Eidsfos Verk ( en, Eidsfos Iron Works) was an

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloome ...

located at

Eidsfoss Eidsfoss is a village in Hof municipality, Vestfold county, Norway. It is located near Lake Eikeren. The village was the site of the Eidsfos Iron Works (''Eidsfos Jernverk'') which dated to 1697. The iron works was closed in 1873. The village is ...

Vestfold og Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. T ...

county, Norway. Eidsfos Verk was established in 1697 when the first blast furnace was first put into operation. The ironwork, which was dependent on hydropower, ore and forest, was located on the isthmus between

Eikeren Eikeren or Eikern is a long and deep lake in the municipalities of Hof in the county of Vestfold og Telemark and Øvre Eiker in the county of Viken, Norway. It is the largest lake in Vestfold. At the eastern end of Vestfold is the village of Ei ...

and the Bergsvannet. It was established and operated by Lieutenant General

Caspar Herman Hausmann Caspar Herman Hausmann was a Danish-Norwegian General, lumber merchant and squire. He was born 10 January 1653 at Segeberg in the Danish duchy of Holsten (now Holstein), which was then in union with Denmark-Norway. He died 9 September 1718 in Chr ...

(1653–1718) and later his widow Karen Toller (1662-1742). In 1785 the works were acquired by merchant Peder von Cappelen (1763-1837). The owners had a seat on Eidsfos Manor (''Eidsfos Hovedgård''), which was their private residence until 1897. The ironworks closed in 1873. Among the company's later activities had been production of

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals ...

products,

freight wagon A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished f ...

s and

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that ...

. In 1979 the Eidsfos Historic Foundation (''Stiftelsen Gamle Eidsfos'') was established to preserve the old ironworks community. Parts of the old ironworks have since become incorporated into a museum (''Eidsfoss Jernverksmuseum'') which is associated with Vestfold Museum (''Vestfoldmuseene'').

References

Other sources

*Joramo, Morten Alexander (1997) ''Eidsfos (jern)verk 1697-1997'' (jubileumsbok. Eidsfoss).

External links

Eidsfoss Jernverksmuseum websiteEidsfos Hovedgård websiteStiftelsen Eidsfos Hovedgård websiteVestfoldmuseene website
1697 establishments in Norway Metal companies of Norway Iron and steel mills Companies based in Vestfold og Telemark Museums in Vestfold og Telemark Industry museums in Norway {{norway-museum-stub