The
parish of Namdalseid was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see
formannskapsdistrikt law), but it was short-lived. On 1 January 1846, it was merged into the neighboring
Beitstad Municipality. On 1 January 1904, the Namdalseid district (population: 1,368) was separated from
Beitstad Municipality to form a municipality of its own (once again). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the
Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the parts of the neighboring
Otterøy Municipality that were located south of the
Namsenfjorden (population: 571) were transferred to Namdalseid Municipality. On 1 January 2018, the municipality switched from the old
Nord-Trøndelag county to the new
Trøndelag county. On 1 January 2020, the neighboring
Fosnes Municipality,
Namsos Municipality, and Namdalseid Municipality were merged to form a new, larger
Namsos Municipality. This occurred because on 16 June 2016, the three municipalities voted to merge as part of a large municipal reform across Norway.
Name The municipality (originally the
parish) is named
Namdalseid. This name originally comes from the old
Elda farm ( or commonly shortened to ) since the first
Eid Stave Church was built there. The first element is which is the name of the local river. The last element is which means "path/road between two waters" (here the
Beitstadfjorden and
Namsenfjorden)". The
Vikings used to drag boats across Namdalseid using the
rivers and
waterways in the area, to get from one
fjord to another without having to risk crossing the treacherous
Folda fjord by travelling up the sheltered
Trondheimsfjord and continuing north along the coast. The passage was much easier in olden times as the
sea level was higher and the waterways more numerous, but as recently as 2004 a boatdrag was done to commemorate the old traditions. Nowadays, however, one has to transport the boats by road for a fairly long stretch. Around the year 1550, the prefix was added to the name to distinguish it from other places using the common name
Eid. The prefix is the
genitive case of the old region name
Namdalen. Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled
Namdalseidet. On 3 November 1917, a
royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to
Namdalseid, removing the
definite form ending
-et.
Coat of arms The
coat of arms was granted on 8 December 1989 and they were in use until 1 January 2020 when the municipality was dissolved. The official
blazon is
"Per pale trefly-counter-trefly argent and vert" (). This means the arms have a
field (background) that is divided vertically by a line that follows a
trefoil/
clover design that alternates on either side of the line. The background on the left side of the line has a
tincture of
argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The background on the right side has a tincture of green. The
clover leaf shapes and the colors were chosen to symbolize the
agriculture, landscapes, and nature within the municipality. Namdalseid was a farming municipality with mainly grass production. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.
Churches The
Church of Norway had two parishes () within Namdalseid Municipality. It is part of the
Nord-Innherad prosti (
deanery) in the
Diocese of Nidaros. ==Geography==