Ustyuzhna

Ustyuzhna stands at the meeting of the Izhina and Mologa, in a wooded country rich in bog iron ore. Its old name, Ustyuzhna Zheleznopolskaya, recalled the Iron Field around it. Furnaces and forges made the town a renowned centre of ironworking, supplying tools, weapons and other goods to a wide market.

By the late sixteenth century its craftspeople included smiths, hammermen, nail makers and charcoal burners. Monasteries sent buyers to Ustyuzhna for iron needed in salt works and boats. During the Time of Troubles the townspeople built defences, dug ditches and forged weapons; in 1609 they resisted a siege by forces supporting the False Dmitry. Surviving official records show later orders for firearms, tools and other iron goods. In the early eighteenth century craftsmen were also sent to work for the growing shipbuilding centres of the Russian state.