Nordhorn grain mill
The grain mill is a historic grain and saw mill in Nordhorn, powered by water power from the Vechte .
After the last tenant had given up commercial operations, the city of Nordhorn took over the listed property in 1983 .
Since a thorough restoration in 1989, the mill building has been used as a venue for concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events and houses the Nordhorn theater workshop and the sawmill studio .
Location and technology
The Kornmühle is located on Mühlendamm 1b above the Vechte flowing through the inner city of Nordhorn . Grain mills of this technical design are also called grain water mills.
history
The beginnings
There is no evidence of the exact beginnings of the Nordhorn watermills, and it is also unknown when and where the first mill building was erected. The historian and former chairman of the association for local history of the county Bentheim, Heinrich Voort, who was trying to close the sparse sources for the presence, type and place of the mills, led from the name of the industrial name "ter Koekemollen" from that there is a previously hollow post mill stood and it is therefore the first documentary mention of a predecessor of the Nordhorn grain mill, which was later operated with water power. This is seen as a mistake from other sources, especially because coke mills did not evolve from the post mill until the early 15th century . Thus the meaning of this old field name is still unclear, but Voort's quote from the 1396 civic register of the city of Nordhorn, which Herman de Molner and Guese zin Vrouwe describes as citizens of the city and in which he recognizes the first Kornmüller Nordhorn and his wife, remains unchallenged . Voort also assigns bourgeois names to the miller's profession without being contradicted in the following citizen books, for example in 1430 a Johann de Moller , 1460 the Molen Rotger and 1481 Albert de Moller . Only for the later citizen entries is partly doubted whether, in view of the dwindling income situation, Müller were even able to achieve the requirements for citizen status .
The first undoubted documented mention of a mill in today's Nordhorn area comes from the Frenswegen monastery in 1402 , when Count Bernd zu Bentheim granted the canons a privileged mill . However, nothing is known about the nature of this mill or its location.
In 1481, Count Everwyn from Bentheim allowed the city of Nordhorn to use the income from "Excise, great en de Mollen bind Nordhorn" ( excise , customs and the mill (s) within Nordhorn). In the city's first surviving lift register from the same year, income from a mill is recorded.
In 1602 and 1611 Pastor Sutoris reported in the church protocol about floods that would have led to the loss of land on the Hangkamp belonging to the Nordhorn church , "because of that, the Möllenkock became so ruehm en groth" and provides the first reliable indication of the location of a grain mill. The field name Hangkamp has been preserved to this day, but is located on the northern arm of the Vechte. From this it was concluded that the first grain mill was not at its current location on the southern arm of the Vechte, but rather on the northern arm in the area of the later oil mill. According to the representation of the city of Nordhorn, further historical notes and files indicate this.
The employment of a miller named Tonies Eggebringkhoff for the year 1628 has been passed down beyond any doubt. For the year 1634 there is a list of the mill income and expenses in the archives. In 1638, Count Arnold zu Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Steinfurt took out a loan of 200 Reichstalers from Andreas Holstein "to repair our Northorn mills" (to rebuild our Nordhorn mill), which "burned down from the Frantzen war people under General Rantzow ... completely" (completely burned down by the French military under General Rantzow ...).
On August 20, 1658, Count Ernst Wilhelm from Bentheim signed a contract with the mayors of Nordhorn, Christof von Bentheim and Heinrich van Ohlen, on the “carpentry of a new Öhl and Fall mill in Nordhorn”, in which the mayors committed themselves “both mills to theirs Costs ... in the old mills ”, from which it can be concluded that the old mill had only one water wheel until then and that the new mill passage was installed next to that of the existing grain mill. The credit of 650 Reichstalers made available for this was to be repaid by assigning the income from the oil mill for a period of six years. However, the mill yields were so low that the loan was not redeemed either after the six years or many years later. It was not until 1707 that an agreement was reached with the heirs of the liabilities, which provided for settlement in three installments. By then, not even the full interest had been paid.
