# Vartdal

Vartdal is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1895 until its dissolution in 1965. The 125-square-kilometre (48 sq mi) area now sits in the northwestern part of the Ørsta municipality, along the Vartdalsfjorden. The administrative centre was the village Sætre, which is also known as Vartdal. Other villages in the municipality were Flåskjer and Nordre Vartdal. The main church for Vartdal was Vartdal Church, located in the village of Nordre Vartdal.

## History

The municipality was established on 1 January 1895 when all of Ulstein located south of the Vartdalsfjorden was separated from the rest of that municipality to form a new municipality which was called Vartdalsstrand. The new municipality had an initial population of 736. The name was officially shortened to Vartdal in 1918.
During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Vartdal was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Hjørundfjord and Ørsta to form the new, larger Ørsta. Prior to the merger, Vartdal had a population of 1,315.

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vartdal farm (Old Norse: Varpdalr or Verpdalr) since the first Vartdal Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for a local river. The name of the river comes from the word verpa, or its past tense form varp, which means "to cast" or "to throw" a fishing net. The last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the municipal name was Vartdalsstranden. The suffix -stranden is the definite singular form of the Old Norse word strǫnd which means "beach" or "shore". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Vartdalsstranden. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Vartdal.

## Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. 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 (Herredsstyre) of Vartdal was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Vartdal heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Vartdal heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Vartdal heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Vartdal heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Vartdal heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Vartdal heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| 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 |
| 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. |||

## Notable residents

* Helge Barstad, politician
* Eldar Westre, Baker