Mills in the Hürth area
The high number of mills in the Hürth area in historical times was unusual for the small Hürth area on the edge of the Ville south of Cologne . They left few traces.
Historical requirements
The word mill (from Old High German : muli; from Latin molina or molere = to grind) has Latin , i.e. Roman roots.
Propulsion by muscle power (humans / animals)
The first arable farmers would use their muscles to pound or grind the small quantities of harvested cereal grains they had laboriously obtained in order to make meals from the flour obtained in this way.
After humans developed from hunters to sedentary farmers, domesticated animals and thus made themselves independent of hunting, they also learned to use animals as a driving force. At some point during this time (five to six thousand years ago), after the wheel had also been invented, they pulled the plow or drove the bucket wheels at the well or for irrigation.
Because of the low flow of water in the Bornbach, before electrification with high-voltage current (around 1928), a horse mill in Burbach, i.e. a Göpelwerk driven by horses, was operated for painting. This mill stood at the Schmitze-Hof on today's Von Geyr-Ring and was in use until the 1930s.
Ingenuity and technology
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People continued to develop, they had learned to use the forces of nature. The sail was invented. Ships moved now even without rowers, wind or even water power replaced the ox team to drive a grinder of a mill. A Roman writer, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio , describes a water mill with "stone grinding", the centerpiece of every grain mill , in 24 BC . This stone grinding process (only the upper driven millstone turns) is the interaction of the millstones, which process the grain into flour through the grinding movement.
The Romans also applied their knowledge in their conquered provinces on the Rhine .
Later, after the Frankish period and the Middle Ages , it was initially monks who had preserved the knowledge of Roman mills and continued to practice it within the framework of monastic self-sufficiency. The modern roots of European mill technology go back not only to the engineering knowledge of the medieval monastery schools , but also to the inventive spirit of Roman times .
Grain and oil mills as wage mills
Millers of that time were tenants on the land of the secular or spiritual landlord , in Cologne for example the archbishop , a monastery or monastery , but were often not respected by the people very highly. Since the common people in the country did not understand much about technology anyway, it was thought that these mysterious mechanisms could only work with the devil. Also, it could never be proven exactly whether the miller had only taken what was rightfully his share as wages or possibly more. The millers were often accused of dishonesty and said: "The best thing about the mill is that the sacks can't talk".
Natural prerequisite of the mills in the Hürth area
Settlement of the area along the approximately eight kilometers wide foothills between Brühl and Frechen did not take place until the Franconian period, when the steadily growing population from the fertile valleys of the Rhine and the Erft also advanced into the rather barren forest areas on the ridge of the Ville . The valley exits were already settled by villae rusticae in Roman times , for example in the Hürther valley Am Römerhof. The almost impenetrable heights of the Ville, which were still densely wooded in the Middle Ages, were only sparsely populated. Under a relatively thin layer of earth and gravel, over a layer of clay, lay the untouched brown coal, which had not yet been discovered or whose meaning had not been recognized, and acted like a giant sponge that stored the rainwater. From this truly gigantic water reservoir, all the springs and streams in the Hürth area flowing to the east were fed, which were also used by the Romans to supply the Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium with the Roman water pipes in Hürth .
These headwaters on the slopes of the Ville with rivulets that merged to form streams, were favorable conditions to settle. Because water was not only an indispensable basis for life, but also offered itself here, due to its abundance and the existing gradient, as an energy source for driving mills. In the past few centuries, 16 verifiable mills were operated in the Hürth area alone (including the Pletsch or Decksteiner mills in what is now Cologne-Lindenthal, which are also driven by the Gleueler Bach ).
The mills for processing the harvests, which are extremely important for the meanwhile numerous rural settlements in the foothills with agriculture that is still important today, served all those involved. The farmers and the people received flour for bread and food, the miller his wages, the mill owner the rent.
The mills in Hürth
The Hürter water mills were mostly grain grinding mills. Six of the mills were on the Duffesbach, six more on the Gleueler Bach and three on the Bornbach or Burbach.
