Stimmerbo & Torrbo Mining Villages

The farmers in the Middle Ages who had the right to engage in mining and produce iron were called mining farmers. Not just anyone could own a mine; only those farmers who had received a special privilege letter granting them the right to own shares in mines and smelting houses.
 
But the mining farmers did not give up their work on the farm. They managed the mine and the smelting house together with their mining neighbors after the harvest was completed in the fall and later in the winter and early spring. The rest of the time, they worked on their farms alongside their family members and servants.
The first mining farmers lived in villages where the farmland was the best. But as time passed, iron production became increasingly important, and the blast furnace was built larger and larger. Now, the smelting house had to be located by a watercourse to utilize water power to drive the ever-growing bellows, making the furnace hot enough to melt the iron. Many mining farmers then moved their farms closer to the smelting house.
 
Stimmerbo and Torrbo are two mining villages with roots dating back to the 14th and
15th centuries. They are located near Smedjebacken, beautifully surrounded by deep forests. Here, one can still see how life was shaped by the mining culture.
The beautiful mining farmhouses with loft barns, cowsheds, wagon sheds, and brewhouses still remain.
During the 19th century, the residential houses received a second floor to make them as grand as the manor houses of the industrial works.
 
In 1459, Torrbo was called “Torbiörnaboda,” meaning Torbjörn’s sheds. The village had its own smelting house until 1540 when a lack of water forced its closure. Thanks to the proximity of the two villages, the mining farmers in Torrbo were able to buy shares in the smelting house in Stimmerbo instead. The ruins of the smelting house can still be seen by the dam and the small smelting brook. Above the dam, remains of hand-dug canals that led water to fill the dam can be found.
 
Stimmerbo was established somewhat later than Torrbo, but records show it existed in the 16th century. In the 17th century, the village had four farms. Two hundred years later, it was home to fifteen mining farmers, tenants, crofters, craftsmen, workers, and many others.
The long village road is situated on a cultivated plateau with the Stimmerbo River valley below.
The beautiful mining farmhouses are located in the southern part of the village road, while the blast furnace itself was in the north, near the workers’ housing. The smelting house was shut down in 1873 and converted into a lime kiln, as agriculture required lime for the fields.
Around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Stimmerbo had a school, a mission house, a retirement home, and a community hall, while the general store was located in Torrbo.
 
FACTS
A fine example of two villages shaped by mining culture. Many houses were originally single-story and expanded as needs arose and finances allowed.
In the early 1900s, the villagers made a living from forestry, working at the lime kiln, the sawmill, the mill, and rafting timber on the river.
On the outskirts of Torrbo, in Skräddarbacken, poet, author, and playwright Werner Aspenström was born in 1918.
 
Well signposted for self-guided visits.
For more information on villages and history in Smedjebacken Municipality, read “Byggnadsarv i Bergslagen” by A. M. Gunnarsson.

Toppbild: Bisse Falk