A SHORT HISTORY OF NAKKILA
Prehistoric period, relics and sites
First discoveries of inhabited areas in Nakkila date back to 2000 B.C. The Bronze Age residential area of Rieskaronmäki is the oldest permanent residential area found in the whole of Finland. There are drafted blueprints available of the Rieskaronmäki house. The ancient location of the house is within a walking distance from the main road.
The Bronze Age barrow of Selkäkangas is also one of the oldest relics in our country and its size is 43 m x 11 m. The structure of the grave site has been examined in detail and it can be assumed that the grave was built as a memorial for a very important person.
Ancient relics from the Kiukainen culture are located in the Uotinmäki area – where fields, pastures and plots as well as ruins of grave sites of a prehistoric residential area have been found. The Kiukainen culture was a transformational period in the prehistory of Finland, during which the country moved from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age in 2000 – 1500 BC.
The middle ages
For some reason the population decreased or vanished over the centuries. Traces of new settlements can be found as of A.D. 1100, mainly from settlers from Finland, Sweden and Germany. The river Kokemäki has, through the ages, always played a crucial role in people´s every day life, income, transport and as a food source.
From 1500 to 1800 hundreds
Nakkila was, and still is, divided into sub villages; the year following the name of the village indicates when the first document entry is known about the village. Arantila, Anola (1410), Hormisto, Järvikylä, Kivialho, Kukonharja (1354), Lammainen (1348), Leistilä (1441), Masia, Matomäki, Pakkala, Punapakka, Penttala, Pysykykangas, Ruskila, Soinila, Tattara (1441), Tervasmäki, Uotinmäki, Viikkala, Villilä (1451), Vuohimäki, Hohtari.
Up to 1800 century the main livelihoods were farming, gaming and fishing. Kings taxation and discipline were harsh, living was tough, famine was always present and many foreclosures appeared. Over the decades and centuries land ownership moved into the hands of the noblesse and more fortunate fellow citizens. Biggest and most famous manors were – the Villilä Manor and the Anola Manor, which both still exist but not in that scale. Both manors have a long and stormy history, also in the scale of the whole country.
The itinerant schooling system in Nakkila began in 1854 with one teacher. As a curiosity; the annual pay for the teacher up to year 1890 was 9 barrels of grain.
Nakkila´s history as an independent community began in year 1861, the charter meeting and first elections were held in 1868 in which was voted and selected the first municipal entity and municipal board. The first actual municipal council was elected in 1917. In the 1860`s the population was ca. 700 inhabitants, in 1920 4630 persons and in 1950 already 7161.
Community´s land area grew by 1500 hectares in the 1940´s; Leistilänjärvi is a dried shallow lake, the drying began already in year 1777. The drying was completed during the wartime in the 1940´s. The total size of the area is around 1500 hectares. After the wars, a large number of finnish immigrants/refugees ( ca. 2000 people) from the Finnish Carelia were re-located/placed into this area.
Nakkila´s two most memorable and famous things are lampreys and rocking chairs. The coat of arms of Nakkila portrays a lamprey and ears of grain. The Nakkila rocking chair traces its origins to a rocking chair brought from the Åland Islands in the early 19th century. The carpenters of Nakkila used it as a basis for their own local model. Rocking chairs from Nakkila have been exported to many countries as well as offered as a gifts to several Finnish people of stature. The carpenters of Nakkila still cherish the traditional craft and rocking chairs are still made to order according to the traditional model.
Nakkila´s friendship town in Sweden is Huddiksvall.
Nakkila today
The population of the municipality is ca. 4900 in early 2025. Area of the municipality: land 183.09 km² + water 1.76 km² = total 184.85 km².
Main distances:
Pori 18 km (airport, railway station, major shopping malls, Yyteri beach 35km, Mäntyluoto port 40km)
Helsinki 220 km
Tampere 120 km
Turku 130 km
Today´s Nakkila is an important industrial municipality in the heart of the Satakunta region. The largest employers are Suominen Kuitukankaat (formerly J. W. Suominen Nahkatehdas, established in 1898), which employs nowadays approximately 100 people, and the Nakkila Community itself that employs ca. 200 people. In addition, there is a various selection of entrepreneurs in the metal industry, and in the service sector, like Nakkila Works, Kromatek, Risutec, San-Meta, Reikko among many others.
Also the Satakunta Arts and Crafts Institute is located in the municipality.
In Nakkila also locates Länsi-Suomen tv- ja elokuvakeskus (The Western Finland’s TV and Motion Picture Center) that focuses its operations around the Villilä Manor and its numerous historical buildings. The studios (up to 500 persons) and the mansion facilities can be rented for bigger events, like weddings, festivals, fairs, trade shows etc.
The official languages in Nakkila are Finnish and Swedish, practically all speak English.
Nakkila offers a wide selection of conventional and recreational services to meet every taste; top of the class the newish Communal Sports Hall for any kind of indoor sport, horseback riding, salmon fishing at the Arantila rapids, communal outdoor track & field site, soccer fields, riverbank park and Lohiranta activity center, frisbee track, skiing & golf center of Salomonkallio, Verstas hotel & rural activity and live music site etc. In Nakkila operates over 100 sport clubs, societies, associations and bees in all walks of life.