The gardens at Fossum farm
Written by Lasse Hermansen Bjørnland, historian at Blaafarveværket
Nyfossum is located on the ridge north of Nymoen. To the north of this was what was once the Blaafarveværket's most beautiful site: Fossum farm and its gardens. Fossum burned down in 1932 and the gardens gradually disappeared up to the present day. Today, only scattered remnants remain of what once was. Some old trees are the only surviving witnesses and they remain silent. As the gardens were an important part of the plant's cultural history, this article will focus on them.
First of all, I'd like to clarify a term. I'm using the word "garden" because I feel it covers both the kitchen garden and the more park-like area that was laid out around it. It might have been more appropriate to call it a "garden facility" or park facility, but it's more natural for me to call it a garden, so that's how it will be.
Before we begin, it must be recognised that this is a topic that, for good reason, has not been examined in detail before. The gardens at Fossum were technically owned by Blaafarveværket, but the lavish construction work that we will be looking at in more detail was paid for by the plant's director Benjamin Wegner, which unfortunately means that some communication, plans and the like have taken place privately. This makes it difficult to obtain information. Moreover, the gardens have not been preserved. So there may not be the same interest in describing something that is gone.
One of the aims of this article is to search for whatever archival material exists in the plant's archive (RA/PA-0157) to see what, if any, information has been preserved.
The hope is that the article can summarise previous knowledge and perhaps add something new.
A map
The most detailed description of Fossum farm and its property, as it appeared during the time of Blaafarveværket, is a map from 1840.
Figure 1 RA/EA-5930/T/T058/T058d/0044 - Map of the eastern part of Gaarden Fossum with the square Sand og Farveverket, 1840
The section of the map shows Fossum and Nyfossum, as well as parts of Nymoen (left), Doktorgården and the granary. To the right of the image is the garden. Although the map does not provide any written details, it tells us a lot.
What was most likely a kitchen garden lay to the left of the main house. The square of small circles probably marks fruit trees. The area above the main house to the left consisted of rounded paths with alleys and outside trees. The paths lead out from a rounded space to the left. It must have taken a lot of work and capital, as well as skilled landscape architects and gardeners, to create such a layout.
The gardens were huge. Loosely based on our own area measurement on google maps, the size of the park corresponded to just over 60,000 m2. From the map we can also see that the garden at Nyfossum, which must be seen as the second largest property in the neighbourhood, is far smaller than Fossum. This reflected the position of the properties' residents.
Even other gardens at other large farms in Modum do not seem to have been able to compete with Fossum, although it should be mentioned that descriptions of the gardens at the neighbouring farms Komperud and Buskerud date from the 17th and early 19th centuries.[1]
In order to better understand the origins of the gardens at Fossum, we need to trace their history. After all, it predates the Blaafarve mill.
Prospects, fishponds and bell towers - Fossum until 1822
Fossum farm had a garden before Blaafarveværket's time. The farm had several significant owners before Blaafarveværket bought the site in 1778. Owners who had money and resources.
The property is described in a probate report made in 1758. There it is stated that there were 16 "prospects", i.e. decorated signs, in the farm's garden.[2] There were also three fish ponds that were set in "comunication" with "fountains".[3] The property also included fifteen "Hauge bells", i.e. glass bells that were placed over fragile plants in early spring to protect them from frost.[4] The garden was divided into a herb garden and an orchard,[5] which indicates that the garden's function was more geared towards cultivation and utility than walking and aesthetics.
Beyond this information, we know little about what the gardens looked like when Blaafarveværket bought Fossum in 1778. By studying archive material from the mill's early days, it appears that Fossum's residents, primarily the director of the mill, prioritised using the property for their own benefit. There are lists in the archive that state that wheat, barley, mixed grain, white and grey peas and oats were grown at Fossum in 1809.[6]
Until the Blaafarveværket was privatised in 1822, there is little information describing the more aesthetic part of the garden. So we don't know whether the mill's first directors walked there with their wives, whether there were alleys with lime trees or whether there were elaborate flower beds. As it was, the mill's archive understandably focussed on the value of the property. That is, the crop. The only tiny glimpse of something that might, if you're willing, loosely hint at some garden care beyond harvesting and sowing is that the manager of the works, Daniel Bidencap, owned a "Garden Sax" when he died in 1807.[7] The fact that I bring up this little thing says something about the lack of information from the work's early days.
