# Hordabø Municipality

Hordabø is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The 40-square-kilometre (15 sq mi) municipality, which existed from 1924 until 1964, was located on the northern part of the island of Radøy in the present-day Alver Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Bøvågen, where Hordabø Church is located.

## History

On 1 July 1924, the old Manger Municipality was split into three separate municipalities: Bø in the northern part, (a much smaller) Manger in the central part, and Sæbø in the southern part. The municipality, which was known as Bø at that time, had a population of 1,938. On 13 March 1925 the name was changed by royal resolution from Bø to Hordabø.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality was dissolved and a merged with the following places to form the new Radøy Municipality.
* all Hordabø Municipality (population: 1,679)
* all Manger Municipality (population: 1,344)
* the island of Bognøy from Herdla Municipality (population: 29)
* most of Sæbø Municipality, except the Titland area on the Lindås peninsula (population: 916)
* the Sletta area on the island of Radøy from Lindås Municipality (population: 305)
* the Straume area on the island of Radøy and the small island of Fesøy from Austrheim Municipality (population: 56)

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bø farm (Old Norse: Bœr) since the first Bø Church was built there. The name comes from the word bœr which means "farm" or "farmhouse". Historically, the name of the municipality was Bø. On 13 March 1925, a royal resolution changed the name of the municipality to Hordabø. The prefix Horda- was added to distinguish this "Bø" from several other municipalities with the same name. The prefix comes from the word hǫrðar which is the Old Norse name for the people from Hordaland.

## Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hordabø was made up of 19 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Hordabø heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 1 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 19 |
Hordabø heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 1 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 19 |
Hordabø heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 10 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Hordabø heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | Christian Democratic Party (Kristeleg Folkeparti) | 1 |
| | Liberal Party (Venstre) | 1 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 10 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Hordabø heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Hordabø heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 4 |
| | List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 1 |
| | Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgarlege Felleslister) | 1 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 10 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
| Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. |||