Svorkmo Smelting Works

Where the pilgrim trail crosses the Svorka River you'll find the ore site. Copper ore from the Løkken Copper Works was brought here. Three smelting huts operated at this site from 1657 to 1844, and the finished ore was transported to Trondheim by local farmers—by sled in winter and on pack animals in summer. The farm Svorkmo was converted into a works farm, and together with the farm Nordre Skjølberg, these two farms became the center of mining operations at Løkken. The surrounding forests were used for charcoal production and firewood. The firewood was used to heat the mountains so that the ore could be mined, and the charcoal was used in the smelting huts.

To obtain permission to start mining operations, known as a privilege letter, the owners were required to build a church. The Løkken Copper Works Church was built at Sckankebakken, near where the Pilgrim’s Route came down to the river. In 1816, a large flood surprised the congregation, and the churchyard collapsed in the middle of the Pentecost service on June 3. The following year, a new church was built at Smedhaugen, about one kilometer north of the old one, and it was in use until 1866.

The works were also obliged to maintain a school for the children of the mine, and a school was built here at Svorkmo, one of the first permanent schools in the country. But when the mine was closed in 1844, the school was also closed, and the children had to attend itinerant schooling.

Today, little remains of the facility, but some structures are still standing. There are information signs and seating, making it a suitable spot to rest before continuing on the road toward Trondheim