Frier or Frierfjord is a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord (also spelled fiord in New Zealand English; ) is a long, narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Antarctica, the Arctic, and surrounding landmasses of the n ...

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

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 long fjord is located along the

Skaggerak The Skagerrak (; , , ) is a strait running between the North Jutlandic Island of Denmark, the east coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea. The Skagerrak contains some of the busiest shipping ...

coast in the traditional district of

Grenland Grenland is a traditional district in Telemark county, in the south-east of Norway. "Grenland" has referred to varying locations throughout history. In modern times, Grenland refers to the areas of the municipalities of Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble, ...

and it forms the border with the municipalities of

Bamble Bamble is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Langesund ...

Skien Skien () is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsjø area and Bø. The administrative ...

, and

Porsgrunn is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Porsgrunn (town), city ...

. The fjord is actually an inner arm of the

Langesundsfjord Langesundsfjord (), also known as the Breviksfjord (), is a stretch of fjord in Telemark county, Norway. The long fjord flows from the Skagerrak, between the islands of Sandøya, Bjørkøya, and Siktesøya in Porsgrunn Municipality and the ma ...

, and historically (well into the 1700s) this fjord was also known as the Langesundsfjord. The fjord stretches from the opening to Langesundsfjord in the south to the mouth of the Porsgrunn River in the north. The much smaller fjord of Gunneklevfjord opens into the Porsgrunn/Skien River and is separated from Frierfjorden by the peninsula of Herøya. The Frierfjorden narrows to a width of about at Breviksstrømmen, the mouth of the fjord, where the town of Brevik sits on the northern side and the town of

Stathelle is a town in Bamble Municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The town is located at the confluence of the Frierfjorden, Eidangerfjord, and Langesundsfjorden. The town of Brevik lies about across the fjord and the town of Langesund lies about ...

lies on the southern side. The

Brevik Bridge Brevik Bridge () is one of two bridges that span the mouth of the Frierfjord. It connects the municipalities of Bamble and Porsgrunn in Telemark county. On the west side, in Bamble, lies the town of Stathelle, while on the east side lies the town ...

crosses Breviksstrømmen between the two towns. A little further into the fjord the newer

Grenland Bridge Grenland Bridge () is Norway's highest cable-stayed bridge with a tower height of . The bridge, which opened in 1996, is part of the European Route E18 highway and it crosses the Frierfjord, a fjord in Telemark counties of Norway, county. The bri ...

crosses the fjord, carrying the

European route E18 European route E18 runs between Craigavon, County Armagh, Craigavon in Northern Ireland and Saint Petersburg in Russia, passing through Scotland, England, Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is about in length. Although the designation implies the ...

highway across Norway's highest

cable stayed bridge A cable-stayed bridge has one or more ''towers'' (or ''pylons''), from which cables support the bridge deck. A distinctive feature are the cables or stays, which run directly from the tower to the deck, normally forming a fan-like pattern o ...

. The fjord has a great deal of commercial ship traffic, including to Rafnes and Herre in

, to

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norway, Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around th ...

, and formerly to

Norske Skog Union Norske Skog Union was a paper mill located in Skien in Norway. The mill was part of the Norske Skog Corporation and opened in 1873 with the name Union Co. The mill had two paper machines that produced 240,000 tonnes of newsprint and book paper. ...

Name

The fjord is named ''Frier'' (). The name is derived from the word which means "beautiful" or "lovely". The official name of the fjord is ''Frier''. ''Frierfjorden'' is also an approved name, but that one is "not prioritized".

Media gallery

Brevik.JPG,

Frierfjorden.JPG, Fjord system in

Tug boats at the Frierfjord.jpg, Tug boats near

at Herøya,

Hydro_Heroya.jpg, Herøya, and the large industries

References

{{use dmy dates, date=September 2023 Porsgrunn Bamble Skien Fjords of Telemark Skagerrak

Name

Media gallery

See also

References