The Sørlandet Line railroad runs through the municipality from east to west, stopping at Snartemo Station in Snartemo. To get into and out of the valley in which Hægebostad is located, the trains must go through two of the longest railway tunnels in Norway: Hægebostad Tunnel and Kvineshei Tunnel.
The 461-square-kilometre (178 sq mi) municipality is the 215th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Hægebostad is the 296th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 1,750. The municipality's population density is 4.1 inhabitants per square kilometre (11/sq mi) and its population has increased by 4.9% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
Nine units of Sheltered housing are under construction (in 2022) after the previous ones were demolished.[6]
The parish of Hægebostad was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1915, the municipality was divided into two municipalities: Eiken (population: 932) in the north and Hægebostad (population: 867) in the south. On 1 January 1963, the two municipalities were merged back together as the municipality of Hægebostad once again. Prior to the merger, Hægebostad had 813 residents and Eiken had 784 residents.[7]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hægebostad farm (Old Norse: Helgabólstaðir) since the first Hægebostad Church was built there. This farm is now on the north side of the village of Snartemo. The first element is helg- which means "holy". The last element is the plural form of bólstaðr which means "homestead" or "farm". Before 1889, the name was written Hegebostad.[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 4 April 1986. The official blazon is "Gules, two swords Or, points to the base" (Norwegian: På raud grunn to gull sverd med oddane ned). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is two swords that are pointing downwards. The swords have a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The swords represent the two swards of Snartemo and Eiken dating from the 4th–6th century that were found in the municipality. The swords were highly decorated with silver and gold, but the ones on the arms are a more stylized heraldic design. The arms were designed by John Digernes. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11]
Hægebostad is an inland municipality, with Åseral municipality to the northeast, Kvinesdal to the west and Lyngdal to the south and east. The municipality covers the upper Lyngdalen valley from the mountains in the north, along the river Lygna to Lyngdal municipality in the south. The lake Lygne lies in the central part of the municipality.
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Hægebostad is made up of 17 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
