Bamble Kommune
Pop 14,172; Area 304 sq. km (117 sq mi)
Church Parish: Bamble, Langesund, Stathelle
Historic Churches: Bamble and Herre
Bamble, historically Bamle, lies along the Skaggerak coast in southern Norway. With coastal borders on three sides, it is hemmed in by Frierfjorden, Langesundsfjorden, and Fossingfjorden. Norway’s largest cable-tied bridge crosses Frierfjord to link Bamble to Porsgrun. Bamble’s archipelago features several islets and reefs.
Several locations in Bamble are part of the Unesco Global Geopark Gea Norvegica, including the St.Olav church ruins and Tangvald Nature Reserve. Two distinct geological histories, one of ancient bedrock and the other limestone, meet and can be observed in Bamble. A scenic hiking path runs along the coast, and the area is also a popular destination for swimming, biking, and island hopping. The Langesund region of Bamble served as a customs port starting in the late 1500s and into the modern era and was also a landestad (loading station) in the late 1600s. It has a rich shipbuilding tradition. Stathelle also historically served as a landestad and was an important maritime trading port.
The unique geology of this southern tip of the Kongsberg-Bamble geological formation has defined as much of the region’s industry as its waterways. The kommune’s mining history can be traced back to the 16th century, consisting of metals and industrial minerals, including nickel and one of the world’s largest apatite deposits. There is currently no mining in the kommune; the most significant industry is petrochemical manufacturing, which began in the late 1970s. Bamble has more jobs in industry than any other region in Telemark.
Bamble Church, built in 1845, was Norway’s first neo-Gothic church. It sits just north of the ruins of the stone church that dates back to the Middle Ages. Gustav Adolph Lammers, the parish priest, designed the church and painted two of its altarpieces. Lammers, an artist, politician, and dissenter, was Danish-born and was noted by Henrik Ibsen as an influence on the character Brand in his play of the same name.
Notable people from Bamble:
Marcus Olaus Bockman (1849 in Langesund – 1942), a Norwegian-American Lutheran theologian in Minnesota
Arne Selberg (1910 in Langesund – 1989), a civil engineer who designed suspension bridges
Sigmund Selberg (1910–1994), a mathematician who worked on the distribution of prime numbers
Atle Selberg (1917 in Langesund – 2007), a mathematician who worked on analytic number theory
Thor Thorvaldsen (1909 in Bamble – 1987), a sailor and two-time Olympic champion
Marie Høeg (1866 in Langesund – 1949), a photographer and suffragist
Telesoga Issues:
1951
1953
1952