Österbybruk is a

locality Locality may refer to: * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localities (Australia), in which a locality is a geographic subdivis ...

situated in

Östhammar Municipality Östhammar Municipality (''Östhammars kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Östhammar. The present municipality was created during the local government reform in the late sixti ...

Uppsala County Uppsala County ( sv, Uppsala län) is a county or ''län'' on the eastern coast of Sweden, whose capital is the city of Uppsala. It borders the counties of Dalarna, Stockholm, Södermanland, Västmanland, Gävleborg, and the Baltic Sea. Prov ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

with 2,272 inhabitants in 2010.

Ironworks

The Österby works was one of a number mostly in

Roslagen Roslagen is the name of the coastal areas of Uppland province in Sweden, which also constitutes the northern part of the Stockholm archipelago. Historically, it was the name for all the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea, including the eastern p ...

, where there were

Walloon forge A Walloon forge (or Walloon process) is a type of finery forge that decarbonizes pig iron into wrought iron. The process was conceived in the Liège region, and from there extended to France, then England around the end of the 15th century. ...

s, producing high quality

oregrounds iron Oregrounds iron was a grade of iron that was regarded as the best grade available in 18th century England. The term was derived from the small Swedish city of Öregrund, the port from which the bar iron was shipped. It was produced using the W ...

for export. Österby's brand mark was OO. All iron was branded with that mark. The Österby ironproducts were highly valued in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for the production of blister steel by the

cementation process The cementation process is an obsolete technology for making steel by carburization of iron. Unlike modern steelmaking, it increased the amount of carbon in the iron. It was apparently developed before the 17th century. Derwentcote Steel Fur ...

. The historical complex of Österbybruk is a "Vallonbruk", a social and economic building complex surrounding a forge. Österbybruk is one of the most beautiful examples of the remains of the presence and input of Walloon immigrants ('valloner') in Sweden in the 17th century. More than 1.200 families emigrated in that era to Sweden, where the expertise of Walloon master blacksmiths was highly sought after. They helped to launch the Swedish iron and metal industry. The number of their descendants is estimated today between 500.000 and 1 million people.

People

Karl Kilbom Karl Kilbom (8 May 1885 – 24 December 1961) was a Swedish politician and one of the founders of the Communist Party of Sweden. Youth As the son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working class family of Walloon origin in the small to ...

, the leader of the Swedish Communist Party 1924-1929 was born here, and one of the main streets of Österbybruk is named after him today.

Climate

Österbybruk has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

that is quite mild throughout the year, especially considering its northerly latitude.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osterbybruk Populated places in Uppsala County Populated places in Östhammar Municipality Ironworks in Sweden