Herdla is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1871 until its dissolution in 1964. The municipality encompassed a large group of about 2,000 islands and skerries covering about 115-square-kilometre (44 sq mi) of land area, to the northwest of the city of Bergen in what is now parts of Øygarden, Alver, and Askøy municipalities in Vestland county. The administrative centre of the municipality was the small island-village of Herdla. The municipality included the northern third of the island of Holsnøy, the northern third of the island of Askøy, and the islands of Misje, Turøy, Toftøy, Rongøy, Blomøy, Ona, Bognøy, and many smaller surrounding islands.^[2]

On 1 January 1871, the western island district of the municipality of Manger was separated to form the new municipality of Herlø (an old spelling that was changed to Herdla in 1917). Initially, the municipality had 2,484 residents. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. In January 1964, the municipality of Herdla was dissolved and its land was split up as follows:^[3]

• the islands of Misje and Turøy (population: 404) became part of Fjell Municipality
• the island of Herdla and all of Herdla on the island of Askøy (population: 1,564) became part of Askøy Municipality
• all of Herdla on the island of Holsnøy (population: 811) became part of Meland Municipality
• all of Herdla located west of the Hjeltefjorden (population: 2,131) became part of Øygarden Municipality
• the island of Bognøy (population: 29) became part of Radøy Municipality

Herdla Church (Herdla kirke) dates back to 1863. The stone structure has 600 seats. The original church was demolished in the 19th century because it had too little space for the congregation.

During the Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, the tower and the roofs were removed because of the belief that the British Royal Air Force used the church to navigate attacks on the west coast of Norway. The church was restored during 1910, 1935, and 1950.

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.^[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Herdla.

• List of former municipalities of Norway