The first bar-iron forge in Ramnäs was established by Katarina Stenbock, who received the works as her widow’s pension, after the death of her husband, King Gustav Vasa. The works therefore became known as the King’s forge. The pig iron was conveyed down river from the smelting houses towards the north. By the mid- 1600s, four more forges were built adjacent to the waterfall at Ramnäs.
During the 18th century, the ironworks was owned
jointly by two families, the Schenströms and the Tersmedens

The Tersmedens turned Ramnäs into one of Sweden’s leading producers of bar iron. A rolling mill was added in 1868, and thanks to their hiring skilled chain smiths from the closed-down Furudal factory in Dalarna, the manufacture of chain became Ramnäs’s niche product. The chain forge, built of weld-oven slagbricks, has been well preserved. A limited company was set up in 1874 and, today, production is spread over a number of companies... which are still manufacturing chain, incidentally.

The Lancashire-furnace method was introduced at Ramnäs in the middle of the 19th century. The pig iron, together with slag and charcoal, is melted in a covered furnace. The smith uses a large pole to mix the doughy melt. After about an hour, the melt is removed and then dressed by means of a steam hammer. The lumps of melt are then reheated in the weld furnace prior to rolling. The Ramnäs forge was the last Lancashire forge in use anywhere in the world, being used as late as in 1964. This saw the end of a technique—the end of an era—that had characterized the Swedish iron industry for more than 100 years.
Considerable effort has been made to preserve this site. The forge has been reroofed, using its original French-style heart- pattern roof tiles. The forge is now open to visitors.