Nedre Eiker was a municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Eiker. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mjøndalen. The old municipality of Eiker was divided into Nedre Eiker (lower Eiker) and Øvre Eiker (upper) on 1 July 1885. The municipality was merged with Drammen Municipality in 2020.

General information

Name

The Old Norse form of the name was Eikjar. The name is the plural form of eiki which means "oak wood". The meaning of Nedre Eiker is "(the) lower (part of) Eiker". (The municipality of Eiker was divided in 1885.)

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms was granted on 26 June 1970. The arms show three gold-colored oak leaves on a red background. The arms are canting because the meaning of the name (Eik) comes from the word for oak.

{| style="float: center;" class="wikitable"

|+ Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Nedre Eiker by country of origin in 2017

|-

! Ancestry

! Number

|-

| ||768

|-

| ||488

|-

| ||410

|-

| ||290

|-

| ||239

|-

| ||230

|-

| ||198

|-

| ||170

|-

| ||143

|-

| ||136

|}

Geography

thumb|Drammenselva river

thumb|Nedre Eiker bridge

thumb|Nedre Eiker Church

The municipality is located in the southern part of Buskerud county. It borders the municipalities of Lier, Drammen, Hof, and Øvre Eiker. The majority of the residents live in the villages of Mjøndalen, Krokstadelva, Solbergelva, and Steinberg.

The Drammenselva River flows through the municipality of Nedre Eiker. It is one of the largest rivers in Norway, with a course running from Tyrifjorden in the north to Drammensfjord in the south.

Churches in Nedre Eiker

  • Mjøndalen Church
  • Nedre Eiker Church
  • Solberg Chapel
  • Tabor Chapel

Notable residents

  • Lars Korvald, former Prime Minister of Norway
  • Herman Wildenvey (1886–1959), poet and author
  • Svein Johannessen (1937–2007), international master of chess
  • Jørn Hurum (b. 1967), paleontologist
  • Ragnar Christiansen (born 1922), former Minister and Member of Parliament

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Nedre Eiker:

  • Enköping, Uppsala County, Sweden

References

  • Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway
  • Culture in Nedre Eiker on the map from Kulturnett.no