Benjamin Wegner and gardener Nyquist
The factory expanded rapidly under new German owners in the 1820s. Part-owner Benjamin Wegner moved into Fossum farm in 1822 and served as the factory's director. In 1824, he married Henriette Seyler and started a family at Fossum.[8][9]
Wegner probably had no immediate intention of remaining in Norway. It may have been when reality began to sink in that Wegner decided to create a contemporary garden at Fossum. The fact that Wegner had begun to make good money on his cobalt investment in the latter half of the 1820s also made it financially possible to make such extravagant investments.
There are several references to a "Gartner A. Nyquist" in the correspondence material from 1828. These include a payment from Wegner to Nyquist of 200 spesidaler and 30 skilling "for July Maaned".[10] 200 spesidaler was no small sum at the time. The plant's employees who worked at the cabin facility, the smelters, had to work for two years to earn such sums.
Gardener Andreas Nyquist was based at Bragernes in Drammen.[11] He was originally based in Fredrikshald (Halden), but moved to Drammen when he lost everything he owned in a fire in 1826.[12] He set himself up as a commercial gardener, selling everything from fruit trees to cabbage seeds.
It has long been claimed that Wegner employed a full-time gardener with an annual salary of 400 spesidaler.[13] I have not been able to find any evidence of this. This claim probably originates from mining manager Graff, who wrote it down in his memoirs from 1856, quite a long time after Wegner had left both Modum and Blaafarveværket.[14]
If Wegner employed a full-time gardener, it was probably not Nyquist. It does not appear that he remained in Modum after the construction work was completed in 1828. That said, he had sporadic contact with Wegner in the years that followed.
What seems more likely is that Wegner hired unskilled labour to take care of the maintenance of the gardens. In January 1838, the mine manager stated that if there was interest among the miners, there was a vacancy for a gardener at Wegner.[15] Anyone who signed up was unlikely to receive an annual salary of 400 spesidaler.
Construction work
What did Nyquist do during the summer months he spent at Fossum in 1828? There are no detailed plans in the plant's archives, and it does not appear that Nyquist left any archive material of his own. What is certain, based on later descriptions and drawings, is that Nyquist must have led considerable construction work on the property. Several loads of sand were driven there,[16] bream from Fiskumvannet in Øvre-Eiker[17] were placed in the carp pond, potted dahlias were packed away for the winter[18] and, not least, gardener Nyquist was criticised by the Norwegian Road Administration for making changes to a public road.[19] This was probably in connection with the planting of alleys.
The actual construction work appears to have been completed in 1828, but the garden work continued on a smaller scale in the years that followed. There are references to correspondence between Wegner and Nyquist in the company's archives, but the actual letters have not been preserved.[20] Along with the letters, Nyquist also sent Wegner trees, some of which were ordered from the Botanical Gardens.[21]
A beautiful garden
The plant attracted the attention of those who saw it. Fossum was cheerfully described by Hans Allum in 1831:
I saw the smoke of the city of blue colours,
Hans Allum, 1831
And Wegner's Mansion with Trees in a Row,
For the castle on the hillside has been built,
And both autumn and spring are unshaded.
[...] We travelled up the winding hill
To the captain's magnificent mountain residence,
How well could he live, even a Court Excellency.[22]
In other words, a magnificent property. Dr Thaulow's son, Frits, wrote that the park was "exceedingly handsome" and beautiful.[23] A German traveller described the gardens as being "in a new style" and that the flowers and trees were "in lush growth".[24]
The most detailed description of the gardens is of a more recent date. It comes from Else zur Løwen (1897-1991), who was born and lived at Fossum until 1920. Løwen describes a garden that was planted in two distinct parts. Its western, or "lower", side consisted of deciduous trees such as beech, blood beech, lime and elm.[25] The eastern, or upper, part consisted of conifers such as pine, silver fir and weymouth pine.[26] The upper part was located on a hill, while the lower part was lower in the terrain. The entire garden was surrounded by fences.
The description fits with later surveys that show a clear division of the tree planting between conifers and deciduous trees.[27] In the same survey, the remains of gravel paths under the vegetation and a stone staircase leading up to a gazebo were discovered.[28]
One should be careful not to try to interpret the strict division between deciduous and coniferous trees, but it is tempting to compare with Bacheparken in Drammen, which was built around 1850. There, different trees represented different geographical areas.[29] The area with deciduous trees represented Denmark, while conifers represented Norway. To what extent this may have been the case at Fossum is not known, but the fact that the gardener has divided the park in two with such a clear distinction may perhaps have had something of the same effect. Wegner's experiences of nature from his home in Königsberg or in central Germany and England would have been dominated by deciduous trees. His new homeland Norway was totally dominated by conifers.
