Iron nanowire arrays have been grown by shadow deposition on a self-organized grating template produced by annealing the sodium chloride (110) surface. The typical wire size as measured using transmission electron microscopy is 45 nm×13 nm×10 &mgr;m. The typical wire array period is 90 nm. The magnetic properties were dominated by a strong in-plane shape anisotropy. The hysteresis loops examined by magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements indicated coherent switching, even though the individual wires were isolated from one another. ©1997 American Institute of Physics.