Rånäs castle
Rånäs Castle is located in the heart of historic Sweden on the northern shore of Lake Skedviken. Rånäs Ironworks had a charter from 1774 to annually produce 1500 skeppund (approximately 200 tons) of bar iron. Under the century-old lime trees in the castle’s avenues, the mighty strikes of the hammer forge resounded.
Rånäs Ironworks is the southernmost Walloon forge in Uppland. At Rånäs, counts, barons, and free lords have resided. Here, the families Oxenstierna, Stenbock, Reuterskiöld, and others have ruled since the 14th century.
In the fields around the ironworks, grain was cultivated; in the ironworks’ extensive forests, charcoal was produced, and in the ironworks’ quarters lived the worker families who were employed at the ironworks—a job that was considered a livelihood for life.
Axel Didrik Reuterskiöld built the current Rånäs Castle in 1833-1844. The style is late Empire with strong influences from Italian architecture.
The castle was designed by the leading architect of the time, Professor Per Axel Nyström. Rånäs Castle, its park, and gardens were the most lavishly constructed in all of Roslagen at that time.
When the lord of the castle himself arrived in his gilded carriage, drawn by a four-in-hand whose horses had silver-adorned harnesses and with two liveried men on the coachman’s seat, it was not far behind the splendor of the king.
