Hovin is a former municipality in

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

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 1886 until its dissolution in 1964. The area is now divided between

Tinn Municipality Tinn is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional districts of Aust-Telemark and Upper Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Rjukan. Some of the villages in Tinn include Atr� ...

and

Notodden Municipality is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, Gra ...

. 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 Hovin. The other main village in the municipality was Rudsgrendi on the opposite side of the lake

Tinnsjå Tinnsjå (also known as ''Tinnsjø'' or ''Tinnsjøen''; ) is one of the largest List of Norwegian Lakes, lakes in Norway measuring about . At a depth of it is the third List of lakes by depth, deepest lake in Norway and Europe. Tinnsjå is locat ...

History

The municipality was established on 1 January 1886 when the municipality of Gransherad was divided into two: Hovin in the north (population: 885) and Gransherad in the south (population: 1,393). On 24 March 1903, an unpopulated part of

was transferred to Hovin. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1964, the municipality of Hovin was dissolved and its lands were split in two: *The Rudsgrendi area of Hovin on the west side of the lake

(population: 21) was merged with the municipality of Heddal (population: 4,844), most of the municipality of Gransherad (population: 1,115), and the town of

Notodden is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Aust-Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Notodden. Other population centres include the villages of Bolkesjø, G ...

(population: 7,523). *The rest of Hovin on the east side of the lake Tinnsjå (population: 461) was merged with

(population: 9,449).

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 '' Hovin'' farm () since the first Hovin Church was built there. The first element is identical to the word which means "

heathen hof A heathen hof or Germanic pagan temple is a temple building of Germanic religion (aboriginal), Germanic religion. The term ''hof'' is taken from Old Norse. Background Etymologically, the Old Norse word ''hof'' is the same as the Dutch language, ...

" or a "temple for the

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 ...

". The last element is which means "

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as they maintain an open character. Meadows can occur naturally under favourable con ...

" or "

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

". In this context, "Hovin" likely refers to a meadow location that was associated with a pagan temple or a religious site in the past.

Government

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.

Municipal council

The

of Hovin was made up of 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 ...

References

{{use dmy dates, date=June 2023 Tinn Notodden Former municipalities of Norway 1886 establishments in Norway 1964 disestablishments in Norway

History

Name

Government

Municipal council

See also

References