Hvittingfoss is a village in the municipality of

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...

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 ...

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 ...

. Hvittingfoss has traditionally been associated with the manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products.

History

Prior to the municipal merger in 1964, Hvittingfoss was in

Ytre Sandsvær Ytre Sandsvær is a former municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It was created when Sandsvær was split into Ytre and Øvre Sandsvær on 1 January 1908. At that time Ytre Sandsvær had a population of 3,245. On 1 January 1964 the two municipal ...

. Hvittingfoss borders

Lardal Lardal () is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Svarstad. The parish of ''Laurdal'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt ...

and Hof. Hvittingfoss is located about 30 kilometers from

. The river

Numedalslågen Numedalslågen is a river located in the counties of Vestfold and Telemark and Viken in southeastern Norway. It is one of the longest rivers in Norway. Location Numedalslågen stretches for over through the counties of Vestfold and Telemark and ...

runs through the village. The village population (2005) is 1,016. Industrial development was driven by the

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s of Hvittingfoss as far back as the 17th century. In 1651, there were reportedly five sawmills in the northern waterfall, called Nord-fossen. The royal privileges of Vittingfossen was given to the counts in

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 ...

and

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

. Industrialist Christian August Anker (1840-1912) developed Hønefoss Træsliberi which started its production of wood pulp in 1881. The pulp and paper group Edward Lloyd Limited, owner of '' Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper'' and the ''

Daily Chronicle The 'Daily Chronicle' was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the '' Daily News'' to become the ''News Chronicle''. Foundation The ''Daily Chronicle'' was developed by Edward Lloyd out of a local newspap ...

'' in London, operated huge paper mills in

Kemsley Kemsley is a suburb of Sittingbourne in Kent, England. According to Edward Hasted, in 1798, who quoted Asserius Menevensis in his survey, the Danes built themselves a fortress or castle here in 893. At a place called 'Kemsley downe'. This then l ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The firm bought Hønefoss Træsliberi in 1902 in order to obtain a ready supply of wood pulp. In 1906, the Lloyd company built a paper mill on Hvittingfoss with a capacity of approx. 2000 ton press of thin paper for the Asian market. In 1916, the Lloyd firm sold all plants and waterfalls rights to a consortium led by a Captain Hjalmar Johansen. The Lloyd interests reserved the right to lease and operate the plants for 14 years. In 1932 the Lloyd company completed its business on Hvittingfoss after 30 years of operation. Vittingfoss kraftverk

Vittingfoss power plant

Vittingfoss power plant (''Vittingfoss kraftverk'') is located on the

just off the center of Hvittingfoss. The power plant was a built in conjunction with a dam in 1910. The plant has five units, four with vertical Francis turbines, and one with a Kaplan turbine.; the two eldest of approximately 4.5 MW each were put into operation in 1919 and 1920, the third (4.8 MW) in 1949, the fourth (6.8 MW) in 1981 and the fifth (14.5 MW) in 2014 . Tuft kirke Ytre Sandsvær

Tuft Church

Tuft Church (''Tuft kyrkje'') is located just outside Hvittingfoss. The church was erected in 1880. The edifice is made of brick and has 150 seats. It was constructed as a replacement for ''Tupta Kirkja'' 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 ...

which had dated to the 1200s.

References

Other sources

*Anker-Rasch, Ole (2006) ''Christian August Anker - Industripioner og grunder fra Rød Herregård'' (Oslo: Andresen & Butenssschøn)

External links

Hvittingfoss primary and secondary school
Villages in Buskerud Populated places on the Numedalslågen {{Buskerud-geo-stub