Skoger is a village located on the border between

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 ...

and

Vestfold Vestfold is a traditional region, a former county and a current electoral district in Eastern Norway. In 2020 the county became part of the much larger county of Vestfold og Telemark. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it bordered th ...

counties,

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 ...

. Of its population of 1,082 as of 2005, 654 were registered as residents of

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

whereas 428 live in Sande in

county, Norway.

History

Historically the area had large forested areas, and much arable land. Reference to Skoger is made in the land register maintained by Bishop

Eystein Erlendsson Eysteinn Erlendsson (Modern Norwegian ''Øystein Erlendsson'', Latin ''Augustinus Nidrosiensis'') (died 26 January 1188) was Archbishop of Nidaros from 1161 to his death in 1188. Background His family came from Trøndelag, and he was related to mo ...

(''Biskop Eysteins jordebok''). The parish of ''Skouger'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 under of the law of

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 ...

. This provision of the

Constitution of Norway nb, Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov nn, Kongeriket Noregs Grunnlov , jurisdiction =Kingdom of Norway , date_created =10 April - 16 May 1814 , date_ratified =16 May 1814 , system =Constitutional monarchy , b ...

, required that every parish (Norwegian: ''prestegjeld'') form a local self-government district. Skoger with 1,837 inhabitants merged with Strømsgodset with 731 inhabitants, as well as an uninhabited part of

Eiker Eiker is a traditional district in the county of Buskerud, Norway. History Eiker consists of the municipalities of Nedre Eiker and Øvre Eiker. The area is located in the southern part of Buskerud county. Eiker is an agricultural area with a lo ...

on January 1, 1844. The enlarged Skoger municipality had a population of 2,568. Until 1889 the name was written ''Skouger''. A part of Skoger was moved to

on 1 January 1870. The rest of Skoger was incorporated into Drammen on 1 January 1964. This entailed a border adjustment by which Skoger became a part of Buskerud county.

Skoger Parish

Skoger has two parish churches both of which are part of 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 ...

and belongs to Drammen deanery in Tunsberg diocese. Access to both sites is via

Norwegian National Road Norwegian national roads (Norwegian: Riksvei/Riksveg abbr. Rv; literally: road of the rike/realm), are roads thus categorized by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen) which also maintains them. In 2007 there were of this cla ...

33 ('' FV33''). Skoger Church (''Skoger kirke'') was inaugurated on 9 December 1885. It is built of brick stone and has 300 seats. Skoger Old Church (''Skoger gamle kirke'') has an estimated date of origin of between 1200 and 1220 and is one of Drammen's oldest buildings. ''Skoger Old Church''
(drammen.kirken)

Etymology

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 ...

form of the name was ''Skógar''. The name is the plural form of ''skóg'' meaning 'woodland, forest'.

Notable residents

References

Other sources

* Haugen, Einar (1974) ''Norwegian-English Dictionary: A Pronouncing and Translating Dictionary of Modern Norwegian'' (University of Wisconsin Press) Villages in Buskerud Former municipalities of Norway Drammen {{Vestfold-geo-stub