Forsmark ironworks

From crown ironworks to Walloon forging

Forsmark's history as an ironworks stretches back to at least the 1570s, when the crown took control of an existing facility. The location was ideal: ore from the Dannemora mines, water power from the rivers and dense forests that provided the raw material for charcoal. In 1624 the ironworks was leased to Gerard de Besche and Peter Rochet, who introduced the Walloon forging method and laid the foundation for large-scale ironworking. The de Besche family kept the ironworks until 1735.

During the 1600s, Forsmark grew into a full-scale ironworks with modern and efficient facilities. The Walloons – specialised smiths from present-day Belgium – brought with them a technique that produced bar iron of significantly higher quality than what had previously been made in Sweden. The iron was exported via the coast, and Forsmark ironworks helped make Sweden the leading iron exporter of the 1700s.

Jennings and the building of the manor

In 1751 the ironworks was acquired by Frans Jennings and Robert Finlay. John Jennings, who took over ownership in 1754, had the prominent architect Jean Eric Rehn design a new manor, which was completed in 1774. The well-proportioned Gustavian main house with its wing buildings and surrounding park set a new standard for how a prosperous ironworks should look.

Samuel af Ugglas bought Forsmark in 1781 and had the architect Olof Tempelman design a new church in neoclassical style. King Gustav IV Adolf laid the foundation stone in 1794 and the church was completed in 1800. Fredric Magnus Piper – the same architect who shaped Hagaparken – created the English park at Forsmark between 1786 and 1791, with romantic temples, bridges and sightlines.

A cultural environment of national importance

Ironworking at Forsmark ceased in 1897. In 1975 the facility was acquired by Forsmark's power group and was at the same time classified as a listed building – the first in all of Uppland. The ironworks community's historic buildings – manor, church, workers' dwellings, smithies and farm buildings – are today gathered in a well-preserved and accessible landscape.

Forsmark ironworks is located near the Forsmark nuclear power plant on the coast in northern Uppland. The combination of the 1700s ironworks setting and the modern nuclear power plant creates an almost surreal contrast that has itself become part of the place's identity. The park's paths, the manor's silhouette and the silence of the Walloon smithies invite a walk through several centuries of history.