Skiptvet

Skiptvet is a municipality in Østfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Meieribyen. Skiptvet was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

Skiptvet Municipality Skiptvet kommune
Municipality
Skiptvet church
Flag Coat of arms
Østfold within Norway
Skiptvet within Østfold
Coordinates: 59°28′50″N 11°8′40″E
Country	Norway
County	Østfold
Administrative centre	Meieribyen
Government
• Mayor (2007)	Svein Olav Agnalt (Ap)
Area
• Total	101 km2 (39 sq mi)
• Land	93 km2 (36 sq mi)
• Rank	#384 in Norway
Population  (2004)
• Total	3,336
• Rank	#251 in Norway
• Density	36/km2 (90/sq mi)
• Change (10 years)	+8.7%
Demonym	Skjetving[1]
Official language [2]
• Norwegian form	Bokmål
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-3116[3]
Website	Official website
Data from Statistics Norway

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Skiptvet farm (Old Norse: Skipþveit and/or Skygþveit) because the first church was built here. The meaning of the first element(s) is not known, and the last element is þveit 'clearing in the woods'. Prior to 1889, the name was written Skibtvet.

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 27 November 1981. The arms show a silver dragon on a red background. The dragon is derived from a local legend, in which a dragon went to sleep in the local churchyard every morning. In the evening the dragon went back to the forest, where it had its lair. A tarn near the church is still called Dragehullet meaning "the dragon's pit".^[4]

See also: Coat of arms of Stjørdal

Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Skiptvet by country of origin in 2015^[5]

Ancestry	Number
Poland	124
Syria	32
Lithuania	27
Latvia	27
Sweden	23

Notable people

• Jens Christian Spidberg (1684 in Skiptvet - 1762) cartographer, theologian, priest and Bishop of the Diocese of Agder og Telemark