Brekke

This article is about the former municipality in Sogn, Norway. For other uses, see Brekke (disambiguation).
Brekke herred
Former Municipality

View of the village area
Coordinates: 61°01′07″N 05°27′41″E / 61.01861°N 5.46139°E / 61.01861; 5.46139Coordinates: 61°01′07″N 05°27′41″E / 61.01861°N 5.46139°E / 61.01861; 5.46139
Country Norway
Region Western Norway
County Sogn og Fjordane
District Sogn
Municipality ID NO-1414
Admin. Center Brekke
Area[1]
 • Total 207 km2 (80 sq mi)
Split from Evenvig in 1850
Merged into Lavik og Brekke in 1861
Split from Lavik og Brekke in 1905
Merged into Gulen in 1964

Brekke is a former municipality in Sogn og Fjordane county, Norway. It is located in the northeastern part of the present-day municipality of Gulen in the traditional district of Sogn. The municipality encompassed about 207 square kilometres (80 sq mi) south of the Sognefjorden, centered on the Risnesfjorden arm that reaches to the south from the main fjord.[1]

The municipality of Brekke existed from 1850 until 1861 and then again from 1905 until 1964. The administrative center of the municipality of Brekke was the village of Brekke, located on the southern shore of the Sognefjord, about a 35 kilometres (22 mi) drive from the municipal center of Eivindvik. The main church for the municipality was Brekke Church.

Name

The municipality is named after the old Brekke farm (Old Norse: Brekka) since Brekke Church was located there. The name is identical to the old Norwegian word meaning "slope". Historically, the spelling of the name was not formalized, so spellings such as Breche, Bræcke, and Brække were also used.[2][3]

History

The parish of Brekke was originally established as a municipality in 1850 when it was split off from the municipality of Evindvig. Initially, Brekke had a population of 898. In 1861, Brekke was merged with neighboring Lavik municipality to form the new municipality of Lavik og Brekke. On 1 January 1875, a part of Klævold municipality with 90 inhabitants was moved to Lavik og Brekke.

On 1 January 1905, the municipality of Lavik og Brekke was split (back) into two parts, with Lavik on the north side of the Sognefjorden and Brekke on the south side of the fjord. After the split, Brekke had a population of 982. On 1 January 1964, Brekke municipality ceased to exist when it was merged with Gulen, the neighboring municipality to the west, forming a new, larger municipality of Gulen. Before the merger, Brekke had a population of 782.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 "Brekke – tidl. kommune" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  2. ↑ Arthur, Ross G. (2002). "English-Old Norse Dictionary" (PDF). Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.
  3. ↑ Rygh, Oluf (1919). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Bergenhus amt (in Norwegian) (12 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 192.
  4. ↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Sognefjorden.
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