The 304-square-kilometre (117 sq mi) municipality is the 263rd largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Bamble is the 87th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 14,172. The municipality's population density is 50.2 inhabitants per square kilometre (130/sq mi) and its population has increased by 0.3% over the previous 10-year period.[4][5]
General information
The parish of Bamble was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). On 1 January 1878, the island of Langøya (population: 22), just off shore from the town of Langesund, was transferred from the rural municipality of Bamble to the town of Langesund. In 1949, the town of Langesund was again enlarged by annexing an adjacent area of Bamble municipality (population: 127). During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, the town of Stathelle (population: 724) and the town of Langesund (population: 2,281) were both merged with the surrounding rural municipality of Bamble (population: 5,237) to form a new, larger Bamble Municipality.[6]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Bamle farm (Old Norse: Bamblar). The meaning of the name is unknown. It is possible that the name is the plural form derived from the word bembel which means "belly". In this case, it was likely referring to a round hill or mountain.[7] Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Bamle. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Bamble.[8]
The coat of arms was granted on 12 December 1986. The official blazon is "Azure, a ship's wheel Or" (Norwegian: I blått et gull skipsratt). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is a ship's wheel. The charge has a tincture of Or which means it is commonly colored yellow, but if it is made out of metal, then gold is used. The arms are nearly identical to the former arms of the town Stathelle which used them from 1954 until 1964 when it became part of Bamble. The blue color in the field symbolizes the importance of the sea for this coastal municipality. Sailing and fishing have always been of great importance for the area, and a ship's wheel was thus an appropriate symbol. The arms were designed by Svein J. Haugholt. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11]
Bamble Church (Bamble kirke) is located along the European route E18 highway, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to the south of the Grenland Bridge. It is a wooden cruciform church which was built in 1845. The church is located next to the ruins of Olav Church which dated to around 1145.[12]
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Bamble is made up of 33 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.
