Hjelmeland

is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Ryfylke. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hjelmelandsvågen. Other villages in the municipality include Fister, Årdal, and Jøsenfjorden.

Hjelmeland is known for its fruit (apples, pears, plums, cherries and strawberries) and fish production. Salmon has been important for the fish industry in Hjelmeland for a couple of decades, but white fish such as cod and halibut has increased its value in the latter years.

The 1068 km2 municipality is the 105th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hjelmeland is the 247th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 2,619. The municipality's population density is 2.8 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 6.4% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
Hjelmeland was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1859, Hjelmeland municipality was split into two: the southern portion of the municipality (population: 1,315) was split off to form the new municipality of Årdal and the remainder of the municipality became the municipality of Hjelmeland og Fister (population: 3,084). On 1 July 1884, the western islands and the western coast of the mainland (population: 832) were split off from Hjelmeland og Fister to form the new municipality of Fister and the rest of the municipality was renamed simply "Hjelmeland" which now had 2,249 residents.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, all of Hjelemland municipality (population: 1,691) was merged with most of the municipality of Årdal (except the Sundgardene area along the Årdalsfjorden), the mainland part and the island of Randøy from the municipality of Fister, and the small Buergårdene area on Ombo from the municipality of Jelsa. The population of the newly enlarged Hjelemland was 2,909; nearly doubling the size of the municipal population.

On 1 January 2020, the parts of Hjelmeland municipality that were located on the island of Ombo were transferred to the neighboring Stavanger Municipality so that the whole island would be part of the same municipality.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hjelmeland farm (Hjalmaland) since the first Hjelmeland Church was built there. Today the farm is a part of the Hjelmelandsvågen urban area. The first element of the name is the plural genitive case of which means "helmet" (likely referring to two hills behind the farm which have the form of two helmets). The last element is which means "land" or "farm".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 30 November 1984. The official blazon is "Gules, a triple saltire fretty Or" (På raud grunn ein gull Andreaskross, laga med trilling strengar). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a set of three interwoven St. Andrew's crosses. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. They are based on the local tradition of making chairs and other furniture with seats of woven twigs (jærstoler). The process of weaving is symbolised in the arms. At the same time the arms show the strength and solidarity of the municipality. Furthermore, there are three sets of crosses to represent the fact that Hjelmeland is made up of three previous municipalities (Hjemeland, Fister, and Årdal) that were merged in 1965. The arms were designed by Svein Magnus Håvarstein who based the idea from an initial idea by Magnus Torgersen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches
The Church of Norway has three parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Hjelmeland. It is part of the Ryfylke prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Stavanger.

Government
Hjelmeland Municipality is responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Sør-Rogaland District Court and the Gulating Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hjelmeland is made up of 19 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Hjelmeland (incomplete list):


 * 1995-2007: Terje Thornquist (KrF)
 * 2007-2011: Bjørn Laugaland (Sp)
 * 2011-2015: Trine L. Danielsen (H)
 * 2015-2022: Bjørn Laugaland (Sp)
 * 2022-present: Anita Husøy Riskedal (Sp)

Geography
The municipality stretches from the mountains bordering the Setesdal valley to the shores of the fjords that connect to the main Boknafjorden. The small Jøsenfjorden and Årdalsfjorden cut into the mainland. There are several islands that are part of Hjelmeland including Randøy as well as some smaller surrounding islands. The island of Randøy is connected to the mainland by the Randøy Bridge.

There are several large lakes in the municipality including Nilsebuvatnet, Øvre Tysdalsvatnet, and Tysdalsvatnet. The large lake Blåsjø partially lies in the municipality. The Trollgarden glacial moraine lies atop a mountain in Hjelmeland. The Ritland crater is also located in the municipality.

Notable people

 * Jacob Tostrup (1806 in Hjelmeland – 1890), a jeweller, goldsmith, and silversmith
 * Per Hovda (1908 in Hjelmeland – 1997), a philologist
 * Per Pedersen Tjøstland (1918 in Fister - 2004), a Norwegian Nazi activist and SS volunteer
 * Kjell Erfjord (born 1940 in Hjelmeland), a educator and politician who was mayor of Lund from 1981-1991 and 1999-2007