Swedish iron and the english iron industry about 1700: Some neglected aspects

Abstract

Abstract During the first half of the seventeenth century, Swedish bar iron arrived in England in small quantities via Hanseatic and Dutch intermediate ports. From the 1650s onwards, directly-imported Swedish iron became the main article of the enlarged import trade from Sweden into England. Swedish iron found a new and expanding market,1 a development all the more remarkable since during the seventeenth century England was building up a modernised iron industry of its own with a considerable productive capacity. Production around 1670 was estimated at 20,000 tons, consisting possibly of both bar and pig iron. This figure was cited in a tendentious context and may therefore be an exaggeration. In 1720 bar-iron production alone was reckoned at 20,000 tons. This figure is probably closer to reality.