Editing Bamble (section)

==General information==
The [[prestegjeld|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 [[Municipal annexation|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.<ref name="Dag">{{Cite web |last=Jukvam |first=Dag |year=1999 |title=Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen |url=http://www.ssb.no/emner/00/90/rapp_9913/rapp_9913.pdf |publisher=[[Statistics Norway|Statistisk sentralbyrå]] |language=no |isbn=9788253746845}}</ref>

===Name===
The municipality (originally the [[prestegjeld|parish]]) is named after the old ''Bamle'' farm ({{langx|non|Bamblar}}). The meaning of the name is unknown. It is possible that the name is the plural form derived from the word {{lang|non|bembel}} which means "[[Abdomen|belly]]". In this case, it was likely referring to a round hill or mountain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rygh |first=Oluf |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2006120600018 |title=Norske gaardnavne: Bratsbergs amt |date=1914 |publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri |edition=7 |location=Kristiania, Norge |pages=48–49 |language=no |authorlink=Oluf Rygh}}</ref> Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled ''Bamle''. On 3 November 1917, a [[royal decree|royal resolution]] changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to ''Bamble''.<ref>{{Cite journal |year=1917 |title=Norsk Lovtidende. 2den Afdeling. 1917. Samling af Love, Resolutioner m.m |url=https://www.nb.no/items/URN:NBN:no-nb_digitidsskrift_2015102381014_001 |journal=[[Norsk Lovtidend]] |language=no |location=Kristiania, Norge |publisher=Grøndahl og Søns Boktrykkeri |pages=1057–1065}}</ref> {{see also|Bømlo#Name}}

===Coat of arms===
The [[coat of arms]] was granted on 12 December 1986. The official [[blazon]] is ''"[[Azure (heraldry)|Azure]], a ship's wheel [[Or (heraldry)|Or]]"'' ({{langx|no|I blått et gull skipsratt}}). This means the arms have a blue [[field (heraldry)|field]] (background) and the [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] is a [[Steering wheel (ship)|ship's wheel]]. The charge has a [[tincture (heraldry)|tincture]] of [[Or (heraldry)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Civic heraldry of Norway - Norske Kommunevåpen |url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/index.php?title=Bamble |access-date=2023-09-22 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Bamble, Telemark (Norway) |url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/no-08-14.html |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Flags of the World}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-12-12 |title=Godkjenning av våpen og flagg |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/LF/forskrift/1986-12-12-2288 |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Lovdata.no |publisher=Norges kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet |language=no}}</ref>

===Churches===
[[File:Bamble kirke.JPG|thumb|left|upright|[[Bamble Church]]]]
The [[Church of Norway]] has three parishes ({{lang|no|sokn}}) within the municipality of Bamble. It is part of the [[Bamble prosti]] ([[deanery]]) in the [[Diocese of Agder og Telemark]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="font-size:medium"|'''''Churches in Bamble'''''
!Parish ({{lang|no|sokn}})!!Church name!!Location of the church!!Year built
|-
|rowspan="2"|Bamble||[[Bamble Church]]||[[Bamble (village)|Bamble]]||1845
|-
|[[Herre Church]]||[[Herre, Norway|Herre]]||1905
|-
|rowspan="1"|Langesund||[[Langesund Church]]||[[Langesund]]||1992
|-
|rowspan="1"|Stathelle||[[Stathelle Church]]||[[Stathelle]]||1964
|}

[[Bamble Church]] (''Bamble kirke'') is located along the [[European route E18]] highway, about {{convert|5|km}} 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 [[St. Olav's Church (ruin)|Olav Church]] which dated to around 1145.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Olavskirken – Skeidi kirke i Bamble |url=http://www.miklaborg.net/?page_id=489 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920205917/http://www.miklaborg.net/?page_id=489 |archive-date=2016-09-20 |access-date=2016-09-01 |publisher=miklaborg.net}}</ref>