History

The village of Eiði is among the oldest settlements in the Faroe Islands. It is mentioned in writing in the early 14th century and carbon-dating has suggested that the village was settled by Norsemen, as early as  the 9th century. The current mayor incumbent is Annsy Høghamar.

In terms of history of the municipality, it can trace its beginnings back to 1879, when local people sent a written request to parliament, regarding the establishing of an independent municipality. At the time, Eiði was part of the Eysturoy region. This started the long and drawn out process of establishing the municipality, which was finally done in the autumn of 1894. The first mayor was Grækaris Joensen.

Grækaris Joensen, 1894-1897

Grækaris Joensen.

The first major project for the newly established council, was a bridge over the river Breiðá. This was unanimously agreed on by the members of the council, at the second ever meeting in june 1895. A request for financial support was sent to parliament shortly after the meeting and a reply came nearly two whole years later, in which, approval and funding were granted. Mr. Joensen held the position of mayor for 3 years until his sudden death in 1897 at the age of 61. He is notable for being the first ever recipient of a diploma from the teacher school of the Faroe Islands. (1871). Jens Jørgen Kruse took up the position of mayor after the passing of Joensen, a position which he held from 1897 until the turn of the century. In the next election, which was held in june 1900, Heini Nygaard was elected mayor. By this time, the local government was already concerned with enviromental matters, as seen by the appointment of Nygaard as “Manager of coastal cleanlinnes”.

Going forward a few years to 1905 – In october of that year, the council was called to a meeting in order to discuss a letter from the government, concerning the establishment of a telephone station in Eiði. An agreement was reached to find funding for appropriate housing and an operator. In a later letter, Government informed the local council of its unsucsessful attempt at aquiring either.  This undoubtidly played a large role in the delay of getting phones to Eiði. It was not until 1913 that two operators were hired to operate the phones in Eiði and Norðskáli respectively.

Today, the municipality consists of three villages. Namely, Eiði, Ljósá and Svínáir. Historically, the municipality consisted of 3 additional villages. Those being Oyri, Oyrarbakki and Norðskáli. In 1943, the people of those villages opted out of Eiði municipality and instead joined up to form a municipality of their own. Officially established on the 1st of january 1944. The neighbouring municipalities of Eiði and Sunda continue to work together in various matters.