Glassworks Steinkrug
The Steinkrug glassworks was a glassworks on the edge of the Deister forest in Steinkrug , which produced glass from 1809 to 1928 . The founder was Baron Wilhelm Carl Ernst Knigge (1771–1839), who owned the nearby Gut Bredenbeck . Today the structural remains with the striking, 13 m high glassworks tower are listed as an industrial monument. In 2013, the Forum Glas association from Bad Münder , which promotes glass history in the Deister-Süntel region, set up an information board as a glass stele near the glassworks.
location
The glassworks was built on the eastern edge of the Deister in the hamlet of Steinkrug, which today belongs to the town of Bredenbeck in the Wennigsen community . The place name is probably based on existing quarries and a rural restaurant, a jug . The glassworks consisted of numerous buildings, such as the glassworks, administration, grinding shop and raw material warehouse.
There were other glassworks in the region in the former places Münder (Süntelgrund and Münder), Osterwald ( Lauensteiner Glas ), Klein Süntel ( Klein Süntel glassworks ), Hemmendorf (Hemmendorfer Dreisch) and Oldendorf (In der Sümpelbreite).
raw materials
The decisive factor in setting up the glassworks was that most of the raw materials required for glass production , such as wood , coal and quartz sand , were available nearby and were owned by the noble Knigge family . Initially, wood from Kniggeschen forests was used as fuel, and later coal from the company's own coal mine in the Deister. The sand initially came from our own quarries near Holtensen , later fine sand from the Lüneburg Heath was processed. Other raw materials, such as lime , potash , salt, and sulfate , came from some remote areas, such as Thuringia, the Harz Mountains and the Bergisches Land . The clay for the glass harbors as melting vessels came from Großalmerode .
Products
The glassworks mainly produced hollow glass such as wine, beer and demijohns with a volume of 5 to 54 liters. A special product that was in great demand by the chemical industry was a 50 l glass balloon for acid with an airtight seal. But flat glass for window panes was also produced. For overseas export, glassware was colored in different colors, goods for Central and South America being colored blue with cobalt and goods to Africa being given a brown tint.
The glassworks in Steinkrug was able to produce different glass qualities and colors at the same time, as it had twelve clay harbor furnaces . Compared to other industrial companies, the hut also specialized in hand-blown glass, which earned it special orders. The production volume in Steinkrug, for example, amounted to 1.5 million glass units within two years around 1870.
Glassworks tower
In 1839 the glassworks tower, also known as the “English tower”, was built as a 13 m high stone cone with a diameter of around 10 m. His hewn stones from Deister sandstone come from quarries in the area. In the center of the stone cone stood the glass melting furnace on the floor, with which mainly white and green flat glass for window panes was produced. The round construction with an underground air duct and the smoke outlet at the top was invented in England. It enabled a good draft for the firing, so that the required glass melting temperature of 1,500 degrees could be reached quickly. When the glassworks were re-leased in 1842, the tower was described as a "very functional English sheet glass tower". During the First World War , the tower went out due to a lack of coal, after which it was no longer heated.
During archaeological investigations in 1992 it was found that there was originally a much older glass furnace under the tower. The glassworks tower is one of the few remaining examples in Europe and the only one in natural stone (Wealden sandstone). In Germany only one other tower (in brickwork) has been preserved in the former Gernheim glassworks . Two towers of the Schauenstein glassworks in nearby Obernkirchen fell victim to plant expansions in the 1960s.
development
After Baron Wilhelm Carl Ernst Knigge laid the foundation for the glassworks in 1809, Wilhelm-Baron Knigge Harkerode (1861–1928) expanded it. The hut was leased and played a decisive role in Bredenbeck's economic boom. At first she mainly produced hollow glass .
In 1859 the Bremen manufacturer Caspar Hermann Heye leased the glassworks, who already owned several plants of this type in the area. His company, from which Heye International developed today , had a "New Hut" built on the site in 1864 with another glass furnace, which was housed in a long stone building with arched windows. The reason for expansion was the increased demand for glass vessels by the chemical industry in the mid-19th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the operation was gradually automated. Machines replaced glassblowers and the furnace was switched from coal to gas. After the First World War, the workforce was 55 people. The lack of cheap raw materials from the surrounding area soon resulted in a decline in competitiveness. In addition, there were high transport costs, as raw materials and the end product had to be transported to and from the Bennigsen train station, about 2 km away, using horse-drawn vehicles .
In 1928 the Heye company closed the smelter due to a lack of profitability. Then Freiherr von Knigge converted the buildings into a sawmill . Today the buildings on the former smelter site are used as residential buildings. A horticultural company is located in the larger stone building of the former New Hut .
Glassmaker
Depending on the order situation, around 20 to 50 people worked in the glassworks, including glassblowers , smelters and grinders. In the middle of the 19th century it is reported that among the 50 ironworkers working at two glass furnaces, 26 glassmakers , 10 fire- makers and batch makers, and 14 mostly young workers . Another 12 people were employed by the glassworks as craftsmen and day laborers. At the economic peak around 1900, up to 120 people were employed. The glassmakers, many of whom came from Lipper Land , lived in two elongated workers' houses on the factory premises. The residents formed their own village community to which strangers were barely allowed because knowledge of glassmaking was guarded. From 1866 the children of the glassmakers in Steinkrug received school lessons.
Photo views of the ensemble
Workers' houses of the glassworks
The new hut from 1864 with arched windows
Former farm building on the site
Hut old school building
Former director's residence, temporarily bird sanctuary
View from below through the smoke cone
Information board as a glass stele below the glassworks
See also
literature
- Gustav Gewecke: Travels in Kniggen Land / Bredenbecker Chronik 1255 - 1970 . Self-published by Dr. Gewecke, Bredenbeck 1970. pp. 188-192.
- Ulrich Manthey: The glassworks in Steinkrug in: Industrial history of the Deister-Süntel area , Springe 1996, ISBN 3-00-000566-8
- Christiane Schröder, Sid Auffarth , Manfred Kohler: Potash, coal and canal - industrial culture in the Hanover region , Rostock 2010, ISBN 978-3-356-01378-8
- Klaus Vohn-Fortagne: The Steinkrug glassworks in: Glassworks in the Deister-Süntel region. Origin and History , Volume I., Bad Münder, 2016, pp. 131–164
Web links
- Description of the glassworks by the municipality of Wennigsen
- Description of the glassworks at hannover.de
- Article at myheimat.de with photos
- Glass steles path - description of the Steinkrug glassworks in the brochure "Glass steles path of the Deister-Süntel-Osterwald region"
- Nils Oehlschlag: "A treasure that invites you to discover" , brief description in the HAZ from March 25, 2016
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 52 ° 14 '17.3 " N , 9 ° 37' 58.7" E