The ironworks villages of Kirjakkala, Mathildedal and Teijo tell the historical story of Teijo’s iron industry
The history of Southwest Finland—and the Teijo area in particular—is fascinating, and in many ways reflects Finland’s early history in a nutshell. People have lived here for almost as long as Finland has been inhabited, and the area’s nature and location have provided the conditions for industry since the 1600s.
Today, Teijo’s iron industry lives on as ruins in the area’s three ironworks villages: Kirjakkala, Mathildedal and Teijo. Small-scale industry still operates in the village of Teijo. The growth of the forest industry attracted entrepreneurs to Teijo, and some of the national park’s pine forests are still used for commercial forestry. The Second World War reshaped—and brought to an end—industry in Teijo as well, and since then the direction of land use in the area has been towards repair and ecological restoration.
Prehistory of Teijo
Traces of Teijo’s ancient past are clearly visible in Teijo National Park: the Jeturkasti ancient shoreline is a reminder of the time when the sea still covered this landscape. The area was once seabed, and seawater polished the stones smooth and round. As the land rose after the last Ice Age, the stones were left behind on the shore. This boulder field (pirunpelto) emerged onto dry land around 9,000 years ago—and most remarkably, today Jeturkasti lies 80 metres above the Gulf of Finland.
Southwest Finland—and the area where Teijo National Park is located—has likely been inhabited since the end of the Ice Age and the beginning of the Stone Age, meaning people arrived here around 8,500 years ago. It is striking to think that people came to Teijo at a time when the land had only just been shaped in the aftermath of the Ice Age.
The earliest surviving written records of settlement date back to the 1300s, and the name “Teijo” also appears in written form in the late 1300s. Apparently, the area’s relatively mild Finnish climate and stunning nature have attracted settlers to Teijo even then.
History of the ironworks
In the 1600s, many noble manor houses were built in the area, and industrial activity in the form of ironworks began in the late 1600s. The Teijo and Kirjakkala ironworks originate from this period—the first, the Kirjakkala ironworks, was completed in 1688. The Mathildedal ironworks became a separate unit only about two hundred years later.
Teijo’s location at the end of a sea bay, the area’s streams and rivers, and the dense 1600s forests that provided energy in the form of firewood created attractive conditions for the iron industry.
The Second World War brought a downturn to Teijo’s iron industry, which did not recover until the late 1950s. At that time operations were expanded, and for example new shipyard units were built.
Of the Kirjakkala ironworks buildings, only the foundations remain, but the residential quarters and manor houses built alongside the factories are still standing—these form the Kirjakkala ironworks village, one of Teijo’s most important sights. The Mathildedal ironworks premises have likewise been renovated into residential buildings as well as art and cultural workshops. On the site of the Teijo ironworks, there is a new factory that is still in operation.
Becoming a national park in the 2010s
In 1983, the Finnish state purchased the forests in the Teijo area, which were known as the Teijo forest areas. These forests now belong to the national park, which was established in 2015.