Øvre Sirdal

Øvre Sirdal is a former municipality that was located in the old Vest-Agder county in Norway. The 1156 km2 municipality existed from 1905 until its dissolution in 1960. It was located in the northern part of the present-day municipality of Sirdal in Agder county. The administrative centre was the village of Lunde where Lunde Church is located.

History
The municipality of Øvre Sirdal was established on 1 January 1905 when the old Sirdal formannskapsdistrikt was split into two municipalities: Øvre Sirdal (population: 753) and Tonstad. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, Øvre Sirdal (population: 549) was merged with the neighboring municipality of Tonstad (population: 651) and the Øksendal area of the municipality of Bakke (population: 226) to form a new municipality of Sirdal.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the Sirdalen valley (Sírudalr) since the valley runs through the municipality. The prefix means "upper" (since this was created from the upper part of the old Sirdal municipality). The first element of the name is the genitive case of the river name Síra (now the Sira river). The river name has an unknown meaning, but it could be something like "strong stream". The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Øvre Sirdalen. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Øvre Sirdal, removing the definite form ending -en.

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 Øvre Sirdal was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.