Zur Løwen also describes a goose pond that was surrounded by spirea and birch. The lower part also had a croquet lawn with an associated gazebo. Inside the house was a slate table, but in Løwen's time, the first decades of the 20th century, the hazel bushes stood tall around the gazebo like the hedges in "Sleeping Beauty's Castle".[30] Maintenance was probably not the same as it was in the plant's earlier days.
On a ridge in the coniferous part of the garden, a stone staircase was built up to a pavilion. On the lower side of the pavilion was a gazebo with a stone table and seating.[31] The facility must have been impressive even though it was well past its glory days.
However, the summer park was the most beautiful. The scent of noble fir, and the lime trees in bloom lay like a cloud in the air, and it was like organ notes of [bee] and hops in the flower garden.[32]
The gazebo at Frogner
The final aspect of the gardens at Fossum we're going to look at is the gazebos. There is an octagonal gazebo at Frogner Farm in Oslo. The gazebo is inspired by Roman architecture. The roof decor is painted to imitate the "caset beat" in the Pantheon.[33] It is claimed that this gazebo was originally built at Fossum, but that it was taken along on the removal lorry when the Wegner family moved to Frogner in the spring of 1837.[34] Is this correct?
Work on the gazebo began in the first week of the fourth month of 1828.[35] In the first week, only two of the factory's own carpenters worked on the gazebo, but there were soon to be more. After a month's work, an external master carpenter, Johan Daniel Becher (1778-1833), was hired,[36] from Kongsberg.[37] By the third week of the fifth mountain month, the team working on the gazebo had increased to five men.[38] In the work list, Benjamin Wegner has written that "The gazebo is for my rain".[39] This meant that the gazebo was Wegner's, not the work's.
At most, there were eight men working at the gazebo.[40] This shows that the work was quite extensive and must have required many labourers and a great deal of expertise. The work also took a relatively long time. It did not end until the 1st week of the 8th mountain month.[41] There was no continuous work on the gazebo during the period, but it took the carpenters a total of 12 weeks to complete the gazebo.[42] It must be emphasised that it is not specified whether it is one gazebo or several.
When the Wegner family moved to Frogner in the spring of 1837, it is claimed that they took the gazebo with them.[43] To what extent this is the case is not known. The findings in this article seem to support to some extent the Wegner family's assumptions about relocation. Later descriptions of the gazebos that remained at Fossum indicate that these could not have taken several carpenters and a master carpenter from Kongsberg 12 weeks to build. The gazebo at Frogner, on the other hand, is an impressive building that must have required more time and expertise to complete. What's more, Wegner must have invested a considerable sum in the gazebo. In fact, the work on the gazebo cost Wegner 395.75 spesidaler.[44] It must also be specified here that the master carpenter from Kongsberg is omitted from the cost calculation. In the lists of expenses, only the carpenter's working days are listed, not the salary.[45] One thing is certain. A master carpenter earned more than the mill's carpenters. The cost has thus far exceeded 400 spesidaler. It is therefore not inconceivable that Wegner covered the cost of moving the gazebo to Frogner.
Unfortunately, no other archive material has been found to confirm any relocation. The year the Wegner family moved to Frogner, 1837, is missing from the overview of operating expenses for the work.[46] Most likely, such expenses would have been recognised there.
Afterword
The gardens at Fossum are no more. There are only scattered clusters of trees, buried gravel roads and rolling hills that hint at what once was. I hope that the next time you make the trip to Nyfossum, you will look over to Fossum and try to imagine Blaafarveværket's most beautiful place.
Photo: Karl Gercke, 1860s. Showing Director Carl Hermann Voigt with his family at Fossum.
[1] See Sørensen, Einar. Norwegian garden art under a European sky (Drammen: Scandinavian Academic Press, 2013) pp. 295-302 and 309-322 about Komperud and Buskerud respectively.
