Bernardshammer copper yard
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The Bernardshammer copper yard is a still existing copper yard in the city of Stolberg . The history of this building shows the development of Stolberg's industry particularly well.
16th Century
The construction of the first building resulted from a dispute between Leonhard Schleicher , Bernard Mondenschein and Johann Meuthen over the Dollartshammer hammer mill . This conflict escalated so much that the liege lords Hieronymus von Efferen and the Duke of Jülich intervened in the dispute. Leonhard Schleicher was allowed to build another copper works in Stolberg. In addition, in a document dated June 12, 1564, Bernard Mondenschein was allowed to erect his own hammer above the dollar hammer. He had to raise the necessary funds himself. Bernard Mondenschein recognized the locational advantages for such a hammer mill, which he called Bernard hammer . The location of the hammer at the place he wanted was well suited because the Vicht brook had a steep gradient there and the amount of water produced was so large that waterwheels could be operated continuously.
However, because coal deliveries were discontinued in breach of the contract, the hammer had to be abandoned in 1575 and fell into disrepair.
It took until 1590 when the brothers Johann and Laurenz Mondenschein rebuilt the hammer built by their father after signing a new lease agreement. As early as 1602 there had been negotiations with the Stolberg lord of the castle to convert the hammer mill into a copper mill.
The building included not only the mill building, but also residential buildings for the copper master and his family. In addition, the courtyard included servants' apartments, stables, barns and storage rooms. In addition, the copper yard had a reservoir in the upper area, which was used as a water reservoir, especially in summer, to guarantee mill operation in dry phases. The pond still exists today.
17th century
On October 30, 1617, the Schleicher copper master family acquired the Bernard hammer. Leonhard II, who himself lived in the Schardt Kupferhof , had three sons and a daughter. The eldest son Leonhard III. (* 1590, † September 28, 1660) should receive the Bernard hammer. He was married to Gertrud Beck (* 1606, † July 28, 1669). The wedding took place in the first years of the Thirty Years' War . The couple lived on the exposed farm during the entire war, which was certainly not without danger, because Lorraine troops in particular devastated the Vicht valley several times.
The firstborn Leonhard Schleicher III. was Leonhard Schleicher IV (* 1624, † August 8, 1680). He took over the Kupferhof and married Sibilla Peltzer . From this marriage there were six sons and three daughters. Leonhard IV was so successful in business that on January 26, 1679, he acted as a lender for the town of Gressenich , who needed financial help because French troops were quartered.
18th century
Between 1680 and 1723 his son Matthias took over the brass production on the Bernard hammer, while the youngest son Gilliam (* 1673, † 1731) took over the copper yard Unterster Hof . Matthias married Gertrud Lynen (* 1666, † 1694) in his first marriage, after her death Gertrud Schauff (* November 10, 1658, † September 5, 1729) in his second marriage. At the age of seventeen, after the death of his father and brother, he took over the management of the Bernard Hammer. His son Leonhard (born January 15, 1693, † March 22, 1753) from his first marriage and Isaac (born October 22, 1697, † February 5, 1753) from his second marriage, operated the brass production on the Bernard hammer. There were frequent disputes between the two brothers and they led lengthy and costly lawsuits against each other. When both died within a year, the Kupferhof was in heavy debt.
Isaac's son Matthias managed to continue the brass production on the Bernard hammer. He also built an oilcloth factory here.
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Leonhard Schleicher had married Gertrud Huppertz and around 1723 decided to build a large house, the Groß-Bernardshammer , in the neighborhood of the Bernard hammer, which was to be called Klein-Bernardshammer in the future . The two-storey house stood out due to its entrance area with the family coat of arms above the entrance and the elaborate staircase. The building has been preserved to this day.
Leonhard and Gertrud had the sons Matthias (born September 17, 1725, † March 18, 1778), Nikolaus and Leonhard and five daughters. After Leonhard's last grandson Moritz Schleicher died, the Bernardshammer's ownership changed in 1839. It was taken over by Laurenz Richard Lynen, who married Moritz Schleicher's sister Katharina Gertrud.
Isaac Schleicher's marriage to Johanna Katharina Hoesch resulted in a son and two daughters.
Matthias Schleicher (born April 14, 1726, † April 15, 1803) and his wife Johanna Lynen had five sons and two daughters. Matthias seems to have suffered from financial problems because there are documents about loans and repayment terms. The effects of the French Revolution could have been responsible for the situation, which was obviously deteriorating for the copper masters .
19th and 20th centuries
In a document from 1816, the facilities of the Klein-Bernardshammer with two chimneys, six ovens and a wire work are listed. Groß-Bernardshammer, on the other hand, had two chimneys, seven ovens, two hammer mills for the production of plates, a calamine mill and a stamping mill, the so-called plush hammers . In addition, there is the Hämmerchen mill , which has a hammer mill for the production of plates and two shops for the production of thimble.
Sara Gertrud (* 1760, † 1830), daughter of Matthias Schleicher and Johanna Lynens, married the foundry owner Heinrich Christian Reidt, whose family still lives on the Bernardshammer today.
The eldest son Isaac (* May 20, 1751, † January 9, 1815) took over the Bernard hammer. He married Gertrud Agneta Lynen vom Bauschenberg. This marriage produced five children.
As a son, Johann Adam Schleicher stayed on the Bernard hammer. However, he had no economic talent, died completely penniless and was buried in Zweifall . Johann Adam married twice. His first marriage to Anna Sibilla Hoesch led to nine children, but the family could not continue in the male line.
From his second marriage to Anna Maria Roisbach from Mausbach there were two sons and four daughters.
Presumably Adam Johann Schleicher sold the Bernard hammer after the death of his second wife. Klein-Bernardshammer became the property of the Reidt family, while Groß-Bernardshammer became the property of the Nöhken family.
The Groß-Bernardshammer was mainly used for agriculture by the Nöhken family and was acquired by the Schüller family in 1852. The latter sold the building to the owner of the Zinnwerke Bock at the turn of the 19th century , who later sold it to a Dutchman. The mill continued to be owned by the Reidt family.
Klein-Bernardshammer is still owned by the Kutsch and Krampe families and was used for agriculture until 2000. The proximity to the Binsfeldhammer lead smelter made agriculture almost impossible in the 1950s and 60s; Until the late 1990s, the owners delivered products to the surrounding towns.
In 1959, the Slangen company acquired Groß-Bernardshammer, which had the manor house restored so that it was in the state of the copper masters' times.
literature
- Hans-Joachim Ramm (editor): Mills, hammer mills and copper yards in the Vicht Valley and their owners (= contributions to the history of Stolberg, Volume 23), Stolberg 1998, ISBN 3-926830-12-3
- Kurt Schleicher: History of the copper yard Bernardshammer , In: Zeitschrift des Aachener Geschichtsverein , (ZAachenerGV) 77, 1965, pp. 88-104
Coordinates: 50 ° 45 ′ 12.6 ″ N , 6 ° 14 ′ 50.1 ″ E