Ølen

Historie

Ølen is a former municipality in the Vestlandet region of Norway. The municipality existed from 1916 until 2006, and originally it was a part of Hordaland county, but it was later transferred to Rogaland county prior to its dissolution. The 181km2 municipality was located on the south side of the Bjoafjorden and east of the Ålfjorden. The administrative center of Ølen was the village of Ølensjøen. The municipality of Ølen makes up the northern part of the present-day municipality of Vindafjord in Rogaland county.HistoryThe parish of Ølen was established as a municipality on 1 July 1916 when it was split off from the large municipality of Fjelberg. Initially, Ølen had 1,715 residents. On 1 January 1964, the neighboring municipality of Vikebygd was dissolved and the eastern half of it (population: 578) was merged into the municipality of Ølen. On 1 January 2002, the municipality of Ølen was transferred administratively from Hordaland county to Rogaland county. On 1 January 2003, the people of Ølen and the neighboring municipality of Vindafjord held a merger referendum which was successful. On 1 January 2006, Ølen and Vindafjord merged, forming a larger municipality called Vindafjord. Before the merger, Ølen had a population of 3,426. The coat of arms of the new Vindafjord municipality bears the design of the old Ølen arms and the colours of the old Vindafjord arms.