Mill building
The mill building of the grain mill on Mühlendamm probably dates from the early 18th century . An exact dating is difficult because neither exactly assignable construction drawings nor construction contracts or invoices of the construction phase have been received and the regional historians interpret the few existing sources, such as records of the manual and clamping services to be performed by the population, differently. In the period from August 25, 1719 to January 10, 1720, up to 89 workers, 63 teams from the Nordhorn parish, 82 teams from the Gildehaus parish and six teams from the Schüttorf parish were employed under the direction of the architect Mathis Groenland "De Watermolen to Nordhorn te repareren volgens bestek" (to repair the water mill at Nordhorn as described). There are different interpretations of whether the existing mill on the north arm of the Vechte was actually renovated or the new grain mill on Mühlendamm discussed here. Because of the proven high expenditure, the authors (not named) of the treatise by the city of Nordhorn from 1987 assume that
"... that it was not a question of an ordinary repair, not even a major one, but rather the construction of a new mill. The assumption is supported by further reports. On the one hand, two years before the construction date mentioned, only one miller, namely Telghauß , is mentioned for Nordhorn. For the middle of the 18th century, however, it is known that there was one tenant on the oil and one on the grain mill. "
Voort, on the other hand, wrote in both 1974 and 1987:
“It can be ruled out with certainty that a new mill was built at that time ... The frequent references to repairs and measures in the foundation area of the weir are always too clear when the work is described in more detail by a competent person, if z. B. Architect Groenland promises to 'repair the mill' if a 'list of used tensioning and manual services to repair the Northorn grinding mill de Ao. 1719 'gives ... "
The city of Nordhorn supports Voort's conclusions on its website - in contrast to its views published in book form.
There is again agreement that in 1763 the land surveyor Schrader from Gildehaus discovered serious signs of deterioration at the grain mill, which made extensive repairs necessary. The pile foundations turned out to be brittle and the southern part of the mill was undermined, so that water penetrated through the mill walls. Among other things, 260 new oak piles were driven in to secure the foundation; the cost of the work, which, according to Schrader's cost estimate, should amount to 1019 thalers, finally amounted to more than three times the sum of 3739 thalers, which was more than five annual income from the mill. In 1764 the mill was leased again to the previous tenant Johann Jürgen Beins , who however demanded a proportional refund of the rent he had paid “for the entire time that it had to stand still in the past year because of the ... construction”.
Dispute over an inscription
During the thorough restoration in 1986, an inscription was discovered on the southern retaining wall of the mill weir. In their publication from 1987, the city of Nordhorn interpreted this inscription as an attempt by Schrader to immortalize himself during this construction work and gave the inscription and translation as follows:
"URGENTE NE GESSITATE
REGNANTE ANGLIAE REGE
GEORGIO TERTIO PATRIA NOSTRAE PATRE
A GLORIOSE DE MOMORAIA
PER (FICI) O"
“The reigning King of England, George III, did not give in to the oppressive. Our fatherland's father in glorious memory is listed. Joan Schrader built it in 1763. "
The city attributed the lack of meaning in this inscription to "obvious errors in the Latin text". However, the first time you look through it, you will notice that the translation may not be correct. The given last line "Joan Schrader built it 1763" would be in Latin Joan Schrader fecit 1763 - but it is completely missing in the inscription. Rather, this text is clearly demarcated from two other sandstones in the next row of cuboids below and has nothing to do with the present inscription.
So if the city of Nordhorn stated that due to the linguistic errors, a translation was difficult and the meaning could only be guessed at, Voort dedicated a detailed article to the discovery of the inscription in the Bentheimer Jahrbuch from 1989, where he came to the conclusion that the city Nordhorn did not recognize the chronogram contained in the text , so that the possibility of at least partial correction of the text resolution remained unused. In addition, no further attempt at decryption has to be made, since a document is available which contains the text intended by the author. Johannes Conrad Rump , Rector of the Latin School in Schüttorf - undoubtedly proficient in Latin due to his job - wrote to Isenbarth in Bentheim from Schüttorf on June 30, 1763 and sent him 14 text suggestions for possible inscriptions together with the suggestion to choose the best one and to commission the sculptor Evert Everson zu Gildehaus to carry out the work. The eighth suggestion contains the text immortalized in the stone blocks and reads as follows with the chronogram highlighted:
"Vrgente neCessItate
regnante AngLIae Rege
GeorgIo tertIo, PatrIae nosstrae Patre,
Ita glorIose DeMeLIorata
persto."
The addition of the Roman numerals shown as capital letters
V + C + I + A + L + I (5 + 100 + 1 + 50 + 1) = 157
I + I + I (1 + 1 + 1) = 3
I + L + I + D + M + L + I (1 + 50 + 1 + 500 + 1000 + 50 + 1) = 1603
adds up to the year of construction 1763.