Gleueler Bach
The Gleueler Bach rises near Berrenrath (formerly at the 7 jumps) and flows through Gleuel and Sielsdorf to the southern edge canal . It runs largely above ground and renatured. In the past, the Gleueler Bach ran to Kriel , where it flowed into a pond and slowly seeped into the subsoil.
Sound barrier oil mill
In the oil mill , it was integrated into an agricultural courtyard, were rape , turnip rape , linseed from flax and beechnuts processed. Due to the advancing lignite mining from 1920 onwards, more and more land was swallowed up by the large excavators, the farm complex lost its value. Except for the baroque country house Burg Schallmauer , which is now privately owned , all other buildings were demolished in the 1950s.
Oebels Mühle or Obere Mühle
As early as the middle of the 18th century, the family of Franziskus Oebel was running the "Obere Mühle" in Endenich near Bonn . He left the mill and a brandy distillery to his son, Johann Adam. Johann Adam also became a successful businessman. In addition to his own business, he cultivated leased lands. During the French era , they were secularized goods that were transferred to the state and whose income contributed to the family's prosperity .
At the beginning of the 19th century, Johann Melchior Oebel (son of Johann Adam) acquired the "Obere Mühle" located on the Gleueler Bach in Gleuel. His son, Theodor Oebel was born there. Theodor Oebel supplemented this business with the "Schollsmühle" located on the upper reaches of the Hürtherbach or Duffesbach, which was later also called the "Talmühle". Viktor Oebel was born on this property in 1869. He later managed the Lechenich grain mill on the local mill stream, which his parents Theodor and Kunigunde Oebel had acquired around 1860. The Lechenich mill operation was discontinued in 1972. The property converted into a residential complex is still called Oebelsmühle today.
Gleueler Oebels Mühle was cleared around 1905 by its last owner, Edmund Oebel, and sold for other purposes.
Keips or Correns Mill
Information board
here the mill wheel will have turned
Correns Mill courtyard
in the Mühlenhof
The Correns Mill, Ernst-Reuter-Str. 91, whose mill wheel was once also driven by the Gleueler Bach, is first mentioned in 1773. The mill was shut down in 1954. Of the formerly numerous mills on the Villebach brooks in the Hürth area, the facility formerly known as Keips or Mittlere Mühle is the only reasonably well-preserved thanks to extensive investments made by the current owner. The only thing missing is the mill wheel.
Technology of the former mill
The remaining part of the inventory , a gearbox of the motor drive from the later modern era, transmission and the runner stone of a grinding mill, was integrated into the living area. The undershot water wheel is no longer there. Preserved milling machines, owned by the current owner, are stored in a separate location.
Burgmühle later Mertens Mühle
The mill got its name from Gleuel Castle . The medieval text "Specification of the fronhofs landerey zu Glewel de 1545 and 1628" about the moated castle of Gleuel also lists the castle mill as probably the oldest mill. Around 1930 the mill was shut down by the last owner, Mertens. The millstones were "disposed of" in the Gleueler Bach, which had hardly any water because of the brown coal mining, and the bed of the brook was later dumped.
Lower Mill or Bottom Mill
The lower mill, which is also mentioned in the aforementioned “Spezificatio”, is only reminiscent of a street sign attached to a small settlement built there after the Second World War . Mentioned for the last time in 1875, it has lost its trace.
