Rolvsøy is a village, an island, and a former municipality in

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

county,

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 the ...

It was created by a split from Tune on 1 January 1911. At that time Rolvsøy had a population of 2,381. On 1 January 1994 Rolvsøy was incorporated into the municipality of

Fredrikstad Fredrikstad (; previously ''Frederiksstad''; literally "Fredrik's Town") is a List of cities in Norway, city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the ...

, the neighboring municipality to the south. Prior to the merger Rolvsøy had a population of 5,947. The Tune ship, a

viking ship Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia from the Viking Age throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as bein ...

dating from ca. 900 and now exhibited in the Viking Ship Museum in

Bygdøy Bygdøy or Bygdø is a peninsula situated on the western side of Oslo, Norway. Administratively, Bygdøy belongs to the borough of Frogner; historically Bygdøy was part of Aker Municipality and became part of Oslo in 1948. Bygdøy is a popul ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

was found in Rolvsøy in 1867. It was so named because it was found in a boat burial mound on Rolvsøy which was a part of Tune at that time.

The name

The Norse form of the name was (probably) ''*Rolfsøy''. The first element is then the genitive case of the male name ''

Rolf Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. A ...

r'', the last element is 'øy' meaning 'island'.

Development

Rolvsøy has been and is still under heavy development, especially the street called Dikeveien. Before 1990, the street had little more than a few factories. Today the street is full of life, with over 100 stores. Everything from tiles, groceries and clothing. Dikeveien is located in Fredrikstad, and lies 6 km north of the city centre.

References

* Fredrikstad Former municipalities of Norway Populated places established in 1911 Populated places disestablished in 1994 1911 establishments in Norway Islands of Viken (county) {{Viken-geo-stub