Ådal is a valley in the municipality of Ringerike and was a former municipality in

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

County, Norway. Sperillen, Ringerike

The municipality was created in 1857 by a split from

Norderhov Norderhov is a former municipality located within Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Municipality Norderhov municipality was established on January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). According to the 1835 census the municipality had a popul ...

. At that time Ådal had a population of 2,382. On 1 January 1964 Ådal was merged with

Hønefoss __NOTOC__ Hønefoss is a town and the administrative center of the municipality of Ringerike in Buskerud county, Norway. Hønefoss is an industrial center of inner Østlandet, containing several factories and other industry. As of 1 January 2008, ...

Tyristrand Tyristrand is a village in Ringerike municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. Background Tyristrand parish was designated a municipality following a split from Hole on 1 July 1916. The municipality of Hole made been established on 1 January 1 ...

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

and Norderhov to form the new municipality Ringerike. Prior to the merger Ådal had a population of 3,442. Traditionally the Ådal parish has been divided three ways. Ytre Ådal includes the village of

Hallingby Hallingby is a village in Ringerike municipality in the county of Buskerud, Norway. Hallingby is located north of Hønefoss, along the European route E16 towards Valdres and Western Norway. Hallingby was one of five stations on the now defunct ...

and is the site of Hallingby school and Hval Church (''Hval kirke''). Øvre Ådal includes the village of

Nes, Ådal Nes i Ådal is a small village in the valley of Ådal in the municipality Ringerike (municipality), Ringerike in Buskerud, Norway. The village lies on both sides of the river Begna (river), Begna, just north of the river's outlet in Lake Sperill ...

and is the site of Nes school, Ringmoen school and Nes Church (''Nes kirke''). Vestre Ådal is the site of Viker Church and the Ådal Mountains (''Ådalsfjellene''), a small mountain range which stretches from Ådal to Vassfarfoten on the border with

Vassfaret Vassfaret is a forested mountain valley in southern Norway. The valley is located on the border of the municipalities of Flå, Nesbyen, and Ringerike in Viken county and Sør-Aurdal Municipality in Innlandet county. The valley lies between the ...

and

Sør-Aurdal Sør-Aurdal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Valdres. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bagn. Other villages in the municipality include Begna, Hedalen, an ...

Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The co ...

Sperillen

Sperillen Sperillen is a lake in the valley of Ådal in Ringerike municipality, Viken county, Norway.Sperillen
Store Norske Leksikon, retrieved ...

, the 33rd largest lake in Norway, is located in Ådal. The rivers Begna (from Begnadalen) and Urula (from Hedalen) flow into the lake from the north. At the south end of the lake, there is a dam located near Ringmoen. The lake is well known for its fisheries and is one of the few within Norway with a commercial fishery.

Viker Church

The first church located at Ådal was a

Stave church A stave church is a medieval wooden Christian church building once common in north-western Europe. The name derives from the building's structure of post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing ore-pine posts a ...

built during the 15th century. It is mentioned in ''

Diplomatarium Norvegicum ''Diplomatarium Norvegicum'' is a series of books containing the texts of documents and letters from Norway older than 1590, verbatim and in the original language. The series consists of 22 volumes, containing the texts of approximately 20,000 docum ...

'' in 1462. Before the 17th century it was related to

and then connected after the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

parish. By 1700 Ådal needed a new church to serve the growing needs of its parish. Viker Church (Norwegian: ''Viker Kirke'') is located on the west shore of Sperillen Lake. The church dates to 1702. The pulpit, altar and

crucifers Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

from the old Stave church were saved and placed in the new church. The church has an open interior ceilings and wood walls that are oiled. The wooden exterior is dark brown. The altarpiece is from 1720s. The baptismal font is from 1728 and has an octagon top and bottom. The church tower has two bells, dating to 1721 and 1842. Because it is situated in the middle of a forested area, it is difficult to see Viker Church from a distance.''Here is Viker Kirke'' (by Ardis Danger and Else Sevig, translator. Ringerike-Drammen Districts Lag. Vol.22, No.4 November 2008)

The name

The

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

name of the district was ''Árdalr''. The first element is the genitive case of ''á'' for 'river', the last element is ''dalr'' meaning 'dale or valley'.

References

External links

Sightseeing Ådal Map 1907

Ådal in America

Emigration from ÅdalFarms in Ådal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aadal Former municipalities of Norway Valleys of Viken