Forsmark

The Crown's cannon shot and the Walloons' bar iron

Forsmarks bruk has origins dating back at least to the 1570s, and its power came from the Forsmarksån river. When the Crown took over the mill from the miners in 1570, there were three furnaces and seven hammers here, and what was produced was — alongside bar and pig iron — primarily shot for cannons.

In 1624 the mill was leased to a group of merchants headed by Gerard de Besche. He built two new Walloon forges and two stone blast furnaces, and it was in this process that the Walloons came here from Wallonia. De Besche redirected production towards bar iron made using the Walloon forging method — what would make the Uppland mills renowned.

Burnt by the Russians, rebuilt in eight years

Between 17–20 July 1719 Forsmark was burnt by the Russians. Only the church and a couple of residential buildings survived.

The mill was granted eight years of tax exemption to enable its reconstruction, and already by 1721 bar iron production was running again. However, no new blast furnaces were built — charcoal shortage was beginning to be felt, and the iron was instead obtained from the blast furnaces at Berkinge, Vigelsbo and Forsbol, which had all escaped the devastation.

The manor house and the park

During the 1700s the mill went through several owners — De Geer, then the moneylender Frans Jennings, whose son John Jennings built up an extensive mill complex together with the Scot Robert Finlay.

John Jennings had grand visions. He had a manor house erected which was inaugurated in 1765, but was not satisfied with the result and engaged the architect Jean Eric Rehn, who designed the present Forsmarks herrgård. It was completed in 1774 — a year after Jennings' death.

Around the manor house an elaborate park was laid out, and to the west of the main building a large English park. For a long time it was believed that Fredrik Magnus Piper created it; in fact Piper was the man who brought the ideas from England to Sweden. Much suggests instead that the owner Samuel af Ugglas and the royal head gardener Johan Christian Ackermann influenced its design. The park is today counted among Sweden's best preserved of its kind.

The af Ugglas family and the church

In 1781 the mill was sold at a bank auction and purchased by Samuel af Ugglas. He continued to develop Forsmark and had the church built, to which Gustav IV Adolf laid the foundation stone in 1794. The mill's own people built it together with hired workers from Dalarna, and it was completed in 1800.

Several of the buildings at the mill bear Samuel af Ugglas's seal, S af U — look for it.

The decline

During the mid-1800s things went so well that the blacksmith's cottages at Bruksgatan were extended with another storey to accommodate all the workers. Towards the end of the century it turned: the mill was not modernized and lost competitiveness. The blast furnace at Berkinge was shut down in 1884, and in the 1890s Walloon forging ceased.

In 1975 the mill was purchased by Forsmarks kraftgrupp, and was designated a historical monument the same year.

How to get here

Forsmark is located in the northern part of Östhammar municipality, by the coast. Bus service runs from Östhammar.