Sielsdorfer mill
The Sielsdorfer Mühle belonged to the St. Pantaleon Abbey in Cologne and, according to the Gleuel parish register, was leased to Müller. A Rorich Müller around 1550, a Gottschalk Deckstein around 1599 and a Hermann Bachem in 1621 are mentioned here. Elisabeth Nissen, wife of the miller Hermann Bachem, was most likely identical to the person who was burned as a witch in Gleuel in 1637 after cruel torture . During the Napoleonic era, the mill was secularized with its 19 acres of land in 1802 . Around 1835, the “factory owners” Peter Jüssen and Jakob Sons bought the old water mill and converted it into a paper factory where they produced coarse wrapping paper. The apparently not flourishing small factory had to give up after a few years. In 1855 this company was acquired by Johann Classen-Kappelmann , a Cologne entrepreneur. He installed a modern gas-fired steam boiler, replaced the water power with it and thus made the first step into the industrial age in the area of the mayor's office in Hürth. Today the factory building has been converted into a residential complex. A street name still reminds of the mill.
Bornbach or Burbacher Bach
In the west of the historic Berrenrath (about 130-140 m above sea level), the Ville der Bornbach emerged from the earlier (medieval) forest areas. It flowed through Berrenrath until the beginning of lignite mining in the last century; its course has changed due to lignite mining. In the course of time, three mills were built and operated on the Bornbach or Burbacher Bach. The Bornbach used to flow into the Duffesbach in Efferen. Today it is discharged into the Cologne Rand Canal . In the lower reaches the brook is called Stotzheimer Bach .
Burbach Monastery
The construction of the monastery of St. Mary at the source (ad fontem Sanctae Mariae) of the Burbach is guaranteed in 1233.
Oil mill and grinding mill, Burbach Monastery
The first mention of the Burbach monastery mills is documented for 1669. The oil mill was above the monastery, nothing more can be found of it.
The actual monastery mill, today's Füngelingshof, is a closed courtyard. Such properties were built in the style of Franconian farms as a four-sided courtyard , consisting of a residential house, the mill building, covered driveway, farm buildings, stables and barn. Often, as in the case of the Correns Mill in Gleuel, a bakery was also integrated. Together with a grinding mill, the property belonged to its immunity district until the Marienborn Abbey opposite was abolished . The respective farm and mill tenants were liable to pay taxes to the monastery.
Info Füngelingshof
Today's courtyard
Erected in 1852 in memory of the monastery by the Füngeling couple.
Millstone pedestal of the wayside shrine
The oldest parts of the building probably date from the 18th century. The year 1839 is carved into a bar of the barn door. The actual mill was demolished in 1949 after being destroyed in the war. A wayside shrine erected on a millstone south of the barn by the long-time tenant family Füngeling reminds of the former monastery with its mill.
Burbacher Dorfmühle or Krings-Mühle
The place Burbach itself is a few kilometers away from the monastery and lies in the valley of the Burbach (or Bornbach) flowing through the place on the Villehang.
The mill originally belonged (1669) to the Jabach'schen Hof , a Cologne aristocratic estate, but it is possibly much older. The last owners were the Krings family, who worked in the mill until the 1970s. The mill existed as a water mill until 1929, after which it was equipped with electric roller grinders. In the miller's list of the village mill, a miller Fündelin is mentioned as a farmer and leaseholder from around 1700. The succession of the owners of the property has remained unbroken to this day. The renovation of the historically remaining building structure has also recently begun.
Duffesbach
The Duffesbach rises as Knapsacker Bach near Knapsack and, after taking in further sources and smaller brooks, flows as Hürther Bach via Alt-Hürth and Hermülheim, mostly canalized and accompanied by the Roman Canal hiking trail through Efferen and the Cologne Green Belt to Cologne, where it finally flows into the Rhine flow out. A mill on this stream in the area of the Hürth glory has already been reported for the year 1234, but it is unclear where it was. Nothing is known about the construction of the mills; in 1733, four mills were recorded on a drawing of the Hürth manor.
