Gjerpen is a former township which is now part of the municipality of

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the ...

, in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

county, Norway.

Location

The parish of Gjerpen was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a population of 4,381. Gjerpen was located east of the city of

. It encompassed districts such as Borgestad, Bøle, Gulset and Luksefjell. On 1 July 1916 an area with roughly 1,332 inhabitants was moved to Skien, and on 1 July 1920 an area with 437 inhabitants was moved to

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn w ...

. On 1 January 1964 the rest of Gjerpen was incorporated into Skien, along with

Solum The solum (plural, sola) in soil science consists of the surface and subsoil layers that have undergone the same soil forming conditions. The base of the solum is the relatively unweathered parent material. Solum and soils are not synonymous. Som ...

and the district Valebø. Prior to the merger Gjerpen had a population of 15,300. The current district of Gjerpen constitute only a small part of the former Gjerpen municipality.

Etymology

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the farm Gjerpen (

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

''Gerpin'', from ''*Garpvin''), since the first church was built there. The meaning of the first element is unknown, the last element is ''vin'' f 'meadow'.

History

Gjerpen Church Gjerpen Church ( no, Gjerpen kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Skien Municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the town of Skien. It is one of the churches for the Gjerpen parish which is part of th ...

(''Gjerpen Kirke'') is one of the oldest churches in Norway, dating from around the year 1150.

Vidkun Quisling Vidkun Abraham Lauritz Jonssøn Quisling (, ; 18 July 1887 – 24 October 1945) was a Norwegian military officer, politician and Nazi collaborator who nominally list of heads of government of Norway, headed the government of Norway during t ...

was buried in the Gjerpen cemetery. Mæla Manor (''Mæla gård i Gjerpen'') was the residence of merchant Diderich von Cappelen (1734–1794) and his first wife Petronelle Pedersdatter Juel (1737–1785). It was the childhood home of their sons

Ulrich Fredrich von Cappelen Ulrich Fredrich von Cappelen (1770–1820) was a Norwegian businessman, ship owner and timber merchant.Diderik von Cappelen Diderik von Cappelen (21 June 1761 – 3 April 1828) was a Norwegian wholesaler, merchant, shipowner, estate owner and politician in 1814. He is often referred to as Diderik von Cappelen but he spelt his name ''Didrich von Cappelen'' and is also ...

and

Peder von Cappelen Peder von Cappelen (24 January 1763 – 11 March 1837) was a Norwegian merchant and politician. He was involved in timber trade and owner of ironworks, and a member of the Parliament of Norway. Personal life Peder von Cappelen was born and ...

. The former manor house is now operated as an auction facility (''Nye Store Mæla Gård Auktion''). Fossum Ironworks (''Fossum Jernverk''), which was in operation from 1539 from 1869, was last owned by the Løvenskiold family. Løvenskiold-Vækerø, which is one of Norway's largest forest owners, owns and manages the large forest estate which formerly belonged to the Fossum Ironworks ''Fossum i Løvenskiolds eie'' (Løvenskiold-Fossum)

References

Other sources

* * Former municipalities of Norway {{Telemark-geo-stub