Fossum is a neighborhood in

Skien Skien () is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county in Norway. In modern times it is regarded as part of the traditional region of Grenland, although historically it belonged to Grenmar/Skiensfjorden, while Grenland referred the Norsj ...

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

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 ...

. Historically the neighborhood was associated with Fossum Ironworks (''Fossum Jernverk''), the

iron mine Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the for ...

s which dated from the 16th century and with Fossum Works (''Fossum Verk''), the

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

. Fossum Ironworks, which was one of the oldest ironworks in Norway, closed down in 1867. Fossum Manor (''Fossum hovedgård'') is a

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

located north of Skien which has given its name to the neighborhood. The manor house was built as a residence for

Severin Løvenskiold Severin Løvenskiold (7 February 1777 – 15 September 1856) was a Norwegian nobleman, politician and the prime minister of Norway. Family Severin Løvenskiold, the younger, was born in Porsgrunn in Telemark, Norway to Severin Løvenskiold, t ...

. Construction was started in 1804. It was designed by Danish architect

Christian Frederik Hansen Christian Frederik Hansen (29 February 1756 – 10 July 1845), known as C. F. Hansen, was the leading Danish architect between the late 18th century and the mid 19th century, and on account of his position at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (''De ...

and was completed in 1818. The manor been owned by the

Løvenskiold family Løvenskiold is a Danish nobility, Dano-Norwegian nobility, Norwegian noble family of Germany, German origin. Members of the family now live primarily in Norway. Originally named Leopoldus, it was one of the first Patriciate of Norway, patrician ...

for centuries and prominent family members have been born here. The local sports team is Fossum IF, which is often called "Fossum (Skien)" to distinguish from the more prominent club

Fossum IF Fossum Idrettsforening is a Norwegian sports club from Fossum, Grini, Østerås and Eiksmarka in Bærum. It has sections for cross-country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, alpine skiing, Nordic combined, orienteering, and football, and was found ...

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electoral ...

References

External links

Løvenskiold-Fossum
Skien {{Telemark-geo-stub