Steinkjer (Southern Sami: Stïentje) is a municipality in
Trøndelag. The municipality is located in the innermost part of
Trondheimsfjorden and borders in the north on Namsos and Overhalla,
in the northeast and east on Snåsa, in the south on Verdal, and in
the west on Indre Fosen, Åfjord and Inderøy.
The municipal
center Steinkjer is the county's third largest town and is the
administrative center for Trøndelag county municipality.
The name Steinkjer comes from the Norse steiner, which means dam or bridge of stone, but which was also used for damming to catch fish, such as salmon. Ogna, Byaelva and Figga, which flow out here, have always been good salmon rivers. Until 1925, the name was written "Stenkjær".
Steinkjer
with the small places Mære and Egge has been a historical center of
power in Norse times and the early Middle Ages. Several significant
archaeological finds have been made in the area. The Bardal field in
Sør-Beitstad is one of Nord-Trøndelag's largest collections of
petroglyphs. Skeifeltet south of Steinkjer is Nord-Trøndelag's
largest burial ground with 113 burial mounds. There are also cooking
pits, monumental stones and a ring-shaped house complex with eight
house foundations.
Snorre Sturlason tells in Heimskringla
that the charging earls Svein Håkonsson and Eirik Håkonsson had
their headquarters in Steinkjer and celebrated Christmas there
before they fled the country in 1016.
The chief seat Egge on
the moraine ridge north of Steinkjer is mentioned several times in
the sagas. Trond Haka, Olve at Egge and Kalv Arnesson lived there.
Calf participated in the peasant army that killed Saint Olav in the
battle of Stiklestad in 1030. At Egge, rich grave finds have been
made from a period that stretches from about the year 200 to 1100.
Steinkjersannan was a training ground and military camp for
about 300 years, from the 17th century to 2002.
The place
received charging station rights on May 7, 1857 and became a city.
The term "Bygdenes by" reflects the rich and active settlements
around that made it possible to develop the place when the yachting
speed picked up in the late 1800s. There was significant trading
activity based on lumber and agricultural products.
Steinkjer
became its own municipality on 23 January 1858. The municipality was
then separated from Stod and Sparbu municipalities and at the time
of its establishment had 1150 inhabitants. In 1964, the municipality
expanded when the villages Beitstad, Sparbu, Ogndal, Egge, Stod,
Kvam and Steinkjer became the new Steinkjer municipality with a
total of 19,582 inhabitants.
The settlements also today form
the economic basis for the city and make Steinkjer one of the
country's largest agricultural and forestry municipalities with many
large farms and especially large production of grain and milk.
In October 1998, Steinkjer received formal restructuring status
from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development on
the basis of a report which showed that the municipality would lose
over 600 jobs by 2010 without special measures. This led to a few
years of investing in Steinkjer as the "IT city".
On 1
January 2020, the neighboring municipality of Verran was merged with
Steinkjer. At the same time, a boundary adjustment was made so that
the hamlet of Verrabotn was added to Indre Fosen municipality.
The terrain around Steinkjer is characterized by
large masses of ice grinding to the bedrock tens of thousands of
years ago. The rock structure itself, on the other hand, was shaped
when America and Europe collided several hundred million years ago.
The town of Steinkjer is the administrative center of
Nord-Trøndelag and is located as the crow flies a little over 80 km
north and along the E6 120 km from the regional center Trondheim.
The municipality consists of the municipal center as well as the
villages Beitstad, Egge, Kvam, Ogndal, Sparbu, Henning, Stod and
Verran. In Verran are the towns of Malm and Follafoss.
The
highest point in Steinkjer is Brannheiklumpen, 818 meters above sea
level. In the immediate vicinity just outside the municipality is
the highest mountain that is visible from Steinkjer, Skjækerhatten,
1139 meters above sea level, which is located at the end of the long
east-going valley Ogndalen. To the north there are several lakes:
Reinsvatnet, Fossemvatnet and Snåsavatnet. To the west is the
Beitstadfjord. The mountains on the Fosen Peninsula, especially
Follaheia, are clearly visible from Steinkjer.
Norway's
geographical center is located in Ogndal, about 40 km east of
Steinkjer center.
Climate
Despite its northern location,
Steinkjer has a stable climate that allows agriculture. The distance
to the coast means that Steinkjer has a typical inland climate with
hot summers and cold winters. Meteorological data suggest a winter
from late October to early April. Steinkjer experienced –25.4 ºC on
6 January 2010 (Yr.no). It can also be hot in Steinkjer compared to
the rest of the country. Due to its northern location, Steinkjer has
a lot of sun in the summer and is at the same time far enough south
to have reached the national temperature peak several times. In the
summer of 2008, only Saltdal in Nordland had the warmest average
temperature for the summer season. Steinkjer was the city in Norway
with the highest average temperature, somewhat surprising due to its
northern location. In addition, the temperature is affected by the
local geography and the location of Steinkjer in the innermost part
of the Trondheim Fjord.
Climatic data are presented below.
Note that the maximum and minimum average temperatures are the same
as the average temperature in this overview, and the average
temperature together with precipitation is actual data. Normal
annual precipitation based on the figures for the period 1960–1990
is 960 mm of precipitation. There is most precipitation during the
autumn and early winter.