Hof is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2018. The area is now part of Holmestrand Municipality in the traditional district of

Jarlsberg Jarlsberg was a former countship that forms a part of today's Vestfold county in Norway. The former countships of Jarlsberg and Larvik were merged into a county in 1821. Jarlsberg and Larvik's County (''Jarlsberg og Larviks amt'') were renamed ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative center 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 administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

was the village of Hof. Other villages in the municipality included

Eidsfoss Eidsfoss is a village in Hof municipality, Vestfold county, Norway. It is located near Lake Eikeren. The village was the site of the Eidsfos Iron Works (''Eidsfos Jernverk'') which dated to 1697. The iron works was closed in 1873. The village is a ...

and

Sundbyfoss Sundbyfoss is a village in the municipality of Hof, 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 Scand ...

General information

The parish of Hof was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () is the name for Norwegian local self-government districts that were legally enacted on 1 January 1838. This system of municipalities was created in a bill approved by the Parliament of Norway and signed into law by King Carl Johan on 14 January ...

law). The borders of the municipality were never changed. On 1 January 2018, Hof Municipality was merged into the neighboring Holmestrand Municipality.

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old '' Hof'' farm ( non, Hof) since the first

Hof Church Hof Church ( no, Hof kirke) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Åsnes Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hof. It is the church for the Hof parish which is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti ...

was built there. The name is identical with the word '' hof'' which means "

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

temple", a place for worshiping the old Norse Gods.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was granted on 17 July 1992. The official blazon is ''"

Gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...

, three

water lily Water lily or water lilies may refer to: Plants * Members of family Nymphaeaceae * Formerly, members of the genus ''Nelumbo'' (the genus to which lotus belongs) * Some members of the genus ''Nymphoides'' Other uses * ''Water Lilies'' (Monet ...

leaves Or"'' ( no, I rødt tre gull sjøblad, 2-1). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a seeblatt which is a

leaf design. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The design is meant to symbolize the many lakes in the municipality. There are three leaves in the design to symbolize the three church parishes in Hof: Hof, Vassås, and Eidsfoss. The arms were designed by Geir Helgen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

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 ...

had one parish () within the municipality of Hof. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Nord-Jarlsberg prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

) in the Diocese of Tunsberg.

Geography

The municipality of Hof covered , of which was land. Of the land in the municipality, was farmland and was forests. Hof Municipality consisted of the three parishes: Hof,

, and

. Mountains in Hof included:

Buaren Buaren is a mountain on the border of Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county and Kongsberg Municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The tall mountain is located about west of the village of Hof, about north of the village of Hvittingfos ...

Vestfjellet Vestfjellet is a mountain in Hof, Vestfold, Norway. It is located one kilometer south of Skibergfjellet, Vestfold County's highest mountain. At Vestfjellet, which has an elevation of 621 meters, there are panoramic views of Gaustatoppen, Styggem ...

Skibergfjell Skibergfjellet is a mountain in Holmestrand, Vestfold, Norway. It was the highest peak in former Vestfold County with its elevation. Views from the peak include Færder Lighthouse, Tryvannstårnet, Norefjell Norefjell is a mountain range in ...

, and

Grøntjernkollen Grøntjernkollen is a mountain on the border of Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county and Kongsberg Municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The tall mountain is located about northwest of the village of Hof, Vestfold, Hof, about southw ...

. The large lake Eikeren was partially located in Hof. Approximately

Government

Hof Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wiktionary:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physical and menta ...

, senior citizen services, unemployment,

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organisations, or administe ...

, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of

directly elected Direct election is a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are cho ...

representatives. The mayor 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 old ...

by a vote of the municipal council.

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 responsibilities ...

( no, ordfører) of Hof: * 1838-1843: Morten Smith Petersen * 1844-1849: Ole Hansen Hafsrud * 1850-1853: Sven Pedersen Goverud, Sr. * 1854-1855: Torger Olsen Korby * 1856-1859: Sven Pedersen Goverud, Sr. * 1860-1863: Torger Olsen Korby * 1864-1875: Thomas E. Herstad * 1876-1879: Per Svensen Goverud * 1880-1887: Ole Svendsen Goverud * 1888-1889: Edvard Halvorsen Sundby * 1890-1898: Thorvald O. Gran * 1899-1902: Jacob Olsen Lindseth * 1902-1902: Christian Olsen Thon ( H) * 1903-1907: Sven Pedersen Goverud, Jr. * 1908-1916: Christian Olsen Thon ( H) * 1917-1922: Nils Unnemark ( Bp) * 1923-1928: Ole Bertil Grennæs ( Bp) * 1929-1930: Ludvig Lørdal ( Ap) * 1931-1931: Olaf M. Tormodsrud * 1931-1931: Ludvig Lørdal ( Ap) * 1932-1934: Ole Bertil Grennæs ( Bp) * 1935-1937: Olaf M. Tormodsrud * 1938-1940: Hans Klaussen ( Ap) * 1940-1941: Ole Lindseth ( NS) * 1941-1942: Olaf Frich ( NS) * 1943-1945: Gunnar Reggestad ( NS) * 1945-1963: Hans Klaussen ( Ap) * 1964-1971: Per Båstad * 1972-1979: Arne Solli * 1980-1983: Roar Kristian Nordby ( Sp) * 1984-1985: Gunnar Lindseth ( KrF) * 1986-1987: Gunnar Haavik ( H) * 1988-1991: Arne Gravdal ( Sp) * 1992-1993: Åse Fjellestad ( H) * 1994-1999: Kari Akerholt ( Sp) * 2000-2012: Olav Bjørnli ( H) * 2012-2015: Ragnar Lindås ( H) * 2015-2017: Mette Måge Olsen ( Ap)

Municipal council

The municipal council of Hof 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.

Economy

Hof Municipality was a typical community based on agriculture and forestry. Its largest industry was a lumber mill. Hof was located in the climate zone best suited for agriculture in Norway. Therefore, wheat was one of the most important agricultural products of the municipality. However, between 1998 and 2008, 40% of the municipal farms become inactive, and the agricultural employment rate dropped to about 5%. Hof was known for its great

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and fishing resources as well. With of forest open for hunting, it was quite popular and there were commercial hunting opportunities. About 75 landowners in Hof united in a land owner union (''Hof Utmarkslag''), and hunters were required to purchase permits from them (mainly small

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

hunting) in order to use their land. In the first decade of the 21st century, hunters typically harvested the following amounts of game animals annually in Hof: over 100 moose, 1-5 red deer, 80-90 roe deer, and 0-10

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

References

{{Authority control Holmestrand Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2018 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2018