Bjerkreim

Bjerkreim is a municipality in the Rogaland county, Norway. The parish of Birkrem was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Nature has been generous in giving Bjerkreim many idyllic places, making Bjerkreim a good place to live by living in a countryside environment, but still relatively close to a major city, Stavanger. The two and a half thousand inhabitants in Bjerkreim have a total area of 585 square kilometres (226 sq mi) at their disposal. It includes one of the most important salmon rivers in Norway, Bjerkreimselva. The most important livelihoods are agriculture and small-scale industries.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bjerkreim farm (Old Norse: Bjarkarheimr), since the first church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of bjørk which means "birch" and the last element is heimr which means "homestead" or "farm". Before 1889, the name was written "Birkrem".

Coat-of-arms