Tjølling 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 1988. The area is now part of

Larvik Municipality Larvik () is a municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vestfold. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. Other main population centres in the municipality include the ...

. 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

Tjøllingvollen Tjøllingvollen or Viksfjord is a village in Larvik Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located about to the east of the town of Larvik. The village of Hem lies about to the northeast, the village of Verningen lies about ...

. Other villages in Tjølling included

Hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

, Rekkevik, and Ula.

General information

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 Tjølling 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). On 1 January 1891, an area of Tjølling municipality (population: 11) was transferred to the neighboring Hedrum municipality. On 1 January 1988, the municipality was dissolved as part of a major municipality merger which consolidated the municipalities of Brunlanes (population: 8,138), Hedrum (population: 10,449), and Tjølling (population: 7,878) with the towns of

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

(population: 8,045) and Stavern (population: 2,538) to create a new, much larger

with a population of 37,048 people.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after an old name for the area () since the first Tjølling Church was built there. The first element is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

of the word which means "crowd of people" or "assembly". This is likely because the site was apparently the location of a Thing for the district long before the introduction of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. The last element is which means " heather".

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 7 May 1971. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''" Azure, two longships

argent In heraldry, argent () is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it. In engravings and line drawings, regions to b ...

in pale"'' (). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a set of two

longship Longships, a type of specialised Viking ship, Scandinavian warships, have a long history in Scandinavia, with their existence being archaeologically proven and documented from at least the fourth century BC. Originally invented and used by th ...

s, one above the other. The pair of longships has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The two Viking ships in the arms and refer to the long history of the area. The arms were designed by Hallvard Trætteberg. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Population

Historic numbers show that Tjøllings population grew from the early 19th century until the municipal merger in 1988.

History

Tjølling is the site of one of the oldest

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

settlements within

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

. Kaupang was a big trading centre for the Vikings. Kaupang is considered to be Norway's first city, being mentioned by Ohthere of Hålogaland when he visited

Alfred the great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

around year 890. There have been several earlier

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

surveys and excavations at Kaupang. In 1867,

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

Nicolay Nicolaysen Nicolay Nicolaysen (14 January 1817 - 22 January 1911) was a Norway, Norwegian Archaeology, archaeologist and Norway's first state employed antiquarian. He is perhaps best known for his excavations of the ship burial at Gokstad ship burial, Gok ...

mapped one of the grave-fields around the former town and excavated 79 grave mounds. He uncovered a cremation cemetery, largely dated to the 10th century. Charlotte Blindheim (1917-2005) started excavating in 1947 and completed her last publication in 1999. In 1997, Dagfinn Skre and his associates from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

undertook a new program of work at Kaupang followed by a large excavation that ran over three years, from 2000 till 2002. Most recently it has been the site of post-excavation work conducted by the

(or simply ''Vollen'') is located at the highest part of the outer raet. The village is the administrative centre of Tjølling. The village is a well developed rural area, with a grocery store, kindergarten, post office, primary and secondary school, health and elderly institutions, among others. During the 1960s and 1970s, the residential area of Vollen was expanded and this has continued into the 21st century.

Tjølling Church

Tjølling Church (''Tjølling kirke'') was originally constructed as a medieval stone church in the 12th century. The church was hit by a fire in 1360 and was then rebuilt. An earthquake damaged the church in the 1750s. It has been speculated that it was the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, All Saints' Day, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In ...

, but it's more plausible that it was an earthquake in

Kattegat The Kattegat (; ; ) is a sea area bounded by the peninsula of Jutland in the west, the Danish straits islands of Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the south and the Swedish provinces of Bohuslän, Västergötland, Halland and Scania in Swede ...

in 1759 that caused the damages. It was rebuilt from 1762 to 1767 as a Romanesque church with interiors from different eras. The restoration in 1860 gave Tjølling church its present appearance.

Government

While it existed, this 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.

Municipal council

The

of Tjølling was made up of 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 ...

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 Tjølling: *1838-1849: Johan Nilsen Bugge *1850-1871: Magnus Hesselberg *1872-1875: Hans Christian Jahnsen *1876-1881: Magnus Gotthilf Oppen *1882-1885: Olaus Hansen Vig *1886-1887: Martin Jansen Huseby *1888-1889: Magnus Gothilf Oppen *1890-1899: Hans Peter Martinsen *1899-1907: Hans Oluf Olsen Gjerstad ( V) *1907-1910: Nils Magnus Nilsen Tvedten ( V) *1911-1922: Ole L. Hem ( LL) *1923-1928: Johannes Grønneberg ( H) *1929-1931: Martin N. Østby ( Ap) *1932-1937: Johannes Grønneberg ( H) *1938-1938: Nils Magnus Nilsen Tvedten ( V) *1938-1945: Johannes Grønneberg ( H/ NS) *1945-1945: Mathias Bredvei ( Bp) *1945-1945: Johannes Bredvei ( V) *1946-1947: Jørgen Jørgensen ( Ap) *1948-1951: Olaf Lund ( V) *1952-1955: Jørgen Jørgensen ( Ap) *1956-1971: Hans Huseby Hem ( Ap) *1972-1975: Borger Huseby ( Sp) *1976-1979: Hans Tvedten ( Sp) *1980-1987: Arild Lund ( H)

Geography and demography

Tjølling includes the area between the river Numedalslågen and Sandefjordsfjorden, south of 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. There's some agriculture and numerous

quarries A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to manage their safet ...

excavating of larvikite in Tjølling. The biggest quarry is Klåstad, which extracts a type of larvikite called ''Mørk Labrador'' (English: Dark Labrador). Tjølling has a long coastline with many fine beaches and coves. Tjølling is also known as a popular cottage area, as well as a popular holiday area. The most popular ports are Ula and Kjerringvik. Viksfjord is an idyllic sidefjord to Larviksfjorden, and is located in Tjølling.

Education and sports

Tjodalyng school is a primary and secondary school for Tjølling, with around 520 students and 60 employees. The school was built as a primary school in 1963, and was expanded as a secondary school in 1976. Tjølling IF was founded in 1888, and is located at Løveskogen Idrettspark. They operate also Tjøllinghallen, which is located in the same area. The club also has artificial turf pitches, a grass pitch, two peach pitches, and a clubhouse. The club has 27

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

teams, where nine of those are women's teams, and 18 are men's teams. They also have 18 children's teams, six youth teams, three adult teams, and 23 coaches. The sports association has other activities as well, like "allis" for kids between 2–7 years old, and activities for former members. There's also Tjøllingmila and Vestfold Maraton, which they arrange.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tjolling Larvik Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 1988 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 1988