Wirsbo Manor prouds itself with a royal history stretching some 500 years to the Vasa kings! King Johan III’s illegitimate daughter Sofia Johansson, ennobled Gyllenhielm, married Frenchman Pontus De la Gardie in 1580. As a wedding present they received Hwirtsboda. Their son, Counsellour of the Realm and Baron, Johan Pontusson De la Gardie laid the foundations for what was to become a thriving ironworks for hundreds of years.  

After having been owned by the families Stenbock, Boije af Gennäs, von Walcker and von Yxkull it was purchased by Director Niclas Sahlgren in 1765. When he died the estate was inherited by his grand-daughter Anna Margaretha Alströmer. Her heirs owned the estate until 1873 when it was acquired by Count K.F. von Hermansson. He only stayed at Wirsbo for 20 years until, in 1893, it once again got a royal connection when King Oscar II and Herman Lagercrantz acquired the estate together with a consortium of other investors. Today’s manor house was built for Herman in romantic nationalism which was popular for grand houses around the turn of the century. In 1907 the Lagercrantz family became the only owner and rebuildings were completed by Lars Johan Lehming in 1918. 

Today, the estate is a successful equine center with its fantastic stables and the manor house is open for weekend guests. 

Yet another royal connection can still be visited in the park – the King’s jetty where king Gustav III landed when he in 1787 visited the estate to inaugurate Strömsholm’s canal. 

Photo: Calle Eklund/V-wolf, Wikimedia