[2] Skard, Torfinn. Horticulture and horticulture in Norway: a historical survey up to around 1950 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1963) p. 92See: https://www.nb.no/items/a7bb2773391432f5b9a6ad40cce05c88?page=93&searchText=%22haven%20p%C3%A5%20Fossum%22 (Read 20.08.2025)
[3] Ibid. p. 88
[4] Ibid. p. 217
[5] Urtegård, Heidi, and Hjorteland, Svanhild. Fossum farm in the past and future (Master. Norwegian Agricultural University at Ås, 1994) p. 10
[6] RA/PA-0157/F/Ft/L00056/0006 - Inspections, valuations and repairs of the plant's buildings and dwellings "Avling paa Fossum i Aaret 1809 for Mikler" p. 1
[7] Eiker, Modum and Sigdal magistrates' court, AV/SAKO-A-123/H/Hb/Hba/L0017: Probate record, 1780-1824, p. 127b-128a
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/sk20081029620131 (Read 22.08.2025)
[8] Hagen, Ingerid. The blue colour from Modum. The heyday. The blue colour factory 1822-1848 (Modum: Stiftelsen Modums Blaafarveværk- Bygdemuseet i Modum, 2022) p. 277
[10] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Gb/L0070/0001: - / Copy book, kept by the bookkeeper's office, 1828-1829, p. 377
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120821630377
[11] Drammens tidende, Sunday 10 April 1853
Link: https://www.nb.no/items/547eb08fa11bbac921b9e2d05b260ddf?page=3&searchText=%22Gartner%20Nyquist%22 (Read 22.08.2025)
[12] Drammens tidende, Monday 31 July 1826
Link: https://www.nb.no/items/5a6fc1c9ab31e86308022e573f9efe10?page=3&searchText=%22Andreas%20Nyquist%22 (Read 22.08.2025)
[13] Hagen, op.cit. p. 279
[14] Graff, J. M. "Erindringer fra 1856", translated by Else zur Løwen. Yearbook Drammens museum 1976-77, s. 57-81. Drammen, 1978
[15] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Gb/L0089/0001: - / Copy book, kept by Bøbert, 1837-1840, p. 37
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120822681159
[16] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Gb/L0102/0001: - / Incoming letters M - W, 1828-1829, p. 396
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120823660982
[17] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Gb/L0102/0001: - / Incoming letters M - W, 1828-1829, p. 385
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120823660971
[18] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Gb/L0102/0001: - / Incoming letters M - W, 1828-1829, p. 374
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120823660960
[19] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157, cannot find the correct archive key, but the letter is dated 10 October 1828, written by Tofte to Beck and concerns a road inspection that revealed that "Gartner Nyquist's unauthorised alteration of a
public road,"
[20] For example, on 4 November 1830, a parcel and a letter were sent from Nyquist to Wegner from Drammen. See RA/PA-0157 letter from Thorne to Wegner 4 November 1830
[21] Modums Blaafarveværk, RA/PA-0157, cannot find the correct archive key, but the letter is dated 10 October 1834, from Wegner to Beck
[22] Allum, Hans. Provindsiaden, or The Little Travelling Labyrinth in Buskerud: Et naivmuntert Lunedigt i firti otte Aphorisme (Christiania: Frederik T. Steen, 1831) p. 83 Lenke: https://www.nb.no/items/3d6e9990c764efd8a71131303c6eb02d?page=85&searchText=Fossum (Read 20.08.2025)
[23] Frits Thaulow's memoirs, stored at Blaafarveværket's archive and library
[24] Herb farm and deer land, op. cit. S. 17
[25] Hunstadbråten, Kai and zur Løwen, Else. "From "The Chronicle of Fossum"". Old Modum 2000. Vol 15. p. 16 Link: https://www.nb.no/items/03691ec1e3d15521763032a0437538dd?page=17&searchText=Fossum (Read: 20 August 2025)
[26] Ibid.
[27] Herb farm and deer land, op. cit. S. 32
[28] Ibid.
[29] Sørensen, op.cit. "Fløya in Drammen" pp. 385-386
[30] Hunstadbråten, op.cit. p. 16
[31] Ibid.
[32] Ibid.
[33] Roede, Lars. Frogner Hovedgård. Farm, manor house, city farm (Oslo: Pax forlag A/S, 2012) p. 153
[34] Ibid.
[35] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 407
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120817620407
[36] Kongsberg church books, AV/SAKO-A-22/F/Fa/L0008: Ministerialbok nr. I 8, 1816-1839, p. 374-375
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20051116020873
[37] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 416
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120817620416
[38] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 420
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120817620420
[39] Ibid.
[40] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 426
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120817620426
[41] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 442
Use link for page view: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db20120817620442
[42] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 407- 445
[43] R. B. Wegner. The Wegner family. (Halden. 1963) p. 25
[44] Modums Blaafarveværk, AV/RA-PA-0157/G/Ge/L0357/0001: - / Weekly report for the carpenters, 1824-1827, p. 407- 445
[45] Ibid.
[46] In Modum Blaafarveverk's archive, RA-PA-0157/G/Gd/Gdd/L0253/0001: - / Account of all the dye works' expenses, 1833-1839, missing all of 1837, as well as the last half of 1836 and the first half of 1838. If a possible relocation of a gazebo had been noted in the factory's archive, it is likely that it would have been there.