Igelbäckens masugn: A 19th-century smelting furnace

Igelbäckens masugn is a preserved furnace site located in the southern part of Örebro län, near Aspa bruk in the Askersunds municipality. The first furnace at the site was built in 1696 by Anton von Boij. The current furnace stems from 1826, and in 1830, the facility was further expanded with a roasting furnace and a hot room.

At Igelbäcken, cast iron was produced and sent to the rod mills in Aspa and Algrena for refining. Some of the cast iron was also sent directly for export. Later, Igelbäckens hytta was operated as part of Aspa bruk until 1900, when Aspa bruk was sold to Laxå Bruk and the ironworks in Aspa were closed.

Igelbäckens masugn continued to operate until 1923, largely due to the interest of mining engineer Carl Sahlin in older iron production methods. The site was declared a national building monument in 1993 and is currently owned by Statens fastighetsverk.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons