Enköping

Enköping grew beside an inlet of Lake Mälaren, where water routes met roads leading towards the mining districts of central Sweden. In the Middle Ages its merchants traded copper, iron and silver from Bergslagen. A hospital and Franciscan friary were established in the thirteenth century, and the town prospered in the fourteenth.

From the fifteenth century the rising land gradually made the harbour shallower and reduced its former importance for larger ships. Enköping nevertheless remained a market town, but fire repeatedly damaged its buildings. A particularly destructive blaze in 1799 led to a new street plan, replacing much of the winding medieval layout with a regular grid. The town's older church remained a reminder of its medieval standing beside the lake.