Drangedal

Drangedal is a municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Prestestranda. The municipality of Drangedal was established on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The district of Tørdal encompassed the northwestern part of the municipality.

Drangedal kommune
Municipality
Coat of arms Vestfold og Telemark within Norway
Drangedal within Vestfold og Telemark
Coordinates: 59°7′24″N 8°58′55″E
Country	Norway
County	Vestfold og Telemark
District	Vestmar
Administrative centre	Prestestranda
Government
• Mayor (2016)	Tor Peder Lohne (Ap)
Area
• Total	1,063 km^2 (410 sq mi)
• Land	996 km^2 (385 sq mi)
Area rank	96 in Norway
Population  (2016)
• Total	4,136
• Rank	223 in Norway
• Density	4/km^2 (10/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	−2.7%
Demonym(s)	Drangedøl[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-3815
Official language form	Neutral[2]
Website	www.drangedal.kommune.no
Data from Statistics Norway

The administrative centre in Drangedal, Prestestranda, and is situated by Lake Toke. The municipal government is located there along with primary and secondary schools, shopping facilities, and a bank. Drangedal railway station is also located in Prestestranda and is served by the Oslo to Kristiansand Sørlandsbannen railway line. The newspaper Drangedalsposten is published in Drangedal.

Alpine and cross-country skiing is possible in the area of Drangedal, at Telemark's largest ski resort at Gautefall.

Drangedal Parish Church

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Drangadalr. The first element is probably the genitive plural of drangr m 'mountain peak'. The last element is dalr m 'valley, dale'.[3]

History

The Kragerø Line ceased in 1989.[4]

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted 1989. The arms show two gold-colored pine cones on a green background.

Notable natives

• Hallvard Graatop (early 15th century), rebel leader opposing the Crown and the bailiffs, may have lived at the Vraalstad farm in Drangedal
• Andrew Gulickson (1856 in Drangedal – 1941) Norwegian American politician, member of Wisconsin State Assembly
• Knud Wefald (1869 in Yttre Vefald – 1936) Norwegian American politician in the United States House of Representatives
• Abraham Aakre (1874 in Drangedal – 1948) a Norwegian teacher and politician, Mayor of Halden
• Finn Støren (1893–1962) a Norwegian civil servant for Nasjonal Samling, lived in Drangedal from 1933
• Knut T. Storbukås (born 1943 in Bostrak) a musician and truck driver, stage name Sputnik
• Nils Tore Føreland (born 1957) a Norwegian politician, Mayor of Drangedal 2003-2011
• Vidar Sundstøl (born 1963) a Norwegian crime fiction writer.

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. "Forskrift om målvedtak i kommunar og fylkeskommunar" (in Norwegian). Lovdata.no.
3. Rygh, Oluf (1914). Norske gaardnavne: Bratsbergs amt (Dokumentasjonsprosjektet) (in Norwegian) (7 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri.
4. https://snl.no/Drangedal

External links

• Media related to Drangedal at Wikimedia Commons
• The dictionary definition of Drangedal at Wiktionary
• Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
• Telemark travel guide from Wikivoyage