The parish of Hof was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt law). The borders of the municipality were never changed.[6] On 1 January 2018, Hof Municipality was merged into the neighboring Holmestrand Municipality.[7]
Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Hof farm (Old Norse: Hof) since the first Hof Church was built there. The name is identical with the word hof which means "pagantemple", a place for worshiping the old Norse Gods.[8]
Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 17 July 1992. The official blazon is "Gules, three water lily leaves Or" (Norwegian: I rødt tre gull sjøblad, 2-1). This means the arms have a red field (background) and the charge is a seeblatt which is a water lily leaf design. 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 design is meant to symbolize the many lakes in the municipality. There are three leaves in the design to symbolize the three church parishes in Hof: Hof, Vassås, and Eidsfoss. The arms were designed by Geir Helgen. The municipal flag has the same design as the coat of arms.[9][10][11]
The municipality of Hof covered 164 square kilometres (63 sq mi), of which 140 square kilometres (54 sq mi) was land. Of the land in the municipality, 17.9 square kilometres (6.9 sq mi) was farmland and 125.1 square kilometres (48.3 sq mi) was forests. Hof Municipality consisted of the three parishes: Hof, Eidsfoss, and Sundbyfoss. Mountains in Hof included: Buaren, Vestfjellet, Skibergfjell, and Grøntjernkollen. The large lake Eikeren was partially located in Hof. Approximately
The municipal council(Kommunestyre) of Hof was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.
Hof Municipality was a typical community based on agriculture and forestry. Its largest industry was a lumber mill. Hof was located in the climate zone best suited for agriculture in Norway. Therefore, wheat was one of the most important agricultural products of the municipality. However, between 1998 and 2008, 40% of the municipal farms become inactive, and the agricultural employment rate dropped to about 5%.[5][34]
Hof was known for its great hunting and fishing resources as well. With 120,000 acres (490 km2) of forest open for hunting, it was quite popular and there were commercial hunting opportunities. About 75 landowners in Hof united in a land owner union (Hof Utmarkslag), and hunters were required to purchase permits from them (mainly small game hunting) in order to use their land.[35]
In the first decade of the 21st century, hunters typically harvested the following amounts of game animals annually in Hof: over 100 moose, 1-5 red deer, 80-90 roe deer, and 0-10 beaver.[35]
