Stordal
Stordal is a former municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It merged with Norddal municipality to establish the new Fjord municipality in 2020. It was part of the Sunnmøre region. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Stordal. The historic farm and museum of Ytste Skotet lies along the Storfjorden in the western part of the municipality. Most of the municipality lies on the eastern side of the fjord. Stordal had relatively good agricultural land, and the main source of income is livestock. Stordal has also been home to furniture production and continues with the industry today. At the time if its dissolution in 2020, the municipality is the 306th largest by area out of the 422 municipalities in Norway. Stordal is the 396th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 972. The municipality's population density is and its population has decreased by 0.7% over the last decade. General information Stordal was established as a municipality on 1 January 1892 when it was separated from the large municipality of Stranda (to the southwest). The initial population of the municipality was 850. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the three neighboring municipalities of Ørskog, Skodje, and Stordal were merged into one large Ørskog municipality. Prior to the merger, there were 1,052 inhabitants in Stordal. The merger, however, was short-lived, and on 1 January 1977 it was reversed and the three municipalities were once again separated. On 1 January 2020, the municipalities of Stordal (population: 972) and Norddal (population: 1,670) were merged into the new Fjord Municipality. Name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the local Stordalen valley (). The first element is the plural genitive case of which means "chair" or "throne". The may be because two mountains located around the valley have the name Stolen (meaning "the chair"). The last element is which means "valley" or "dale". Prior to 1918, the name was written Stordalen. Coat of arms The coat of arms was granted on 30 August 1991 and they were in use until the municipality was dissolved on 1 January 2020. The official blazon is "Azure, a pale dovetailed Or" (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a pale with dovetailed sides. 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. The pale symbolises the forestry and furniture manufacturing in the municipality, which traditionally uses a dovetail system to join two pieces of wood. The same symbol also indicates the strong community feeling in the villages. The arms were designed by Jarle Skuseth. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms. Churches The Church of Norway had one parish with one church, within the municipality of Stordal. There is also the old church, Rosekyrkja, which is now