Unique spån-clad timber headframe of 1902 by architect Carl Westman over Adelswärdska schaktet at Bersbo, recently restored and open for heritage visits.
Adelswärdska schaktet is a copper mine shaft at the Bersbo gruvfält near Åtvidaberg in Östergötland, sunk during the final phase of the Åtvidaberg Kopparverk's history around the turn of the twentieth century. As copper production at nearby Storgruvan declined and ceased in 1893, the mine management invested in a new shaft — Adelswärdska schaktet — in a last attempt to locate workable ore at depth. Electrical power was brought from a generating station at Forsaström south of Åtvidaberg to drive hoists, pumps, compressors, and lighting underground, making this one of the earliest electrically equipped mine workings in the district.
The headframe over the shaft was designed by architect Carl Westman, one of the most prominent Swedish architects of the period, and was constructed in 1902. It is clad entirely in shingles — an arrangement unique among Swedish mine headframes — and features corner finials and elaborate joinery. Ore production at the shaft proved disappointing in quality and was limited.
The building continued to be used in some capacity until around 1930. After a long period of disuse, a conservation campaign funded by Länsstyrelsen Östergötland, EU rural development funds, and private donors raised around four million kronor to restore the headframe, a project completed by around 2020.
Following the decline and eventual closure of Storgruvan in 1893, the management of the Åtvidaberg Kopparverk resolved to make a final investment in the Bersbo field. Adelswärdska schaktet was sunk as the new principal shaft, with the specific aim of locating and extracting ore at depth that had not yet been reached. The project represented a comprehensive modernisation: electricity was drawn from a purpose-built generating station at the waterfalls at Forsaström, south of Åtvidaberg, and conveyed to Bersbo to supply electric hoists, pumps, compressors for rock drills, and underground electric lighting.
Electrical detonation of blasting charges was also adopted. The technology associated with the new shaft was considered advanced for the time and represented the broader industrial enthusiasm for electric power in Swedish mining at the turn of the twentieth century. The headframe over Adelswärdska schaktet was not designed by the mine's own builder, as had been the practice at Storgruvan, but by Carl Westman, one of the most celebrated Swedish architects of the day.
Baron Theodor Adelswärd had already engaged Westman to design residential buildings, a bathhouse, an IOGT hall, and other structures in the Åtvidaberg area; the commission for the mine headframe indicated both the high status of the building within the mine complex and the importance attached to its architectural character. The structure was erected in 1902 and is of a design quite unlike any other surviving Swedish mine headframe. Its external surfaces are covered entirely in shingles — individually rounded pine shingles that taper toward the top, producing an effect likened to fish scales.
The tower has a projecting base and tapers slightly toward the roof, where each corner bears a shingle-clad fial (a small decorative spire with a metal cap). On two sides the corner towers are connected by low timber walls. Six windows with divided lights are placed in three pairs on three of the façades, the upper windows being slightly larger than the lower.
The shaft it covers descends to a depth of 360 metres. Despite the investment, the ore encountered in Adelswärdska schaktet did not meet expectations in terms of quality, and production proved short-lived. The shaft was used in some capacity until around 1930.
After a long dormant period, the headframe fell into serious disrepair. Föreningen Bersbo koppargruvor was established in 2014 with the aim of saving and restoring the structure, among other conservation objectives at the Bersbo field. A funding application to Länsstyrelsen and EU rural development sources was approved in 2018 after earlier approaches were unsuccessful.
Approximately four million kronor was raised for the restoration, which involved specialist timber craftsmen and was completed by around 2020. The restored building now stands open for guided visits and is described in one published survey of Swedish mine headframes as among the finest in the country.