Sørkedalen is a valley located in the northwestern part of

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 of ...

municipality, northwest of Oslo's western suburbs, in

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 t ...

. The valley stretches from the suburb of

Røa Røa is a neighbourhood and a former administrative borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In 2004 the borough of Røa was merged with neighbouring Vinderen to become Vestre Aker borough. Røa is a suburb of Oslo, located approximately 7 kilome ...

to Skansebakken. The valley is frequently used as an entry point to

Nordmarka Nordmarka is the mostly forested region which makes up the northern part of Oslo, Norway. Nordmarka is the largest and most central part of Oslomarka. The area called Nordmarka also extends into the municipalities of Hole, Ringerike, Lunner, J ...

, the large wilderness recreational area to the north of Oslo. Sørkedalen is an

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

valley with several small farms, and stables for recreational

horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

. The valley is a popular destination for outdoor activities like skiing, riding and golfing for the population of

West End Oslo The East End and West End ( nb, østkanten og vestkanten, nn, austkanten og vestkanten) are used as names for the two parts of Oslo, Norway, formed by the economic and socially segregating separation line that has historically passed along the st ...

and

Bærum Bærum () is a municipality in the Greater Oslo Region in Norway that forms an affluent suburb of Oslo on the west coast of the city. Bærum is Norway's fifth largest municipality with a population of 128,760 (2021). It is part of the electora ...

. Sørkedalen Church is a stone church from 1865 which was built of brick and has 250 seats. The church is in neo-Gothic style.''Sørkedalen kirkegård'' (Gravferdsetaten)
/ref> In the southern part of this valley is the old manor of

Bogstad Bogstad Manor (''Bogstad gård'') is a historic Manor House and former estate located in the borough of Vestre Aker in Oslo, Norway. It is situated in the northwestern part of Oslo. Background Bogstad has its origin in a farm which was locate ...

, which was owned by

Peder Anker Peder Anker (8 December 1749 – 10 December 1824) was a prominent Norwegian landowner, businessman and politician. He served as the prime minister of Norway from 1814 until 1822. Biography Peder Anker was a member of a Danish-Norwegian n ...

. On the manor grounds there are the lake ''Bogstadvannet'' and the Oslo Golf Club (''Oslo Golfklubb'') which was the first golf club to be established in Norway. The Sørkedalselva river runs through the valley and into the

Bogstadvannet Bogstadvannet ( en, Lake Bogstad) is a lake between the city of Oslo and the municipality of Bærum, Akershus, Norway. It is part of Sørkedalsvassdraget, which in turn is part of Oslomarkvassdraget. Originally, the lake was named Få(d)vannet ...

The name

The

Norse 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 * Nor ...

form of the name was ''Surkudalr''. The first element is the

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can ...

of the rivername ''Surka'' (now Sørkedalselva), the last element is ''dalr'' m 'dale, valley'. The meaning of the river's name is unknown (maybe 'the dark one').

References

External links

Sørkedalen websiteOslo Golf Club website
Valleys of Oslo Marka, Oslo {{Oslo-geo-stub