Vartdal

Vartdal is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1895 until its dissolution in 1965. The 125 km2 area now sits in the northwestern part of the Ørsta municipality, along the Vartdalsfjorden. The administrative centre was the village Sætre, which is also known as Vartdal. Other villages in the municipality were Flåskjer and Nordre Vartdal. The main church for Vartdal was Vartdal Church, located in the village of Nordre Vartdal.

History
The municipality was established on 1 January 1895 when all of Ulstein located south of the Vartdalsfjorden was separated from the rest of that municipality to form a new municipality which was called Vartdalsstrand. The new municipality had an initial population of 736. The name was officially shortened to Vartdal in 1918.

During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Vartdal was merged with the neighboring municipalities of Hjørundfjord and Ørsta to form the new, larger Ørsta. Prior to the merger, Vartdal had a population of 1,315.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vartdal farm (Varpdalr or Verpdalr) since the first Vartdal Church was built there. The first element comes from the old name for a local river. The name of the river comes from the word, or its past tense form , which means "to cast" or "to throw" a fishing net. The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Historically, the municipal name was Vartdalsstranden. The suffix -stranden is the definite singular form of the Old Norse word which means "beach" or "shore". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Vartdalsstranden. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Vartdal.

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 Vartdal was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Notable residents

 * Helge Barstad, politician
 * Eldar Westre, Baker