Rolvsøy is a village, an island, and a former municipality in

Østfold Østfold () is a county in Eastern Norway, which from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023 was part of Viken. Østfold borders Akershus and southwestern Sweden (Västra Götaland County and Värmland), while Buskerud and Vestfold are on the other ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It was created by a split from Tune on 1 January 1911. At that time Rolvsøy had a population of 2,381. On 1 January 1994 Rolvsøy was incorporated into the municipality of

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipal ...

, the neighboring municipality to the south. Prior to the merger Rolvsøy had a population of 5,947. The

Tune ship The Tune ship (''Tuneskipet'') is a Viking ship exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum (''Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy'') in Bygdøy, Oslo. The Tune ship is of the karve, a small type of longship with broad hull. It was found at the Haugen far ...

, a

viking ship Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as being slender and flexi ...

dating from ca. 900 and now exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum in

Bygdøy Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula situated on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy is part of the borough of Frogner. It historically was part of Aker Municipality and became part of Oslo in 1948. Bygdøy is a popular recr ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

was found in Rolvsøy in 1867. It was so named because it was found in a boat burial mound on Rolvsøy which was a part of Tune at that time.

The name

The Norse form of the name was (probably) ''*Rolfsøy''. The first element is then the genitive case of the male name '' Rolfr'', the last element is 'øy' meaning 'island'.

Development

Rolvsøy has been and is still under heavy development, especially the street called Dikeveien. Before 1990, the street had little more than a few factories. Today the street is full of life, with over 100 stores. Everything from tiles, groceries and clothing. Dikeveien is located in Fredrikstad, and lies 6 km north of the city centre.

References

* Fredrikstad Former municipalities of Norway Populated places established in 1911 Populated places disestablished in 1994 1911 establishments in Norway Islands of Østfold {{Østfold-geo-stub