Hægeland (municipality)

Hægeland is a former municipality in Vest-Agder county, Norway. The 194 km2 municipality existed from 1896 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality was located in the northwestern part of the present-day municipality of Vennesla. The administrative centre was the village of Hægelandskrossen where Hægeland Church is located.

History
The municipality of Hægeland was established on 1 July 1896 when the old municipality of Øvrebø og Hægeland was divided into the separate municipalities of Hægeland (population: 843) and Øvrebø (population: 888). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Hægeland (population: 849) was dissolved and merged with the neighboring municipalities of Vennesla (population: 7,321), and most of Øvrebø (population: 925) to form a new Vennesla municipality. (Vennesla was previously part of the old municipality of Øvrebø og Hægeland until 1865).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hægeland farm (Helgaland) since the first Hægeland Church was built there. The first element comes from the word which means "holy", likely since this area was important to ancient Norse pagan worship. The last element is which means "land" or "district".

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 Hægeland 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.