Brandbu is a village in

Gran Municipality is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Hadeland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Jaren. Other villages in Gran include Bjoneroa, Brandbu, Egge, Gran, and ...

Innlandet Innlandet is a county in Norway. It was created on 1 January 2020 with the merger of the old counties of Oppland and Hedmark (the municipalities of Jevnaker and Lunner were transferred to the neighboring county of Viken on the same date). The ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The village is located in

Hadeland Hadeland () is a traditional district in the southeastern part of Norway. It is centered on the southern part of the large lake Randsfjorden in Innlandet and Viken counties. The district consists of the municipalities Gran in Innlandet county ...

, along the eastern shore of the large lake

Randsfjorden Randsfjorden is Norway's fourth-largest lake with an area of . Its volume is estimated at just over , and its greatest depth is . The lake is located at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in Innlandet and Viken counties in the munic ...

, about to the northwest of the capital city of

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. Brandbu and its neighboring village of

Jaren Jaren is the administrative centre of Gran Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. The village is located about to the northwest of the capital city of Oslo. The lake Randsfjorden (Norway's fourth largest lake) lies about west of Jaren. The ...

have grown together through

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

and

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway ( no, Statistisk sentralbyrå, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every yea ...

has considered them as one, single urban settlement for many years. The village of Brandbu/Jaren has a population (2021) of 4,848 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of . From the top of the tall mountain Brandbukampen (originally a

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

from the

Permian Period The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleozo ...

), there is a wide view of Brandbu and the villages surrounding it. The village of Egge lies at the base of the mountain, about to the northwest of Brandbu. Just by the center of Brandbu lies the Brandbu lower secondary school as well as the Brandbu campus of the Hadeland

upper secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. The nearby Nes Church is the seat of the Brandbu parish within the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

. The church is located on the northern side of Røykenvik.

History

Historically, the village of Brandbu was known as "Augedalsbro" (meaning ''Augedal bridge'') since there was a bridge over the small river Vigga at the site. Locals still commonly refer to the village as "Brua" (meaning ''the bridge''). From 1897 until 1962, the village of Brandbu and its surrounding area were part of Brandbu Municipality. The ''Røykenvikbanen'' railway line stopped at the Brandbu Station from 1900 to 1957 as it connected Røykenvik along the

to the main railway line. The station building has since been demolished.

Augedalsbro

The "Augedalsbro" or "Åvedalsbro" is an ancient place for a bridge that crossed the Augedalselva river (now known as the Vigga river). There was a lift station there in older times as well. This was where the old and new Bergensveien (''Bergen road'') met and Høgkorsveien (''high cross road'') went from here and over to

Toten Toten is a traditional district in Innlandet county in the eastern part of Norway. It consists of the municipalities Østre Toten and Vestre Toten. The combined population of Toten is approximately 27,000. The largest town is Raufoss with appro ...

. Although the main bridge was moved to Rosendal, a little a bit further up river in the mid-1800s, Augedalsbro continued to be a lift station. The site was also the meeting place for the

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, rural counci ...

in the old municipality of Brandbu. The Old Molstad mill (''Molstadkvern mølle'') from 1915 which stood near the bridge is now a part of the

Hadeland Folkemuseum Hadeland Folkemuseum is a regional museum for Hadeland ( Gran, Lunner and Jevnaker). It was founded in 1913, and is located in Tingelstad in Gran. The museum is situated along ''Kongevegen'' (The King's Road), the road from Oslo to Bergen which ...

. Augedalsbro is also the

motive Motive(s) or The Motive(s) may refer to: * Motive (law) Film and television * ''Motives'' (film), a 2004 thriller * ''The Motive'' (film), 2017 * ''Motive'' (TV series), a 2013 Canadian TV series * ''The Motive'' (TV series), a 2020 Israeli T ...

for the painting ''Augedals bro'' by

Gerhard Munthe Gerhard Peter Frantz Munthe (19 July 1849 in Elverum, Hedmark – 15 January 1929 in Lysaker, Bærum) was a Norwegian painter and illustrator. Background Munthe was born in Elverum to physician Christopher Pavels Munthe (1816–1884) and his wif ...

(1897).

Notable people

References

{{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Gran, Norway Villages in Innlandet