Ørland is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is part of the Fosen region. Ørland is located at the southwestern tip of the Fosen peninsula at the northern shore of the mouth of Trondheimsfjord where the Stjørnfjorden arm begins. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bjugn. Other larger settlements in Ørland include Brekstad (which declared itself to be a town in 2005), Uthaug, Opphaug, Ottersbo, Høybakken, Jøssund, Lysøysundet, Nes, Oksvoll, and Vallersund.
The municipality is the 220th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Ørland is the 110th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 10,371. The municipality's population density is and its population has increased by 6.9% over the previous 10-year period.
General information
The municipality of Ørland was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). In 1853, the northern district of Bjugn was separated to become a municipality of its own. This left Ørland with 3,361 residents. On 1 January 1896, the southern district of Værnes was separated from Ørland to become the municipality of Agdenes. After the division, Ørland had 3,649 residents and it was just a fraction of its original size.
On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old Sør-Trøndelag county to the new Trøndelag county.
On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of Ørland and Bjugn merged to form a new municipality called Ørland with its administrative centre located at Bjugn.
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named "Ørland" (). The first element of the current name is which is the plural form of which means "gravel". During the 16th century, the suffix (which means "land") was added. In 1590, the name was spelled , and by the 1700s, the name was standardized to Ørlandet, although the -et part was later dropped.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 9 February 1979. The official blazon is "Party per bend sinister argent and sable" (). This means the arms have a field (background) that is divided diagonally from the bottom left to the top right. The left side of the line has a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The right side of the line has a tincture of black. The design is derived from the historic coat of arms of Inger, Lady of Austraat, a noblewoman from the Rømer family who lived at the Austrått manor in Ørland from 1488 to 1555. She played a major role in the history of the area. She was later portrayed by Henrik Ibsen in his play Lady Inger of Ostrat. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches
The Church of Norway has four parishes () within the municipality of Ørland. It is part of the Fosen prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Nidaros.
Geography
Ørland is on the Norwegian mainland, situated on the northern shore of the mouth of the Trondheimsfjord, and is largely flat lowland. Ørland faces the Norwegian Sea to the west with Trondheimsfjord and the mouth of the Stjørnfjord to the east. Ørland's topography differs markedly from most other areas in Norway. Only 2% of the municipality exceeds an altitude of above sea level. Ørland consists of wide open spaces mainly used by Norway's Ørland Main Air Station, agriculture, nature conservation areas and residential neighborhoods. The municipality also includes three inhabited islands (Garten, Kråkvåg and Storfosna) as well as many islets. The Kjeungskjær lighthouse lies at the mouth of the Bjugnfjorden in the northeastern part of the municipality.
The highest peak, Osplikammen at above sea level, is located within Rusaset that forms a mountainous area in the eastern parts of the municipality. Fosenheia, a peak south of Storfosna, is also highly visible in the landscape. The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Ørland has four Ramsar areas: Grandefjæra nature conservancy, and the wildlife protection areas of Hovsfjæra, Innstrandfjæra, and Kråkvågsvaet, all of which are significant for seabirds, wading birds and migratory birds. The area around Rusasetvatnet is important for bird life. Austråttlunden landscape conservancy also has protected status.