Ryttarens Turf Factory

Kättilstorp is a small village in the municipality of Falköping in Västra Gotland (West Gotland) in western Sweden. The Ryttarens Torvströfabrik (Riders’ Peat Factory) was set up in 1906 by Nils Hartelius alongside the railway between Falköping and Näassjo. Peat from the surrounding bogs was harvested every August, exposed to frost and snow during the winter, and then dried and compressed into bales. It was sold to customers all over Sweden and abroad, and used in animal stalls, in dry closets and for packing fruit. The works employed 200 people at its peak. Demand diminished in the 1950s and in 1964 the enterprise was bought by Hasselfors Bruk AB who sold the peat for horticultural uses. Production finally ceased in 1997. Two years later a voluntary organisation, the Föreningen Ryttarens Torvströfabrik, was formed to preserve the factory which in 2004 was formally recognised as an industrial monument. The factory complex is now open to the public and visitors can ride on a 3.5 km Decauville system 600 mm gauge railway once used to bring peat to the factory from the bogs.

Ryttarens Turf Factory
Ryttarens Torvströfabrik
Yllestad Ledsbacken 3
52195 Falköping
Sweden
+45 (0) 392 - 14240
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