Flekkefjord Municipality Flekkefjord kommune
Municipality
View of a local harbour
Coat of arms
Agder within Norway
Flekkefjord within Agder
Coordinates: 58°19′38″N 06°40′00″E / 58.32722°N 6.66667°E / 58.32722; 6.66667
Country	Norway
County	Agder
District	Lister
Established	1 Jan 1838
• Created as	Formannskapsdistrikt
Administrative centre	Flekkefjord
Government
• Mayor (2019)	Torbjørn Klungland (FrP)
Area
• Total	544.08 km2 (210.07 sq mi)
• Land	482.19 km2 (186.17 sq mi)
• Water	61.89 km2 (23.90 sq mi)  11.4%
• Rank	#198 in Norway
Population  (2023)
• Total	9,216
• Rank	#121 in Norway
• Density	19.1/km2 (49/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+1.7%
Demonym	Flekkefjæring[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-4207[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

Flekkefjord (pronunciation^ⓘ) is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Flekkefjord. The villages of Sira, Gyland, Rasvåg, Kirkehavn, and Åna-Sira are located in Flekkefjord.

Flekkefjord is the westernmost municipality of the geographical region of Sørlandet. Flekkefjord is approximately midway between the cities of Kristiansand and Stavanger, located along European route E39 and the Sørlandet Line.^[4]

The 544-square-kilometre (210 sq mi) municipality is the 198th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Flekkefjord is the 121st most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 9,216. The municipality's population density is 19.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (49/sq mi) and its population has increased by 1.7% over the previous 10-year period.^[5][6]

General information

The small town of Flekkefjord was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1942, a part of the municipality of Nes (population: 377) was transferred to the town of Flekkefjord.^[7]

On 1 January 1965, there was a major municipal merger due to the work of the Schei Committee. On that date, the rural municipalities of Bakke (except the Øksendal area), Gyland, Hidra, and Nes were merged with the town of Flekkefjord, creating a new, much larger municipality of Flekkefjord with about 8,800 people. On 1 January 1987, the Virak and Espetveit areas of northern Flekkefjord (population: 41) were transferred to Sirdal municipality.^[7]

Name

The municipality (and town) is named after the local fjord called the Flekkefjorden. The first element of the name comes from the name of the old Flikke farm (Old Norse: Flikkar) since it is located near the fjord. That name is the plural form of the word flikkar which has an unknown meaning. The last element is fjord which means "fjord".^[8]

Coat of arms

The coat of arms for Flekkefjord are rather old (compared with most Norwegian municipal arms). They were granted around the year 1855. The blazon is "Or, a sailing ship above four barrulets wavy gules". This means the arms have a field (background) has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The charge is a pilot boat above four wavy stripes symbolizing the sea. The arms have a mural crown above the shield. The arms were originally proposed in 1855 and they were described as a pilot boat on the sea. It specifically is like the pilot boats that Colin Archer made during that time period. The original proposal showed a boat on a very natural sea, using all in natural colours. The present shape of the boat and the more heraldically correct arms date from 1899. The arms were designed by an unknown designer. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.^[9][10] In 2023, the design of the arms was updated slightly. The flag on the boat was made to look more wavy, a single black stripe is on the sails, and a pilot is more visible at the rear of the boat.^[11]

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Flekkefjord. It is part of the Lister og Mandal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark.

Geography

The municipality is located in southwestern Agder county, along the border with Rogaland county and the North Sea to the southwest. It is bounded by Sokndal and Lund municipalities (in Rogaland county) to the west across the river Sira, by Sirdal municipality to the north, and by Kvinesdal municipality to the east.

The town of Flekkefjord is located near the southern coast of the municipality in a fjord. It straddles the narrow sound which connects the Flekkefjorden to Grisefjorden. The port is ideal due to the tiny difference in tides experienced here. This is a result of its close proximity to the amphidromic point outside Eigersund.^[12]

The lakes Kumlevollvatnet, Lundevatn, Selura, and Sirdalsvatnet are located in Flekkefjord. The southern coast is dominated by the Listafjorden and Fedafjorden with the large inhabited islands of Hidra and Andabeløyna lying in the Listafjorden.

Climate

History

Flekkefjord was a landing place from early times. It was mentioned as a town as early as 1580. In 1589, James VI of Scotland landed there before travelling overland via Tønsberg to Oslo, where he married Princess Anne of Denmark, daughter of Frederick II.^[14] When Kristiansand was founded in 1641, Christian IV wanted to assure the economic survival of his new city by moving Flekkefjord residents there. Twice it was sentenced to extinction by royal decree. But many of the Flekkefjord inhabitants remained and continued to trade.

Norway's plentiful stone was a Flekkefjord commodity. In 1736 over 300 Dutch ships are reported to have carried paving stones from Flekkefjord. By 1750 the herring fishery began in earnest, such that herring and timber dominated the trade. In the 1750s Flekkefjord was the most important Norwegian herring export harbor.

In 1760 Flekkefjord petitioned Frederik V to grant a town charter. At that time several ships were home ported there and both sailors and herring fishermen had their homes in this small town that was not officially recognized. Barrel making (cooperage) was also an important local trade that served the fishing fleet.

During the Napoleonic Wars Flekkefjord found a new life as a smugglers port, exporting oak to the Napoleon-occupied Netherlands during the period prior to 1807. The unusual tidal condition, the local timber abundance, and a long-term relationship with the Dutch were the reasons behind Flekkefjord's then serving as a smuggler's headquarters. They specialized in the lucrative oak trade, the warship timber in those days. Ships could come and leave Flekkefjord at any hour of the day, without concern for the tides.

Prior to 1807, Denmark-Norway had followed a policy of armed neutrality, using its naval forces only to protect trade flowing within, into, and out of Danish and Norwegian waters. But this changed for the last phase of the Napoleonic Wars when, in the Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, the British preemptively captured large portions of the Danish naval fleet to prevent the French from doing the same. As a result, the Danish government declared war and built small gunboats in large numbers to attack the British. The Gunboat War (1807–1814) was the title given to naval conflict between Denmark-Norway against the British navy. It was natural for Flekkefjord to move from a smuggler's haven to blockade runner's headquarters. The unusual tides there were unknown to the British warships that were blockading the Norwegian coast against Napoleon-supporting ships and this provided the blockade runners a considerable advantage.

After the war the Dutch maintained a strong presence in Flekkefjord, and continued exporting oak and pine. The pine was used mainly to make foundations for the boom in Amsterdam house construction; as a result most of Amsterdam's houses from the 19th century are constructed of pines from Flekkefjord exporters. A section of Flekkefjord called 'Hollenderbyen' (town of the Dutch) dates from the 18th century.^[12]

Xenotime, a rare yttrium phosphate mineral whose chemical formula is YPO₄, was discovered in 1832 at Hidra (Hitterø), Flekkefjord.

The herring fisheries deserted the coast in 1838, depriving Flekkefjord residents of their main export. Tanning replaced fishing and by 1866 five tanneries were operating in Flekkefjord.

The Flekkefjord Line railway ran between Sira and Flekkefjord from 1904 to 1990.

Flekkefjord and nearby areas are served by Sørlandet Hospital Flekkefjord that covers population needs for surgery, orthopedics, oncology, gynecology and obstetrics.

Government

Flekkefjord 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.^[15] The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Agder District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Flekkefjord 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.