Every design for Ulefoss

Ulefoss is known as one of Norway's oldest industrial communities. Sawmills worked the falls here from the 1400s, mining and ironworks followed in the 1600s, and Ulefos Jernværk, founded in 1657, still makes iron, now melted with hydroelectric power. The village spreads over both banks of the Ulefoss falls on the river Eidselva, just before it reaches the lake Norsjø.

There is a feeling here of a place that has always worked for a living. Øvre Verket, a group of old workers' homes, now shows culture and crafts. Jern- og Kanalutstilling tells of the iron and of the Telemark Canal, whose locks at Ulefoss link Norsjø with the lakes further west, and the local paper is even called Kanalen. The ruin of Holla gamle kirke stands for a much older Ulefoss, alongside Holla Church in the centre and Romnes Church to the north.

Then there is Ulefos hovedgård, the manor Niels Aall built of slag stone from the ironworks, regarded as the finest Empire-style manor house in Norway. A grand house made from the village's own iron waste is about as fair a picture of Ulefoss as there is to wear.