Eidanger is a rural

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

and former

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrun ...

, in

Telemark Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...

County,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, 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 ...

History

Eidanger 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 Janu ...

). It was merged with

on 1 January 1964. The main part of Eidanger is a peninsula between the

Eidangerfjord Eidangerfjord is a fjord located in Porsgrunn municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is 6 km long, and stretches between Brevik and the island village of Sandøya. The largest island located in the fjord is Kattøya, located at the h ...

and the

Frierfjord Frierfjorden is a fjord in the Grenland traditional district in the county of Telemark, Norway. It is an arm of the Langesundsfjord and well into the 1700s was also known as the Langesundsfjord. Frierfjorden stretches from the opening to Lange ...

. Situated between the urban communities of Brevik and

, and with excellent natural conditions for building harbours, it became the site of

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world a ...

's plant at Herøya and the Dalen Portland (now part of the

Norcem Norcem AS is a Norwegian manufacturer of cement, and subsidiary of HeidelbergCement. It has plants in Brevik and Kjøpsvik. History Norcem was established in 1968 as a merger between the three cement factories Christiania Portland Cementfab ...

corporation) concrete factory just outside Brevik. Another major industry is Heistad Fabrikker, which makes products for diabetics. Isola maintains its head office and administration office in Eidanger. Isola has two factories in this area where

bitumen Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

-based products and steel roofing tiles are manufactured. Eidanger church (''Eidanger kirke'') is located in the former Eidanger municipality. The church was originally a relatively simple stone church in the Romanesque style, probably built ca. 1150. The church was extended in 1787 and received a new sacristy in 1981. The altarpiece, stained glass and the pulpit is from 1991 and made by

Terje Grøstad Terje Grøstad (16 December 1925 – 10 July 2011) was a Norwegian painter. graphic artist and illustrator. Biography He was born in Drammen in Buskerud and lived in Flatdal in Telemark from the 1950s. He attended the Norwegian National Academy o ...

. The baptismal font is of stone and is from the 1890s. The church has two bells, one from 1720 and one from 1940.''Eidanger kirke'' (Navnet Eidangers skrivemåte i gamle dager)
/ref>

The name

The

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

form of the name was ''Eiðangr''. The first element is ''eið'' n '

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

, neck of land', the last element is ''angr'' m '

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icel ...

References

{{Authority control Former municipalities of Norway Populated places in Porsgrunn