Botne is a former municipality in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

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 ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of

Holmestrand Municipality is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Holmestrand (town), town of Ho ...

in the traditional district of

Jarlsberg Jarlsberg was a former countship that forms a part of today's Vestfold county in Norway. The name translates as "Earl's Hill". The former countships of Jarlsberg and Larvik were merged into a county in 1821. Jarlsberg and Larvik's County (''Jarl ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the village of Botne where the Botne Church is located. Other villages in the municipality included

Hillestad Hillestad may refer to: Places * Hillestad, Agder, a village in the municipality of Åmli in Agder county, Norway *''Hillestad Church'', an old name for Tovdal Church in Åmli municipality in Agder county, Norway * Hillestad, Vestfold, a village i ...

and Gullhaug.

History

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Botne was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). The initial population of Botne Municipality was about 1,600 residents. In 1942, an area of Botne (population: 148) was transferred into the neighboring town of Holmestrand. In 1947, an area of Botne (population: 8) was transferred to the neighboring Våle Municipality. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, Botne Municipality (population: 4,656) was merged with the town of Holmestrand (population: 1,956) to form a new, larger

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Botne'' farm () since the first Botne Church was built there. The name is the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

form of which means "bottom", "hollow", or "depression".

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had two parishes () within the municipality of Botne. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Nord-Jarlsberg prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Tunsberg Tunsberg is a diocese of the Church of Norway. It includes all of the parishes located within the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, with the cathedral located in the city of Tønsberg. The Diocese of Tunsberg consists of the cathedral deanery and ...

. Botne Church (''Botne kirke'') is a stone church from the 13th century that is dedicated to St. Nicholas. There is rectangular

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and lower and narrower

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. The Renaissance / Baroque altarpiece is from 1664 and consists of four pictures from the gospels. The pulpit is from 1634 with five subjects with evangelists and painted in large fields. The baptismal font is also from the 1600s and has an octagonal basin with painted biblical scenes on four sides.

Government

Botne Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors

The

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

() of Botne: * 1838-1847: Peder Mandrup Tuxen Abel * 1848-1856: Hans J. N. Hillestad * 1856-1859: Johan H. Ramberg * 1860-1861: Anders J. Myhre * 1862-1863: Peder P. Ramberg * 1864-1865: Johan Henningsen Ramberg * 1866-1869: Peder Cappelen Ottesen * 1870-1871: Anders Sv. Rønningen * 1872-1873: Olaus Chr. Hårjord * 1874-1879: Theodor L. Bjerke * 1880-1887: Abraham L. Hillestad * 1888-1895: Jess D. Koren * 1896-1897: Henning P. Løvald * 1898-1898: Newton T. Kalleberg * 1899-1904: Kristen Skarrebo * 1905-1907: Hans Backe * 1908-1913: Johan Kiste * 1914-1919: Hans Strandenæs ( H) * 1920-1922: Aksel Jensen Foss * 1923-1928: Hans Strandenæs ( H) * 1929-1934: Halvard Christian Sollie ( Bp) * 1935-1947: Paul Seljeseth ( Ap) * 1948-1951: Einar Weltzien ( Bp) * 1952-1955: Paul Seljeseth ( Ap) * 1956-1963: Halfdan Kongsten ( Ap)

Municipal council

The

of Botne was made up of 21 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

References

{{use dmy dates, date=February 2024 Holmestrand Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 1964