Hof is a village in

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

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 village is located about northwest of the town of Holmestrand, about southwest of the village of

Sande i Vestfold Sande or Sande i Vestfold is a village in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located along the ''Sandebukta'' bay off the Ytre Oslofjord about south of Oslo (about 50 minutes driving time). There are several near ...

, and about south of the village of

Eidsfoss Eidsfoss is a village in Holmestrand Municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The village is located at the southern end of the lake Eikeren, about north of the village of Hof and about southeast of the village of Vestfossen (in Øvre Eiker ...

. The smaller villages of Sundbyfoss and

Hvittingfoss Hvittingfoss is a village in the municipality of Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway. Hvittingfoss has traditionally been associated with the manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products. History Prior to the municipal merger in 1964, Hvittingfoss wa ...

are both located a short distance south of Hof. The village has a population (2023) of 915 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of .

Hof Prison Hof Prison () was a prison in Hof in Vestfold, 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 a ...

was located in the village until its closure in 2019.

History

The village has a number of ancient

burial mounds A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

which testify to the fact that the village was relatively densely populated in ancient times.

Eidsfos Verk Eidsfos Verk () was an ironworks located at Eidsfoss in Vestfold county, Norway. Eidsfos Verk was established in 1697 when the first blast furnace was first put into operation. The ironwork, which was dependent on hydropower, ore and forest, ...

was established as an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

at the end of the 17th century and had its heyday under

Peder von Cappelen Peder von Cappelen (24 January 1763 – 11 March 1837) was a Norwegian merchant and politician. He was involved in timber trade and was an owner of ironworks. Cappelen was a member of the Parliament of Norway. Personal life Peder von Cappe ...

(1763–1837). On the company's property is a stately main building, Eidsfos Hovedgård, which was made into a historical landmark in 1923. The farm has a large park and unique workers' housing from the 18th century. In Hof, there is an ironworks museum that shows cultural and ironworks history. The village of Hof served as 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 ...

of the old Hof Municipality from 1838 until 2018 when it became part of

. The medieval

Hof Church Hof Church () is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Åsnes Municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the village of Hof. It is the church for the Hof parish which is part of the Solør, Vinger og Odal prosti (deanery) i ...

is located in the village.

Name

The municipality (originally 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 ...

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

was built there. The name is identical with the word '' hof'' which means "

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

", a place for worshiping the old

Norse Gods Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a Medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nors ...

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Holmestrand Villages in Vestfold