Riddarhyttan 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 ...

Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, Gävleborg, Dalarna and Uppsala. The county also has a stretch of shoreline towards Mälaren (Sweden's ...

, Sweden, with 431 inhabitants in 2010. It has an old iron mining tradition, which can be followed back to the last centuries before Christ. The last mine was closed down in 1979.

Geography and geology

Riddarhyttan is, along with

Skinnskatteberg Skinnskatteberg () is a locality and the seat of Skinnskatteberg Municipality in Västmanland County Västmanland County ( sv, Västmanlands län) is a county or ''län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Södermanland, Örebro, ...

, one of only two urban areas or ''localities'' (more than 200 inhabitants) in the Skinnskatteberg Municipality in the western part of

, on the border to

Örebro County Örebro County ( sv, Örebro län) is a county or '' län'' in central Sweden. It borders the counties of Västra Götaland, Värmland, Dalarna, Västmanland, Södermanland and Östergötland. It is frequently culturally divided into the hilly ...

. It is located in the north of the historical province of

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ), is a historical Swedish province, or ''landskap'', in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "(The) Land of the Western Men", where the "western men" (''väst ...

. The area of the locality, as defined by Statistics Sweden, is 1.56 km². The Swedish national road 68 is running through Riddarhyttan and the lake Lien is located next to it. It lies in the middle of the historically mining district

Bergslagen Bergslagen is a historical, cultural, and linguistic region located north of Lake Mälaren in northern Svealand, Sweden, traditionally known as a mining district. In Bergslagen, the mining and metallurgic industries have been important since the ...

. It is about 30 km to

Fagersta Fagersta is a locality and the seat of Fagersta Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden, with 11,130 inhabitants in 2010. Geography The city is located at the junction of two railways between Ludvika-Västerås and Avesta (Krylbo)-Örebr ...

, 35 km to Lindesberg and 70 km to

Västerås Västerås ( , , ) is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 154,049. Västerås is the se ...

. When the last ice age in Bergslagen came to an end about 9,500 years ago, Riddarhyttan was located on the border between land and sea. That resulted in kettles,

glacial erratic A glacial erratic is glacially deposited rock differing from the type of rock native to the area in which it rests. Erratics, which take their name from the Latin word ' ("to wander"), are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundre ...

s and other specific landforms. When the ice was melting, iron was released from the bedrock into the groundwater and became exposed iron oxide (ochre). That gave rise to a red-colour soil in some parts of Riddarhyttan, especially in the area called ''Röda Jorden'' (''red earth'').

History

People started to extract iron from the red earth in the Riddarhyttan area sometime between 700 BC and 400 BC, which makes it the oldest area with ironworks in the

region. Remains of several primitive blast furnaces have been found and the age have been established by carbon dating. The iron-making was carried on until about the birth of Christ. The locality Riddarhyttan dates back to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. ''Hälsingegruvan'' and ''Munkhyttan'' was mentioned as early as 1420. It was the State that first commenced mining in the area but private persons, or ''Bergsmän'', were granted to use the mines later on. In 1611, Thomas Hammarsmed was granted the right to erect a forge and an iron blast-furnace.''Iron and steel in Sweden'', pp. 65–66

References

;Citations ;Sources *

External links

riddarhyttan.nu
* Images o
KällfalletBäckegruvan
an
Bastnäs
by Jakob Ehrensvärd {{Authority control Populated places in Västmanland County Populated places in Skinnskatteberg Municipality