Edsbro

Industrial Works by Lake Kyrksjön

Edsbro is the church village in Edsbro parish and an old industrial works. Here there was a Walloon ironworks with a blast furnace and small smithy, and the ruins of these structures are well preserved.

It is one of the places in Roslagen where the depth of history is unusually easy to see: an Iron Age fort, a medieval church and an industrial blast furnace lie within a short distance of each other.

Lundboborg

Edsbro Iron Age fort is called Lundboborg, and during the Iron Age it was an impressive structure. Today the remains of the dry stone fortification are what survive — but they are extensive: the wall is 210 metres long and encloses the entire hilltop plateau, at its highest 2.5 metres tall and 5 metres wide. The fort was probably built during the Migration Period, sometime between 400 and 550 CE.

The traces of the fort's two entrances are still visible today, one to the south and one to the southeast. Inside the walls the ground surface was cleared of stones, partly to make room for buildings; the most clearly visible house foundation is on the northern part of the ridge.

The location was strategic. The fort lies beside Edsbro-Kyrksjön, which was a well-used waterway during the Iron Age, and the elevated position meant it was visible from far away. Perhaps its purpose was as much to impress and deter as to actually defend. On the other side of the lake lie two more Iron Age forts, both unexcavated.

The Blast Furnace

After the fire at Skebo ironworks in 1686, the blast furnace rights were transferred to Edsbro. A blast furnace was built here, powered by water, and it produced raw iron from 1686 until 1919.

The works belonged to Skebo ironworks the entire time — the pig iron was transported in barges across Lake Närdingen to be refined there. The blast furnace was rebuilt and extended several times, which is visible in the different building materials; the topmost extension was made in 1905.

In earlier times the blast furnace was open at the top. During the 1800s it was closed, which made it possible to capture the heat of the gases and use it to preheat the blast air.

Things to See

• Edsbro Church — from the 1200s, prominently visible on the ridge with its festive roof decorations.
• Lundboborg — the Iron Age fort by Lake Kyrksjön.
• Edsbro Blast Furnace — the works ruins.
• Åsavallen Heritage Farm — from the 1600s, a good dozen buildings that show living conditions in the rural area in earlier times.
• Gisenbadet — on the northern shore of Lake Gisen, south of the village.

Getting There

Buses run to and from Hallstavik and Stockholm, as well as to Norrtälje and Uppsala via Knutby.