Verdal

The municipality of Værdalen was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It is one of very few municipalities in Norway with unchanged borders since that date, although the spelling of the name was modified to Verdal.^[2]

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Veradalr (from the word Verardalr). The first element is the genitive case of the river name Ver (now called Verdalselva) and the last element is dalr which means "valley" or "dale". The meaning of the river name is probably "the quiet one". The name was historically spelled Værdalen.^[3]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times; they were granted on 15 December 1972. They show a gold cross on a red background. The cross is taken from a large painting in the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, in which the death of King Olav Haraldsson (Saint Olaf) is shown. He died in the Battle of Stiklestad, the site of which is in Verdal municipality. In the painting, he holds a shield with the typical cross. To commemorate the battle, the cross was taken as arms for the municipality.^[4]

Churches

The Church of Norway has four parishes (sokn) within the municipality of Verdal. It is part of the Sør-Innherad deanery and the Diocese of Nidaros.

**Churches in Verdal**
Parish (Sokn)	Church Name	Location of the Church	Year Built
Stiklestad	Stiklestad Church	Stiklestad	1180
Stiklestad	Verdalsøra Chapel	Verdalsøra	1969
Vera	Vera Chapel	Vera	1899
Vinne	Vinne Church	Vinne	1817
Vuku	Vuku Church	Vuku	1655

History

Battle of Stiklestad

Main article: Battle of Stiklestad

The most famous battle in Norwegian history, the Battle of Stiklestad, took place at Stiklestad in Verdal in the year 1030. The Stiklestad Church was built afterwards at the place where King Olav Haraldsson, later redesigned as St. Olaf, died during the battle. Olavsstøtta, a memorial pillar dedicated to St. Olaf, was erected in 1807 to commemorate the Battle of Stiklestad. ^[5]

Verdalsraset

Early on the night of 19 May 1893, the most deadly landslide in modern Norwegian history, known as Verdalsraset, took place in Verdal. It killed 116 people and at least 500 animals when approximately 100 farms were swept away. A wet winter and several spring floods in the river made the quick clay under the topsoil in a large area of the valley turn into a fluid. The slide moved about 60,000,000 cubic metres (78,000,000 cu yd) of clay, completely reshaping the topography of the area, including moving the course of the river.^[6]

Culture

Råning

This culture is known for young people interested in cars, spending most of their time improving, enhancing, and styling their cars, and then driving them for display on a particular route around the town centre. This is not only positive, as they do show some general disregard for common laws and regulations. People living in the town center are at times bothered by noise, usually music being played at high volumes from their cars.

Stiklestad

Verdal is the location of the Stiklestad National Cultural Centre. The Saint Olav Drama appears here on an open stage every year during in July. The play centers on events leading up to the Battle of Stiklestad.^[7]^[8]

Geography

Part of the Verdal river (Verdalselva).

Verdal is centered around the Verdal valley. The river Verdalselva runs through the valley into the Trondheimsfjord at Verdalsøra. The rivers Helgåa and Inna join together at Vuku to form the Verdalselva. The lake Veresvatnet flows into the river Helgåa and the lake Innsvatnet flows into the river Inna. The large lake Leksdalsvatnet lies on the Verdal-Steinkjer border. The southern tip of the large Blåfjella–Skjækerfjella National Park lies in the northeastern part of Verdal. Rinnleiret is a beach area along the Levanger-Verdal border in the west.

Economy

Offshore industry (Aker Verdal) and agriculture are two of the most important parts of Verdal's economy. Despite its small size, Verdal is a municipality with great personality and cultural integrity. After several lottery grand prizes were received by some lucky inhabitants of Verdal, it is also known as one of the great "Lotto-bygds" of Norway (Small places with high a concentration of lottery wins in the national game of Lotto).

Transportation

The European route E6 highway runs north and south through Verdalsøra connecting the municipality with Steinkjer to the north and Levanger to the south. The Nordlandsbanen railway line also runs north and south through the municipality. There are two stations in Verdal: Verdal Station in Verdalsøra and Bergsgrav Station in Vinne.

Stiklestad area, 30 August 2003

References

↑ "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet. Retrieved 2015-12-01.
↑ Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå.
↑ Rygh, Oluf (1903). Norske gaardnavne: Nordre Trondhjems amt (dokpro.uio.no) (in Norwegian) (15 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 117.
↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 17 November 2008.
↑ Olavsstøtta (Nationalen Kulturzentrum Stiklestad)
↑ "Verdalsraset" (in Norwegian). Geoportalen.no. Retrieved 2008-11-17.
↑ Stiklestad Nasjonale Kultursenter (EXARC)
↑ Spelet om Heilag Olav – Stiklestad – Verdal – Nord Trøndelag (Nationalen Kulturzentrum Stiklestad)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Verdal.

Nord-Trøndelag travel guide from Wikivoyage
Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
Stiklestad National Culture Centre Official Website
Battle of Stiklestad

Municipalities of Nord-Trøndelag

Current

Fosen	Leksvik

Innherred	Inderøy Levanger Snåsa Steinkjer Verdal Verran

Namdalen	Flatanger Fosnes Grong Høylandet Leka Lierne Namdalseid Namsos Namsskogan Nærøy Overhalla Røyrvik Vikna

Stjørdalen	Frosta Meråker Stjørdal

Former

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