Skotselv is a village in the municipality of

Øvre Eiker Øvre Eiker is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Hokksund. The old municipal ...

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 ...

. Its population (2005) is 684, of which 8 people live within the border of the neighbouring municipality of Modum. It has a railway station on the

Randsfjord Line The Randsfjorden Line ( no, Randsfjordbanen) is an railway located in Viken county in Norway connecting Drammen to Hønefoss and Hadeland in Innlandet county. The railway is primarily used for passenger trains, and the only scheduled trains on th ...

History

Skotselv as a small village has existed since the

Viking era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

. At that time the main river, now called

Drammenselva Drammenselva ( en, Drammen River) is a river in Buskerud county, southeastern Norway. Location Drammenselva is one of the largest rivers in Norway, with a drainage basin of about and a discharge of per second. Drammen River's total length is ma ...

, rose higher than today's level, making transport and trade by ship highly accessible. The village first started to grow significantly during the first half of the 16th century when the powerful Ulleland family established several

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s along the river, using the river as a mean of transporting the goods to the region's capital,

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 ...

Iron Mill period

In 1649, Hassel Ironworks (''Hassel jernverk'') started operation as the area's first iron mill, which was run by the Hassel family . They mainly produced ovens, but expanded into general ironware factory later on. It continued to be the biggest influence on the community until it was finally closed down in 1888.

Cellulose Mill period

Established the same year as the iron mill shut down, the Skotselv Cellulose Mill (''Skotselv Cellullosefabrikk'') remained Skotselv's most important workplace. Several modernizations were made during the first part of the 20th century and the company was sold to Labor Union in 1913. The new ownership managed to turn the tide and the growth lasted all the time to 1978 when it was closed for good.

Skotselv Power Station

Skotselv Power Station (''Skotselv Kraftverk'') is a hydroelectric dam on the Bingselva. It has installed a Kaplan turbine. The power plant uses the fall in the river. It is owned and operated by Øvre Eiker Energi AS.

Local attractions

*Düvelgården - historic manor house associated with Hassel jernverk *Bingenselven - local park suitable for camping and outdoor grilling

Notable people

Timo André Bakken Timo André Bakken (born 21 March 1989) is a Norwegian cross-country skier. Career He won a silver medal in the sprint race at the 2009 Junior World Ski Championships. He made his World Cup debut in March 2008 in Drammen, and collected his first ...

- cross-country skier * Nikolai Eilertsen - bass guitarist *

Christopher Hornsrud Christopher Andersen Hornsrud (15 November 1859 – 12 December 1960) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as leader of the Labour Party from 1903 to 1906 and became a member of the Storting in 1912. In 1928, he became the f ...

(1859–1960)- Prime Minister of Norway from January to February 1928

Picture gallery

Image:Skotselv-misjonskirken.jpg, Skotselv Mission Church Image:Skotselv26-skole.jpg, Skotselv School Image:Skotselv-bingselva.jpg, Bingenselven File:Skotselv stasjon TRS 070429 006.jpg, Skotselv Railway Station File:Skotselv Bru.JPG, Skotselv Bridge over the Drammenselva File:We are two.JPG, ''We Are Two''
by Arek Arkadiusz Gawecki

References

External links

Skotselvs website
{{authority control Villages in Buskerud Øvre Eiker