Hälleforsnäs is a locality in
Flen Municipality
Flen Municipality () is a municipality in central Södermanland County in southeast Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Flen.
The present municipality was formed in 1971 through the amalgamation of the ''City of Flen'' (instituted in 194 ...
,
Södermanland County
Södermanland County (, ) is a Counties of Sweden, county or ''län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is the ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
with approximately 2000 inhabitants in 2020.
A small village in the municipality of Flen, it is 15 km (9 miles) from
Flen
Flen () is a locality and the seat of Flen Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 6,229 inhabitants in 2010.
Flen evolved as a railway junction and got the title of a city in 1949. Since 1971 it is the seat of the much larger Flen Munici ...
, 32 km (20 miles) from
Eskilstuna
Eskilstuna () is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 69,948 inhabitants in 2020, with a total population of 107,806 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality ...
, 40 km (25 miles) from
Katrineholm
Katrineholm (pronunciation: or ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 24,271 inhabitants in 2018. It is located in the inland of Södermanland and is the third largest ur ...
and 120 km (75 mi) south-west of
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
.
This village was an industrial center until the
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 pr ...
it was built around ceased operations after 350 years in the early 1990s. The foundry is now a cultural center and a hub of activity.
Beginning in the 17th century, the foundry functioned as a cannon workshop. Here, cannons were manufactured for the Swedish army in Europe. The foundry switched from producing military products to civilian radiators and stoves at the beginning of the 20th century. Between 1920 and 1980, pipes and other plumbing supplies were the company's primary products.
In the 1960s, when the foundry was at its peak, more than a thousand people worked there, as well as a few hundred in related occupations nearby.
Electrolux
Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...
acquired the foundry in the 1980s and began manufacturing cookware plates. In 1990, Electrolux ceased operations, and several employees acquired the foundry. The area surrounding the foundry is still active, but less so than when it served as the village's focal point.
Today, the actual foundry serves as a center for local artists, and Hälleforsnäs has become the cultural heart of
Sörmland. Both a restaurant and a seasonal herbal store are present. Moreover, the Jürss dairy company manufactures and sells award-winning cheese on-site.
Riksdag
The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
elections
Due to its industrialization, Hälleforsnäs has always been a stronghold for the
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...
. Since it has always been Flen Municipality's most left-leaning district, it has contributed to large majorities throughout the municipality. With fewer people living in Hälleforsnäs, fewer people voting, and more people migrating to cities in Swedish industrial areas at the end of the 20th century, the number of votes cast there has significantly decreased. The vote share of the Social Democrats in the village decreased by 29 percentage points between 1994 and 2018, while the vote share of the
Sweden Democrats
The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...
grew rapidly.
References
External links
* https://jurssmejeri.se/ Jurss Dairy
* https://www.axellent.se/halleforsnas-bruksrestaurangen-galleri Bruksrestaurangen
Populated places in Flen Municipality
{{Södermanland-geo-stub