Kinn (former municipality)

Kinn is a former municipality in the Sunnfjord district of Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. The parish of Kinn has existed for centuries and in 1838, the large parish was established as a municipality that existed from then until 1964. The municipality was centered around the island of Kinn where the main Kinn Church is located. The municipality encompassed most of the southern part of the present-day municipality of Kinn (same name, different borders) as well as parts of Askvoll (in the south) and the southwestern part of Bremanger (in the north). Upon its dissolution in 1964, it covered .

On 1 January 2020, the old Kinn name was brought back into use when the municipalities of Flora, Norway and Vågsøy merged, creating a new Kinn Municipality.

History
The parish of Kinn was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 3 January 1861, the village of Florø (population: 846) was established as a ladested (port town) and it was therefore separated from the municipality of Kinn to become a municipality of its own. This left 6,531 residents in Kinn. Then on 1 January 1866, the northern district of Kinn on the islands of Bremangerlandet and Frøya and the mainland area surrounding the Gulen Fjord (population: 1,852) was separated from Kinn to form the separate municipality of Bremanger. After the split, Kinn was left with 4,679 inhabitants.

On 1 January 1923, Kinn was split into three separate municipalities:
Kinn, which included the western islands and the mainland areas surrounding Florø, but not including the port town (population: 2,508)
Bru, which included the southern islands of Svanøy and Askrova, a small area south of the Førdefjorden, the area around the village of Stavang, and the large valley east of the village of Norddalsfjord (population: 1,560)
Eikefjord, which included the eastern district around the eastern end of the Eikefjorden (population: 929)

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, a merger took place which reunited most of the old municipality of Kinn. Before the merger Kinn had a population of 3,567.  The new municipality was called Flora, and it included:
the ladested of Florø (population: 2,040)
the municipalities of Kinn (population: 3,567) and Eikefjord (population: 919)
the parts of Bru municipality that were north of the Førdefjorden (population: 1,155)
the villages of Husefest and Breivik in Bremanger municipality (population: 9)
the Steindal valley area in Vevring municipality (population: 25)

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Kinn farm () on the island of Kinn since the first Kinn Church was built there. The name is identical to the word  which means "cheek", referring to the steep slope of a mountain on the island. Historically, the island's name was spelled Kind.

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  of Kinn was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms.  The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Mayors
The mayors () of Kinn:

 1838–1839: Elias Skorpeide  
 1840–1841: L. Tyvold  
 1842-1845: H. H. Irgens
 1846–1847: Christopher Svanøe
 1848–1848: Salmon Grouf
 1849–1850: Christopher Svanøe 
 1851–1851: H.M. Dahl
 1852–1853: Christopher Svanøe
 1854-1854: H. H. Irgens
 1855-1855: H. Lexau
 1856–1857: S.H. Hovden
 1857–1857: Hans Svanøe
 1858-1859: Hans J. Blom
 1860-1860: A. Tyvald
 1861–1862: Hans J. Blom
 1863-1863: A. Tyvald
 1864-1865: H.M. Dahl
 1866–1867: Ludvig Nøstdahl
 1868–1869: Christopher Svanøe 
 1870–1901: Ludvig Nøstdahl
 1902–1907: A. Hødal 
 1908–1911: T. Osen  
 1912–1918: A. Svarthumle 
 1919–1919: M. N. Seim
 1920–1922: Bjarne Svanøe 
 1923-1926: Ivar Lykke Falch Lind (H)
 1927-1927: A. Hammerseth 
 1928-1928: Ivar Lykke Falch Lind (H)
 1929–1931: K. Nybø  
 1932-1934: M. N. Seim  
 1935–1937: Alf Melvær 
 1938–1939: M. Eide  
 1940–1941: Anders Tansøy 
 1942–1942: Karl Sunde 
 1943–1944: A. Hovland  
 1945–1945: Anders Tansøy 
 1946-1947: Einar Seim  
 1948-1960: Odd Færøyvik (V)
 1960–1964: Olav Færøyvik (Ap)

Notable people
Hans Jensen Blom, the vicar of Kinn Church and member of the Parliament of Norway
Mathias Sigwardt Greve, a physician who briefly worked in Kinn
Ivar Lykke Falch Lind, the former mayor and bailiff of Kinn
Michael Sars, the vicar of Kinn Church from 1831 to 1838
Georg Ossian Sars, a marine biologist who discovered that cod fish eggs are pelagic

See also
List of former municipalities of Norway

References

Kinn
Former municipalities of Norway
1838 establishments in Norway
1964 disestablishments in Norway