During the ironworks era, all the industrial buildings were situated along the river, as the bar iron hammers, the blast furnace, the mills and the sawmills were powered directly by water power. The illustration shows how this place might have looked like in the 17th Century. In the left-hand corner we can see the Bettum workshop, which is now the best-preserved example of a working building from the ironworks era at Eidsfoss.
The Bettum workshop was built around 1780 and is what is known as a ‘kleinsmidde’, the German term for ‘small smithy’. It was strategically situated near the bar-iron hammers, where the pig iron from the blast furnace was forged into bar iron using water power. This was a much sought-after semi-finished product on which the forges depended. It was therefore a vital part of the ironworks’ production. Behind the hammer mill stood the coal sheds, where the coal for iron production was stored. At the Bettum workshop, nails and fittings were made, as well as tools and equipment needed for the production of iron, charcoal and ore. From the late 19th century, when Eidsfoss Ironworks transitioned to becoming a pure foundry, the building was used as a model workshop. It was then that the building was given its current name, after Hans Bettum, who made wooden models for several of the popular cast-iron stoves produced here.
On this map from the 1860s we see how the buildings were connected in an industrial system with water runs, bridges and the blast furnace as a focal point. When iron production was phased out at the end of the 19th century, most of the industrial buildings were dismantled and moved further downstream, to where the industry is located today. The Bettum workshop is an exception.
The factory site
The buildings on the factory site are industrial buildings constructed before and after the Second World War. Many of these are worthy of preservation. These include the two-storey, yellow wooden building that served as the workers’ canteen (1945).
Blåskuret (1945), or Blekkverket, was a parts store, and the original shelving and storage fittings are still intact. The old bicycle shed belonging to the works still stands behind ‘Smia’, the knife-maker Knut Dahl’s workshop, and is used as a garage.
Today, the area is home to a variety of small businesses, including the mechanical workshops Markem and Botnetank.
One of the fine brick buildings, Pusseriet, is used as a studio by the sculptor Harald Oredam.
The Carpentry Workshop (c. 1880)
Most of the materials and components for the various buildings were produced at the carpentry workshop. In addition, tools used at the works were made and repaired there. Today, the carpentry workshop is home to the Molene yarn shop and the railway history exhibition, ‘Fremtidstoget’. Many of the old machines from the carpentry workshop remain on display as part of the exhibition.
The Warehouse (c. 1890)
One of the oldest storage buildings on the site now houses the Eidsfoss Industrial History Collections (EIS). The museum highlights the emergence of the ironworks community and displays various products manufactured at Eidsfoss through the exhibition ‘Glimpses of Ironworks Operations and Furnace Casting at Eidsfoss’. Among other things, they have a large collection of old furnaces. EIS is part of the Vestfold Museums.
The Paint Shop (c. 1900)
The Paint Shop was built using old materials from the blast furnace, which was demolished in the 1880s.
The Office (1940)
This white wooden building, with its intricate carvings around the windows, has served as the director’s office, the foreman’s office, the materials manager’s office and a drawing room. The basement housed the site’s command centre and air-raid siren. Today, it is home to the small company Cordina A/S.
The Water Tower (1901)
Adjacent to the Office stands the water tower, which supplied water to the steam locomotives on the railway.
The Guardhouse (1941)
This is where the works’ time clock was located, and it is said that the workers’ wives were given their husbands’ wages every other Friday. The fence around the works site was erected during the war, probably to prevent espionage and unauthorised access.
The Smithy (1991)
The smithy was built on the same site as the works’ old mechanical workshop, which burnt down in 1934. It is currently used by the cutler Knut Dahl.
There is a shop in the Bettum Workshop today “Fruene i Smia” (The Smithy Madams). See below.
Illustration by Marianne Karlsen
