The timing of Palaeoproterozoic magmatism in the Garpenberg area in the Bergslagen region of the Fennoscandian shield has been constrained by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U–Pb zircon dating of metamorphosed igneous rocks. Volcanism is constrained by igneous crystallisation ages of 1895 ± 4 Ma for a syn-volcanic rhyolite porphyry intrusion and 1893 ± 3 Ma for a rhyolitic pumice breccia. Granite and microgranodiorite, which intruded into the stratigraphy, are dated at 1895 ± 3 and 1894 ± 4 Ma, respectively. The identical U–Pb ages suggest rapid geological evolution from the emplacement of volcanics, their burial and subsidence to 2–5 km depths and intrusion by granitoids. The timing of metamorphism and the extent of metamorphic resetting of titanite have been evaluated. SIMS titanite ²⁰⁷Pb–²⁰⁶Pb ages from the same samples as the zircon yield younger ages. Although errors are large in individual analyses and fractions, a weighted average of 59 analyses from four samples yields a ²⁰⁷Pb–²⁰⁶Pb age of 1858 ± 14 Ma, interpreted as the age of regional metamorphism. The results add constraints to the timing of sulphide and iron oxide mineralisation at Garpenberg. The rhyolite porphyry is intruded into a syngenetic iron formation. Its crystallisation age provides a minimum age for syngenetic iron oxide deposits at Garpenberg. The major Zn–Pb sulphide deposits are accompanied by alteration envelopes. Units formed before alteration yield similar igneous crystallisation ages as intrusions post-dating alteration. It is concluded that both iron oxide and sulphide mineralisation formed within the same age-span as the dated units.