Røyken Explained

Røyken
Idnumber:0627
County:Buskerud
District:Lower Buskerud
Capital:Midtbygda
Language:Bokmål
Coatofarms:Røyken_komm.svg
Demonym:Røykenbøring
Munwebpage:www.royken.kommune.no
Mayor:Eva Norén Eriksen
Mayor Party:H
Mayor As Of:2015
Area Rank:378
Area Total Km2:113
Area Land Km2:111
Area Water Percent:0.03
Population As Of:2014
Population Rank:59
Population Total:20621
Populationpercent:0.37
Population Density Km2:153
Population Increase:15.2
Coordinates:59.7336°N 10.4289°W
Utm Zone:32V
Utm Northing:6622636
Utm Easting:0580343
Geo Cat:adm2nd

Røyken is a district and village (bygd) and a former municipality in Buskerud in Viken County, Norway. In 2020 Røyken was merged with the municipalities of Hurum and Asker to form the new Asker Municipality (informally called "Greater Asker") located in the newly formed Viken county. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Midtbygda. The parish of Røken was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Oslo ATCC, the Area Control Center for the controlled airspace above Østlandet is located here.

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Røyken farm (Norse Raukvin), since the first church was built there. The first element is raukr which means "pile, stack; mountain" and the last element is vin which means "meadow" or "pasture".

See also: Røykenvik Station.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 15 December 1967. The figure shows a yellow fire on a blue background. It was chosen as a semi-canting symbol to represent smoke (which cannot be depicted in heraldry). The background for the motif is a common misunderstanding of the name as røyken the definite form of røyk meaning "smoke".[1] [2]

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Røyken by country of origin in 2017[3]
AncestryNumber
Poland829
Lithuania253
Sweden216
Germany172
Denmark164
India113
Pakistan109
Afghanistan104
96
85

Geography

Røyken is located south of Lier and Asker, on the northern part of the Hurum peninsula north of Hurum municipality. It lies between Oslofjord and Drammensfjord. It is connected to the eastern side of the Oslofjord via Hurum municipality and the Oslofjord Tunnel. The tunnel is 7.2km (04.5miles) long and connects Hurumhalvøya to Akershus county.

The district includes large amounts of residential zones with beautiful sights of the sea. The administration is situated in the village of Midtbygda. The main population centers are the villages of Hyggen, Hallenskog, Midtbygda, Nærsnes, Røyken, Slemmestad, Spikkestad, and Åros. Many people live in the northern part of Bødalen and its vicinities, which is a continuous residential area that continues throughout Asker and Bærum to Oslo.

Municipality Reform

As part of the municipality reform process instigated by Minister of Local Government Jan Tore Sanner the municipalities of Asker, Hurum and Røyken evaluated if they should merge into a new common municipality during the first half of 2016. A tentative agreement was reached and on 16 June 2016 the Municipal Council of Røyken approved the merger with Asker and Hurum with 24 votes for and 3 against. The merger date was 1 January 2020 and the chosen name was Asker.[4]

Notable people

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Norske Kommunevåpen. 1990. Nye kommunevåbener i Norden. 2009-01-11.
  2. Web site: Kommunevåpenet . 2009-01-11 . Røyken kommune . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090210154510/http://www.royken.kommune.no/Om-royken/Kommunevapenet/ . February 10, 2009 . no.
  3. Web site: Immigrants and Norwegian-born to immigrant parents . ssb.no . 29 July 2017. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150702101705/https://www.ssb.no/statistikkbanken/selectvarval/Define.asp?subjectcode=&ProductId=&MainTable=FolkInnvkatLand&nvl=&PLanguage=1&nyTmpVar=true&CMSSubjectArea=befolkning&KortNavnWeb=innvbef&StatVariant=&checked=true . 2 July 2015 .
  4. Web site: Røyken sier ja til sammenslåing. Røyken kommune. 2016-06-16. 2016-06-16. no. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160821225327/https://www.royken.kommune.no/Aktuell-informasjon/Royken-sier-ja-til-sammenslaing/. 2016-08-21.