Vadheim is a village in the municipality of Høyanger in Vestland county, Norway. It is located on the north shore of the Sognefjorden, along the small Vadheimsfjorden branch. The European route E39 highway runs through the village. It is located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of the village of Lavik, about 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) northwest of the village of Kyrkjebø, and about 13.5 kilometres (8.4 mi) northwest of the village of Austreim.[3] The 0.36-square-kilometre (89-acre) village has a population (2013) of 238, giving the village a population density of 661 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,710/sq mi).[1]
Etymology
The name originates from the Norwegian words "vadestad", which translates to "shallow river crossing" and "heim" which translates to "home". «Vaim» is often used as a local nickname.[4]
History
Farming Community
Until around the year 1900 most people in Vadheim were farmers. The farmers often traveled to the city of Bergen to sell their goods. These goods often included wood, butter, animals and horses and were transported by the use of "jekter", a kind of small sailing ship.[5]
Tourism
The road through Vadheim and up the Ytredalen valley towards Sunnfjord has been an important thoroughfare since time immemorial. The main road was completed in 1895. The central placement of Vadheim resulted in the village becoming a hub for tourism. In 1882, Vadheim Hotel was built and the transport of tourists through the village became an important source of income for the farmers.[6]
Industrialization
The high mountains surrounding the village has been a source of hydropower for the village. As soon as 1895, a dynamo was installed in the local river. This was most likely the first power plant in Sogn and Fjordane.
Vadheim Hotel ca 1880-1890
In 1906 the Englishman Edgar Ashcroft bought the rights to the waterways and created "Vadheim Elektrochemiske Fabriker" in 1907. The plant produced many different kinds of chemical products until its closure in 2007. The plant helped make Vadheim an industry town.
Shortly after the end of World War II, the pre-war criminal and wartime resistance fighter Johannes S. Andersen broke into the German barracks in Vadheim and killed two German prisoners-of-war. The incident caused a controversy in Norway after the war when Andersen was charged in court with killing them. It was decided in 1947 that his indictment would be withdrawn.
During World War II, the Nazi occupants constructed different types of fortifications in Vadheim. The roads which run through the village was seen as strategically significant. In Vadheim, multiple fortifications and bunkers are still visible to this day[8][9]
Bunker in Vadheim
Vadheim as a thoroughfare
Vadheim has historically been logistically important in the Ytre Sogn region because of the Ytredalen valley which go northwards towards Førde and Jølster. The road between Vadheim and Sande is written about first in the 14th century. In 1785 the road through Ytredalen was classified as a horse path. Around the year 1800, a new gravel road for carts was constructed and the road eventually became part of the «Den trondhjemske postveg».
In 1910 the first cars drove through Vadheim. The thoroughfare of tourists and people increased in number after the ship "Alden" came on route in Sogn in 1888.[10]
Near Vadheim is Ytredal Bridge, an 18th-century stone bridge. It is a popular tourist attraction.
Ytredal Bridge as seen from E39
Politics
Historically the Labour Party and Centrum Party has been popular among the voters in the village. The voter turnout for the Stortingsvalg election in 2021 and Kommunvalget election in 2019 was respectively 79.7% and 64%.[11]
^ Elof Hellquist (1922). «fjord». Svensk etymologisk ordbok. s. 139.
^Grønlien, Brynjulv | Hjetland, Olai | A.S. Vadheim privatbank med avdeling Høyanger privatbank 50 år : 1910-1960
^Ese, Krstin. 2007. På god veg. Veghistorie i Sogn og Fjordane.
Leirnes, Leif., red. 1978. Bygdebok for Kyrkjebø og Lavik – Band III Bygdesoga. Høyanger
^Tanke, D.H.; Hernes, N.L.; Guldberg, T.E. (2002). "The 1916 Sinking of the SS Mount Temple: Historical Perspectives on a Unique Aspect of Alberta's Paleontological Heritage". Canadian Paleobiology. 7: 5–26.
