Ørland Municipality Ørland kommune
Municipality
Ørlandet herred  (historic name)
View of the shoreline of Ørland
Flag Coat of arms
Trøndelag within Norway
Ørland within Trøndelag
Coordinates: 63°47′N 09°48′E / 63.783°N 9.800°E / 63.783; 9.800
Country	Norway
County	Trøndelag
District	Fosen
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Bjugn
Government
• Mayor (2023)	Hallgeir Grøntvedt (Sp)
Area
• Total	457.14 km2 (176.50 sq mi)
• Land	429.08 km2 (165.67 sq mi)
• Water	28.05 km2 (10.83 sq mi)  6.1%
• Rank	#220 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	10,472
• Rank	#110 in Norway
• Density	24.4/km2 (63/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+6.6%
Demonym	Ørlending[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-5057[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Ørland is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. Ørland is located at the southwestern tip of the Fosen peninsula at the northern shore of the mouth of Trondheimsfjord where the Stjørnfjorden arm begins. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjugn. Other larger settlements in Ørland include Brekstad (which declared itself to be a town in 2005), Uthaug, Opphaug, Ottersbo, Høybakken, Jøssund, Lysøysundet, Nes, Oksvoll, and Vallersund.

The 457-square-kilometre (176 sq mi) municipality is the 220th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Ørland is the 110th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,472. The municipality's population density is 24.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (63/sq mi) and its population has increased by 6.6% over the previous 10-year period.^[4][5]

General information

The municipality of Ørland was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1853, the northern district of Bjugn was separated to become a municipality of its own. This left Ørland with 3,361 residents. On 1 January 1896, the southern district of Værnes was separated from Ørland to become the municipality of Agdenes. After the division, Ørland had 3,649 residents and it was just a fraction of its original size.^[6]

On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.

On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of Ørland and Bjugn merged to form a new municipality called Ørland with its administrative centre located at Bjugn.^[7]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named "Ørland" (Old Norse: Yrjar). The first element of the current name is Yrjar which is a plural form of aurr which means "gravel". During the 16th century, the suffix land (which means "land") was added. In 1590, the name was spelled Ørieland, and by the 1700s, the name was standardized to Ørlandet.^[8] On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Ørland, removing the definite form ending -et.^[9]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 9 February 1979. The official blazon is "Party per bend sinister argent and sable" (Norwegian: Venstre skrådelt sølv og svart). This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided diagonally from the bottom left to the top right. The left side of the line has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The right side of the line has a tincture of black. The design is derived from the historic coat of arms of Inger, Lady of Austraat, a noblewoman from the Rømer family who lived at the Austrått manor in Ørland from 1488 to 1555. She played a major role in the history of the area. She was later portrayed by Henrik Ibsen in his play Lady Inger of Ostrat. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[10][11]

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Ørland. It is part of the Fosen prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.

Geography

Ørland is on the Norwegian mainland, situated on the northern shore of the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord, and is largely flat lowland. Ørland faces the Norwegian Sea to the west with Trondheimsfjord and the mouth of the Stjørnfjord to the east. Ørland's topography differs markedly from most other areas in Norway. Only 2% of the municipality exceeds an altitude of 160 metres (520 ft) above sea level. Ørland consists of wide open spaces mainly used by Norway's Ørland Main Air Station, agriculture, nature conservation areas and residential neighborhoods. The municipality also includes three inhabited islands (Garten, Kråkvåg and Storfosna) as well as many islets. The Kjeungskjær lighthouse lies at the mouth of the Bjugnfjorden in the northeastern part of the municipality.

The highest peak, Osplikammen at 285 metres (935 ft) above sea level, is located within Rusaset that forms a mountainous area in the eastern parts of the municipality. Fosenheia, a peak south of Storfosna, is also highly visible in the landscape. The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Ørland has four Ramsar areas: Grandefjæra nature conservancy, and the wildlife protection areas of Hovsfjæra, Innstrandfjæra, and Kråkvågsvaet, all of which are significant for seabirds, wading birds and migratory birds. The area around Rusasetvatnet is important for bird life. Austråttlunden landscape conservancy also has protected status.

Climate

Ørland has a very mild climate for the latitude, albeit at times windy. Ørland is one of the northernmost locations to have a mild enough winter and long enough summer to fulfill all criteria as a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb). The all-time high is 32.4 °C (90.3 °F) recorded 28 July 2019. The warmest month on record is August 2002 with mean 17.5 °C (63.5 °F) and average daily high 23 °C (73 °F). The all-time low is −20.5 °C (−4.9 °F) recorded February 1958, and the coldest low after 2000 is −18.6 °C (−1.5 °F) from February 2010. The coldest month on record is February 1966 with mean −6.1 °C (21.0 °F) and average daily low −9.3 °C (15.3 °F). The average date for the last overnight freeze (low below 0 °C (32.0 °F)) in spring is 27 April^[12] and average date for first freeze in autumn is 21 October (1981–2010 average)^[13] giving a frost-free season of 176 days. The prevailing wind direction is from the southwest, a wind sometimes accompanied by precipitation. Snow rarely remains after 3–4 days in the town Brekstad and other coastal areas of the municipality. However, in the eastern parts of the municipality the snow remains longer making possible skiing and other winter activities at the lighted track near the Yrjar ski cabin. The weather station is located at Ørland Main Air Station

Government

Ørland 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.^[16] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Trøndelag District Court and the Frostating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Ørland is made up of 35 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.