Skoger is a village located on the border between Buskerud and Vestfold counties, Norway. Of its population of 1,082 as of 2005, 654 were registered as residents of Drammen whereas 428 live in Sande in Vestfold county, Norway.

History

Historically the area had large forested areas, and much arable land. Reference to Skoger is made in the land register maintained by Bishop Eystein Erlendsson (''Biskop Eysteins jordebok''). The parish of ''Skouger'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 under of the law of

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

. This provision of the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

, required that every parish (Norwegian: ''prestegjeld'') form a local self-government district. Skoger with 1,837 inhabitants merged with

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county), Norway, today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). But since th ...

with 731 inhabitants, as well as an uninhabited part of Eiker on January 1, 1844. The enlarged Skoger municipality had a population of 2,568. Until 1889 the name was written ''Skouger''. A part of Skoger was moved to Drammen on 1 January 1870. The rest of Skoger was incorporated into Drammen on 1 January 1964. This entailed a border adjustment by which Skoger became a part of Buskerud county.

Skoger Parish

Skoger has two parish churches both of which are part of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

and belongs to Drammen deanery in Tunsberg diocese. Access to both sites is via Norwegian National Road 33 ('' FV33''). Skoger Church (''Skoger kirke'') was inaugurated on 9 December 1885. It is built of brick stone and has 300 seats. Skoger Old Church (''Skoger gamle kirke'') has an estimated date of origin of between 1200 and 1220 and is one of Drammen's oldest buildings. ''Skoger Old Church''
(drammen.kirken)

Etymology

The Old Norse form of the name was ''Skógar''. The name is the plural form of ''skóg'' meaning 'woodland, forest'.

Notable residents

References

Other sources

* Haugen, Einar (1974) ''Norwegian-English Dictionary: A Pronouncing and Translating Dictionary of Modern Norwegian'' (University of Wisconsin Press) Villages in Buskerud Former municipalities of Norway Drammen {{Vestfold-geo-stub