjorden in what is now the municipalities of Ørland and Indre Fosen in Trøndelag county. The administrative centre of Stjørna was the village of Husbysjøen. The municipality of Stjørna also included the villages of Høybakken, Råkvåg, and Fevåg. The main church for the municipality was Stjørna Church which is now called Heggvik Church.

History

The municipality of Skjørn was established on 1 January 1899 when the old municipality of Bjugn was split into three separate municipalities: Bjugn (population: 1,256), Skjørn (population: 2,166), and Nes (population: 1,285). In 1918, the spelling of the name was changed from Skjørn to Stjørna. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the northern part of the municipality (Nord-Stjørna) (population: 676) was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Bjugn (population: 1,240), Nes (population: 1,107), and Jøssund (population: 1,917) to form a new, larger municipality of Bjugn. The southern part of Stjørna municipality (Sør-Stjørna) (population: 1,868) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Rissa (population: 3,264) and most of the municipality of Stadsbygd (population: 1,616) to form a new, larger municipality of Rissa.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Stjørnfjorden. The name was once the old name for the river which flows into the fjord. The old river name has an uncertain meaning. It may come from the Old Norse word stjórn which means "governance". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Skjørn. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Stjørna.

Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor.

Mayors

The mayors of Stjørna:

Municipal council

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

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway