Näckådalens såg och kvarnar

Water-driven frame saw and two skvaltkvarn mills at Näckådalen in Orsa Finnmark, shown a few times each summer.

Opening hours unknown

About the museum

Näckådalens såg och kvarnar (Näckådalen saw and mills) lies on common land just south of the village of Näckådalen in Orsa Finnmark, about 3 mil (Swedish miles) north of Orsa. Across the whole Orsa parish there were sawmills driven by water power. They were of the frame-saw type, in which the hand-forged saw blade was fixed in a wooden frame driven by a water wheel and a crankshaft. By the middle of the 1800s there were about twenty saws in the parish, one of them Näckådalen's water saw at Kvarnbäcken (Mill Brook).

Already in the 1700s, before the saw was built, there were three skvaltkvarn mills (simple water-powered mills) here. Today two remain, and of the third only the occasional log can be seen in the brook. The distinguishing feature of a skvaltkvarn is the horizontal wheel with an upright axle that drove the upper millstone. Milling went on around the clock when the water supply was at its highest, and the millers then lived in the mill and saw house.

The site is run by Orsa Sockens Samfällighetsförening (Orsa Parish Commons Association). Once or a few times each summer the saw and the mills are shown to visitors, for example at a mill and saw day.

Highlights

Working water-driven frame saw
Two preserved skvaltkvarn mills from the 1700s
Shown a few times each summer, including at the mill and saw day