Hobøl

Hobøl kommune
Municipality

Coat of arms
Østfold within
Norway

Hobøl within Østfold
Coordinates: 59°35′35″N 10°56′45″E / 59.59306°N 10.94583°ECoordinates: 59°35′35″N 10°56′45″E / 59.59306°N 10.94583°E
Country Norway
County Østfold
Administrative centre Elvestad
Government
 • Mayor (2007) Kjell Håvard Jensen (FrP)
Area
 • Total 140 km2 (50 sq mi)
 • Land 139 km2 (54 sq mi)
Area rank 365 in Norway
Population (2004)
 • Total 4,504
 • Rank 214 in Norway
 • Density 32/km2 (80/sq mi)
 • Change (10 years) 13.4 %
Demonym Hobøling
or Hobling[1]
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
ISO 3166 code NO-0138
Official language form Neutral
Website www.hobol.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

Hobøl is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Elvestad. Hobøl is situated about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Oslo. The parish of Haabøl was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

The largest village in Hobøl is Tomter, whose railway station is served by Indre Østfoldbanen. Other villages in the municipality are Knapstad, Ringvoll, and the middle part of the municipality which is called Hobøl.

Hobøl was suggested as the replacement site for a new airport to replace Fornebu, and in 1972 the Norwegian parliament voted to build it there. The 1973 oil crisis postponed that plan, and the new airport was finally built at Gardermoen, north of Oslo.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hobøl farm (Old Norse: Hóbœli), since the first church was built here. The first element is hór or hár meaning "high". The last element is bœli which means "farm". Thus the name means "the farm lying on a high ground". Prior to 1889 the name was written "Haabøl".

Coat-of-arms

The Coat-of-arms is from modern times. It was granted on 30 August 1985; it shows the municipality as seen from above. The municipality is mainly formed by a large valley, cut by the meandering Hobølelva river.[2]

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Hobøl:[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Personnemningar til stadnamn i Noreg" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
  2. ↑ Norske Kommunevåpen (1990). "Nye kommunevåbener i Norden". Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  3. ↑ "Vennskapskommmunen Rongu i Estland" (in Norwegian). Hobøl kommune. Retrieved 2008-12-16.

External links