Bærums Verk

Historie

Bærums Verk is a village in Bærum in Akershus, Norway, with a population of about 8000. It is located on both sides of the river Lomma.HistoryIron ore was found in the areas now known as Kirkerud and Eineåsen in Bærum in 1603 and 1604, and in 1610 Christian IV granted Paul Smelter the right to build, at his own expense, a foundry in the area. The first foundry was built near the farm of Wøyen, further downriver from today's Bærums Verk, and then another one at Gommerud, closer. In 1615 Smelter bought several farms at the present site and consolidated the foundry in one center. This was unusual practice at the time, but turned out to be successful. All other foundries in Oslo, Aker, and Bærum were shut down as a consequence, and Smelter achieved a virtual monopoly in the Oslo area.The crown ran the works until 1624 when Det Norske Jernkompani took over and mismanaged to the point that the foundry was shut down in 1641, after a flood had damaged much of the plant in 1638. Gabriel Marcelis (the elder), a Dutch merchant with close ties to the Danish crown, took over operations in 1641 and invested in a double blast furnace that produced nails, iron parts, bullets, and cannonballs.The Krefting family took over the works in 1664 and built on Marcelis's investments to expand the capacity at Bærums Verk. Especially under the administration of Anna Krefting (née Vogt) from 1712 to 1766, the works grew to become the largest of its kind in Norway. Even after a devastating fire in 1762, Anna rebuilt the entire plant in two years. After Anna Krefting's death in 1766, her family sold the works to an investment company.