Bassholmen 2023

Bassholmen is a small island located in a very beautiful landscape in the Swedish west coast archipelago.

You can only get to the island by boat.
On this idyllic island is an old shipyard which is now a museum, and next to the small marina is an additional harbor basin, where some of the boats that the shipyard built in the old days lie.

As far back as history goes, the island of Bassholmen has been a farming unit - a farm. In the Middle Ages, it belonged to Dragsmark's monastery, which was a major cultural center, then first to the Danish, then to the Swedish crown. Only in the 18th century was the island bought free by a private person.

Bassholmen's history is in many ways the entire landscape's history in miniature. The people of the fertile inner archipelago have always combined agriculture, which was the base industry, with fishing, boat building and shipping. The availability of herring has had a great impact on the rise and fall of various companies.

During the herring period that fell in the middle of the 18th century, the island's owner, a farmer, started a herring saltery and a distillery on the island. When the herring began to decline, agriculture again became the most important source of income. The farm gave a good yield. In the 1840s, there were four horses, about twenty cows and eighteen sheep.

In the 1850s, the old herring factory was converted into a shipyard. Fifteen ships were built on Bassholmen, the largest of them all was the bark ship Andriette of 308 tons. Shipowner Jakob Johansson became a wealthy man. Shortly before he died, he had a new manor house built. It was a large house with one of the prettiest verandas in the area. The house is a hostel today.

Just before the turn of the century, the herring entered the Bohu coast again. A guano factory was then started in the shipyard area. Herring oil and herring meal were extracted from herring and fish. To get the guano factory up and running, large investments had to be made in herring presses, boiling tanks and other machinery. When the herring period quickly ended, the whole thing went bankrupt. A trader from Bohus Malmön bought the entire homestead Bassholmen at executive auction. He farmed until the 1930s.

The former herring saltery, trancokerie, shipyard and guano factory were rebuilt once more. Now it became a mechanical workshop and was expanded with a large grinding mill and a foundry. At first they manufactured steam boilers and steam engines of various kinds, but after the Stockholm company Bolinders bought the workshop, they switched to installing engines in Orustfiskarna's boats. In the spring and autumn, they prepared and repaired. During the 20s and 30s, Bolinder's Mechanical Workshop on Bassholmen was an important workplace in the area. At most 30 people were employed there. None of the workers lived on the island, they came from surrounding islands and the mainland. Every day in rain and shine, summer and winter, they took the boat to and from work.

In 1937, a director from Gothenburg finally bought the farm on Bassholmen. Ten years later he took over the workshop area as well. Work at the workshop was scaled back and in 1955 it was closed for good. Lindstedt, as the director was called, stayed for another 20 years. An increasingly headstrong man, who moved to a croft on the other side of the island in recent years. The once grand manor building was left to fall into disrepair.

In 1974, the municipality of Uddevalla used its right of pre-emption and made the entire island a nature reserve. The houses that were in the worst condition were demolished, including the old manager's villa, the others were renovated. Bassholmen began a new and completely unique era in its history, as a recreation area for tired and stressed people who need peace and relaxation.