In 1724, iron ore was discovered in the Gymås mountain and soon after Anders Swab and a few others were granted permission to establish an ironworks at the site. Business was fairly successful and at the end of the 1700s it was one of the largest ironworks in the Nordic countries. 

In 1787, the business was purchased by Jürgen Christoffer Müller who commissioned Lars Rehnvall to build him a new house in 1791. The new manor house was completed by 1793 at a cost of 18,000 Riksdaler (circa 1,5 Million SEK in today’s value). It could be argued that the building was not completely finished until 1800 when the tower clock was installed. Despite the old saying that there are no Swedish castles north of the Dala River, Voxnabruk Manor has repeatedly been called “the only castle in Hälsingland”, although mostly by people from the area. 

By mid 1800, wholesale dealer Henrik Wilhelm Kempe became one of its owner. He was the brother of the famous JC Kempe who founded the forestry company MODO in Örnsköldsvik. Kempe established a thriving forestry business at Voxna and used the rivers to bring the logs to the coast. His niece, Wilhelmina Kempe, married Walther von Hallwyl and he successfully continued his father-in-law’s business becoming one of the wealthiest Swedes at the time and built the famous Hallwyl Palace in central Stockholm. When completed it set them back 70 Million SEK in today’s value. In 1929 they donated it to the Swedish State. 

Voxnabruk Manor is today open to visitors as a restaurant and conference facility.

Photo: Hans Lindqvist, Wikimedia