Roslagen Ironworks – Walloon Forging in Uppland's Industrial Heritage Region

In the northern parts of Roslagen, in the borderland towards Uppland, lies one of Sweden's most remarkable industrial environments. Here, in the shadow of pine forests and between long straight works roads, iron was forged over three centuries – iron that was known throughout the world. The ironworks of Roslagen and northern Uppland were no ordinary workshops – they were the hub of an export industry that, for a period, made Sweden Europe's leading iron nation.

The Mountain That Held It All Together

It all began in the mountain at Dannemora. The mine, with shafts that can be dated to the 1500s, delivered iron ore of exceptional purity. The ore was almost free from phosphorus and sulphur, the substances that otherwise make iron brittle, and could therefore produce pig iron of the highest class when treated properly. It was this ore, combined with the right technique, that gave "öregrundsjärnet" – named after the shipping port Öregrund – its world-renowned reputation as the finest Swedish iron. But the ore alone was not enough. The decisive factor was how it was refined, and here a immigrant occupational group enters the story.

The Walloons Arrive

During the early 1600s, around 2,500 Walloons immigrated to Sweden, mainly during the period 1615–1655. They came from the areas around Liège in French-speaking Wallonia in present-day Belgium – one of Europe's most advanced iron-producing regions. They were blacksmiths, blast furnace masters, charcoal burners and hammer smiths, and they brought with them a working method that would fundamentally transform Swedish iron production.

The method they introduced is called Walloon forging and differed from the previously dominant German forging. Walloon forging required greater capital investment and a more labour-divided process – the pig iron was refined in two stages, in a special smelting hearth and a refining hearth – but in return produced tough, even and very high-quality bar iron. This iron was particularly sought after in England, where it became raw material for steel production and was used, among other things, in Sheffield's steel industry.

Louis De Geer and the Construction of the Works

The man who more than anyone else organized this industry was Louis De Geer (1587–1652), often called "the father of Swedish industry". De Geer was born in Liège, worked as a merchant and arms dealer in Amsterdam, and had early business connections with the Swedish crown. Together with his partner Willem de Besche, he began to lease and operate Swedish ironworks. In the 1620s, he gained access to the most important Dannemora works, and in 1641 he moved permanently to Sweden, became a Swedish citizen and was introduced to the House of Nobility. De Geer eventually controlled an empire of works: Lövsta, Österby and Gimo in Uppland as well as mills in Sörmland and Östergötland. It was to his Swedish ironworks that he opened up labour immigration from Walloons.

The Four Major Works

Four works emerged as the largest in the area. Lövstabruk (Leufsta) became at times Sweden's largest ironworks, with two blast furnaces and three Walloon smithies; the works were owned by the De Geer family until 1986, and visitors today encounter an almost intact works road, manor house, church and the famous Cahman organ from the 1720s. Österbybruk houses the world's only still-functioning Walloon smithy dating back to the 1600s. Forsmark developed into a model works with one of the country's most beautiful English parks, laid out 1786–1791 by architect Fredrik Magnus Piper. Gimo was founded in 1615 and received in the 1760s its magnificent manor house complex designed by Jean Eric Rehn; today Gimo manor is run as a hotel and conference facility.

The Works Community as an Environment

What makes the Walloon works unique is not just the forging but the whole. A works community was a small ordered society in itself: the works patron's manor house, the red residential rows of the smiths along the works road, the smithy, the blast furnace, the warehouses, the church or meeting house, the school and the trading post. Everything was owned and controlled by the works, and life followed a strict order. The Walloon smiths long retained their own identity, their trade secrets and partly their language, and Walloon surnames still live on in the region today.

World Heritage and Tourist Destinations

The Walloon works are often put forward as a strong candidate for world heritage status and are part of discussions about Sweden's industrial heritage cultural environments of international rank. (Uncertain information: no formally registered UNESCO candidacy could be confirmed in available sources and should be verified against the Swedish National Heritage Board.) Regardless of the world heritage question, the works are today living tourist attractions – the Walloon smithy is displayed in Österbybruk, Vallonbruksvecka (Walloon Works Week) is held annually in Lövstabruk, Forsmark's park stands open and Gimo receives guests. For those who want to follow iron's path, the entire chain remains to be seen: from the vast mine pit at Dannemora to the quiet smithies where the world-renowned iron was once hammered out.

Sources

• Vallonbruken, Louis De Geer – Wikipedia
• Dannemora–Österbybruk – roslagen.se
• Järnet – Lövstabruk / Leufsta & Cahman
• Forsmarks bruk – Länsstyrelsen Uppsala
• Lövstabruk – Populär Historia