The German translation is roughly:
"Out of necessity, I was renewed
during the reign of England's King
George III, the father of our country,
and I continue so gloriously
."
The inscription praises - as was common in times of absolutist rule - George III. , King of Great Britain, Elector of Braunschweig-Lüneburg and then lien holder of the County of Bentheim. The text also shows that the mill basically speaks about itself and by no means the builder praises his own work.
Later years
Another large-scale renovation of the mill was necessary almost 30 years later, as the capping stone in the front left above the entrance door says:
"From ovo Renovata Anno MDCCXCII"
But before and after, expensive repair work had to be carried out, especially on the foundation and the quickly rotten piles, for example in 1789 and 1845.
In 1873 it was decided to expand the business with a sawmill . In addition, the mill received an extension "on the foundation that closed off the flood basin on the opposite side of the grain mill and was built from Bentheim sandstones on rammed oak piles towards the Kolk ". The building costs had to be borne by the then tenant Buddenberg , the amount has not been recorded. When the Linksemsische Kanalgenossenschaft took over the property, they demolished the shed in 1900 and erected a half-timbered building on the same site, which still shapes the appearance of the mill today.
In the First World War it was also used to generate electricity . In 1931 the change from water wheel to turbine power took place . After that, raw ice was also produced for cooling purposes.
In 1970 commercial operations were discontinued. With the shutdown of the grain and sawmill on Mühlendamm, an almost six hundred year old mill history ended in Nordhorn.
Usage today
After the last tenant had given up commercial operations, the city of Nordhorn leased the property on a long-term basis from the Linksemsische Kanalgenossenschaft in 1983 and made funds available for renovation from the program at the time for job creation measures. In this way, the grain mill was supposed to avoid the fate of the oil mill , which was demolished in 1972 in order to build a modern dam in its place .
During the renovation, the grinder and turbine system in the basement were preserved.
Since 1989, the Kornmühle has been offering a location for cultural events such as cabaret, concerts, exhibitions and other cultural events in a central square in the center of Nordhorn, where the Nordhorn Art Association has also been represented since 2013 . The Kornmühle property also houses the theater workshop and the Sägemühle studio , an association of Grafschafter visual artists founded in 1979 .
literature
- Heinrich Voort: History of the wind and water mills in the county of Bentheim. Heimatverein der Grafschaft Bentheim eV, 1987. ISBN 3-922428-14-2
- City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and mills in Nordhorn. Adult education center of the city of Nordhorn for the county of Bentheim, 1987.
- Heinrich Voort: The mills in Nordhorn. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1974. pp. 9-27
- Heinrich Voort: The inscription from 1763 on the Nordhorn grain mill. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1989. ISBN 3-922428-21-5 . Pp. 119-125
- Gerhard Klopmeyer : The Nordhorn water mills. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1962. pp. 88–96
Web links
- Nordhorn grain / sawmill in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Kornmühle Nordhorn in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinrich Voort: History of the wind and water mills in the county of Bentheim. Pp. 9 and 261
- ^ Helmut Ottenjan: Museum Guide Cloppenburg. Museumsdorf Cloppenburg Foundation 1980, p. 173
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 12 and 19.
- ^ Heinrich Voort: History of the wind and water mills in the county of Bentheim. P. 263
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The mills in Nordhorn. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1974. p. 10
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 13.
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The mills in Nordhorn. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1974. p. 9
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 12.
- ^ Woodpecker: History of a border town. P. 46
- ↑ a b City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 14.
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The mills in Nordhorn. In: Bentheimer Jahrbuch 1974. p. 13
- ^ Heinrich Voort: History of the wind and water mills in the county of Bentheim. P. 266
- ↑ a b City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 14/15.
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 15.
- ^ Grafschaft Bentheim Tourism: Nordhorn Corn Mill. ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 26
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The inscription from 1763 on the Nordhorn grain mill.
- ↑ Princely Bentheimsche Archives, archive no. A Benth 1460 after Heinrich Voort: The inscription from 1763 on the Nordhorn grain mill. P. 121, note 5
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The inscription from 1763 on the Nordhorn grain mill. P. 122
- ^ Heinrich Voort: The inscription from 1763 on the Nordhorn grain mill. P. 123
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. Pp. 27-32.
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 32
- ^ City of Nordhorn (ed.): Müller and Mühlen in Nordhorn. P. 77
Coordinates: 52 ° 26 '3.6 " N , 7 ° 4' 8.8" E