Våle is a former municipality in

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2002. The area is now part of

Tønsberg Municipality Tønsberg () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the Traditional districts of Norway, traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Tønsberg, ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre 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 the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the village of Kirkevoll (it was at Sørby prior to 1990). Other villages in the rural, agricultural municipality included: Brekkeåsen, Rånerudåsen,

Svinevoll Svinevoll is a village in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located about to the west of the village of Brekkeåsen, about east of the village of Fon, and about to the north of the village of Revetal. Histor ...

, Sørby, and Gretteåsen. The famous

Jarlsberg cheese Jarlsberg ( , ) is a Norwegian mild Swiss-type cheese made from cow's milk. It originates in the former countship of Jarlsberg and is named after Jarlsberg Manor. Besides Norway, the cheese is also produced in Ireland and in the U.S. state of ...

first was produced in Våle. The medieval

Våle Church Våle Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Tønsberg Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. It is located in the village of Kirkevoll. It is the church for the Våle parish which is part of the Tønsberg domprosti (deanery) i ...

was the main church for the municipality.

General information

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

of Vaale was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

law). On 16 July 1873, a royal resolution approved transferring an uninhabited area of Vaale Municipality to the neighboring

Ramnes Municipality Ramnes is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 2002. The area is now part of Tønsberg Municipality. The administrative centre was ...

. In 1947, a small area of

Botne Municipality Botne is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1838 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now part of Holmestrand Municipality in the traditional district of Jarlsberg. The administrative centre w ...

(population: 8) was transferred to Våle. On 1 January 2002, Våle Municipality was merged with the neighboring

to form the new Re Municipality. Re Municipality became part of

on 1 January 2020.

Name

The municipality (originally the

) is named after the old ''Vaale'' farm () since the first

was built there. The name is the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

form of the word which means " clearing in the woods". On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled ''Vaale'' with the

digraph Digraph, often misspelled as diagraph, may refer to: * Digraph (orthography), a pair of characters used together to represent a single sound, such as "nq" in Hmong RPA * Ligature (writing), the joining of two letters as a single glyph, such as " ...

" aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled ''Våle'', using the letter å instead.

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

was granted on 23 February 1990. The official

blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

is ''"

Vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...

, a

mistletoe Mistletoe is the common name for obligate parasite, obligate parasitic plant, hemiparasitic plants in the Order (biology), order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they ...

branch Or"'' (). This means the arms have a green

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

(background) and the

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

is a branch of

. The charge has a

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The mistletoe plant is very rare in Norway, but can be found in Våle. It is known from

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

because

Höðr Höðr ( , Latin Hotherus; often anglicized as Hod, Hoder, or Hodur) is a god in Norse mythology. The blind son of Odin, he is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr. Accord ...

shot a mistletoe arrow that killed the god

Baldr Baldr (Old Norse also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, he is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was known in ...

. He was later avenged by his brother

Váli In Norse mythology, Váli (Old Norse) or Boe or Bous (Latin) is a god and the son of the god Odin and Rindr (who is either a goddess herself or a human princess, depending on the sources). Váli has numerous brothers including Thor, Baldr, and ...

(which sounds like Våle). The color green refers to

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

. The arms were designed by Stein Davidsen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had two parishes () within the municipality of Våle. It was part of the

Nord-Jarlsberg prosti This list of churches in Tunsberg is a list of the Church of Norway churches in the Diocese of Tunsberg in Norway. It includes all of the parishes in Buskerud and Vestfold counties. The diocese is based at the Tønsberg Cathedral in the city of T� ...

(

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the 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 residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Tunsberg Tunsberg is a diocese of the Church of Norway. It includes all of the parishes located within the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, with the cathedral located in the city of Tønsberg. The Diocese of Tunsberg consists of the cathedral deanery and ...

Government

While it existed, Våle municipality was responsible for

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

(through 10th grade), outpatient

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

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is the proportion of people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work du ...

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor 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 responsibilitie ...

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 o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the Horten District Court and the Agder Court of Appeal.

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 responsibilitie ...

() of Våle: * 1838-1839: C.B. Brodahl * 1839-1843: Simen Elias Crøger * 1843-1845: C.B. Brodahl * 1845-1847: Wincent Thurmann * 1847-1851: C. B. Brodahl * 1851-1853: Christen Torp * 1853-1861: Christen Hansen * 1861-1869: Nicolay Møller * 1869-1871: Rasmus P. Hals * 1871-1873: Abraham C. Revetal * 1873-1875: Ole Bærøe * 1875-1877: Mathias Hjelmtvedt * 1877-1879: Ole Bærøe * 1879-1883: Johan Jørgensen Hundsal ( H) * 1883-1885: Abraham C. Revetal ( V) * 1885-1889: Johan Jørgensen Hundsal ( H) * 1889-1891: Abraham Hillestad ( H) * 1892-1907: Johan Jørgensen Hundsal ( H) * 1908-1925: Hans Kristian Kaldager ( H) * 1926-1928: Jørgen Hundsal ( Bp) * 1929-1931: Hans Kristian Kaldager ( H) * 1932-1937: Jørgen Hundsal ( Bp) * 1938-1940: Ole Martinsen ( Bp) * 1941-1945: Trygve Aanestad ( NS) * 1945-1955: Thorvald Hillestad ( Sp) * 1956-1967: Isak Bjerknes ( Sp) * 1968-1975: Ludvik Bettum ( Sp) * 1976-1982: Odd Jonstang ( Sp) * 1982-1987: Ragnar Gjerpe ( H) * 1988-1991: Thorvald Hillestad ( Sp) * 1992-1995: Marit Haugen ( Sp) * 1996-1999: Kåre Solberg ( KrF) * 1999-2001: Thorvald Hillestad ( Sp)

Municipal council

The

of Våle was made up of 25 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Notable people

* Kåre Holt (1916–1997), an author

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaale Tønsberg Former municipalities of Norway 1838 establishments in Norway 2002 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1838 Populated places disestablished in 2002