Schollsmühle or Talmühle
The name of the mill goes back to its owner, Emmanuel Scholl, mentioned around 1837, son of the mayor of Hürth, Karl Josef Scholl . Müller was Carl Loske. It was a new building, which probably came from the French times and had two grinding aisles for grain and two oil presses. The old mill there is likely to have been in ruins for a while, as it is not mentioned in previous writings. The name "Talmühle" probably comes from the second half of the 19th century, when Theodor Oebel operated a restaurant that was then established as the main business, the Hotel-Restauration Talmühle, which until 2010 had a newer building and in on a more modest scale with the name Talmühle as a pub and has been operated as a Pizzeria Milano ever since . The traditional name only lives on in the short street that passes by, Talmühlenstraße . The postcard from 1897 shows a chimney that seems to indicate an (additional) steam engine drive. The last real miller was probably Clemens Linder from 1909 to 1927. After 1927, he only ran the catering business until 1943. In 1943, an air mine destroyed the property. The current building and an apartment building are not in the old lines.
The date of construction of the three following mills is also not known, all three are on a map of the ownership of the Hürth Castle from 1733, which was drawn by a Petrus Solff. There is talk of "Horster Mühl", "Hammermanns-Mühl" and "Kuhlhaß Mühl".
Horster Mühle or later Metternichs Mühle
The miller Jacobus Horst is mentioned in 1685 when he was handed over to his son Johannes. His grandson Henricus also inherits the mill. When Peter Metternich married in 1906, the mill was already shut down. The mill building was converted into a residential building. Millstones are still in the courtyard. Of the channel , only the passage under the dam of the Black Railway can be seen. About 350 m downstream followed the:
Hammermanns Mühle or Mittlere Mühle
At the end of the 17th century, Mauritz Zerriß was a miller here. His brother-in-law married Agnes Hammermann in 1680, who then married twice. In 1855, Christoph Meyer, the last miller, took over the mill. The mill was shut down in October 1909. The mill foundations are now under the dump of the former Hürtherberg lignite mine . Another 250 m below the:
Kohlhaasmühle or Untere Mühle
The Kohlhaasmühle was the lowest of the mills owned by the Hürth lord of the castle. Since she was equipped similarly to the others in terms of her technique, her age will also have been similar. The first known miller is Stephan Kuhlhaas, his son Peter is listed in the civil status files as molitor et scabinus , miller and aldermen in Hürth. The last miller is again a Kohlhaas with Christoph Kohlhaas. The mill was shut down in 1923, only agriculture continued until 1932, when the property was sold to the Hürtherberg union . The Kohlhaasmühle was hit by an air mine in early 1943 and completely destroyed. Today only the street An der Kohlhaasmühle reminds of the complex.
Deutschherrenmühle
The idea of seeing the place name Hermülheim in connection with a mill location not only suggests itself, but also has to be proven. The name is mentioned for the first time in 943 in a document with which the abbot of the Prüm Abbey , Farabert II of St. Paul, left an estate in Molinen (mills) to the married couple Ramengarius and Adalgarda.
Hermülheim was already a settlement area in Roman times . Other names in the course of time were Latinized Molinaricum (Mühlenheim), Mulenheim, Richemülheim, Richzaemülheim and Rizemolheim. The last renaming to Her (ren) mülheim resulted from the settlement of the Teutonic Knight Order in the former Hermülheim Castle .
Hermülheim had already had two mills since the Middle Ages, both of which were archbishop's fiefs , the Herrenmühle and the Pantaleonsmühle. The Herrenmühle was on Faulbroich, leaving the town in the direction of Hürth on the current site of the car dealership. In 1260 the mill with 30 acres of land was given to the Teutonic Order. A map by Mathias Ehmanns (around 1762) shows the Mühlbach branching off from the Duffesbach, its route over the dam and an elevated channel to the mill wheel. The Herrenmühle is the last overshot mill on the Duffesbach. Together with the castle courtyard and 5 acres of land, the mill was leased to the respective Halfen for centuries , which had to deliver 22-30 Malter rye annually. The halfe, in turn, usually employed a miller. It was not until the order began to spread its income more widely in 1797 that the lease link with the castle courtyard was given up and Hermann Reifferscheidt from Hermülheim was able to lease the mill for 60 Malter grain. In 1805, after the secularization of the church property during the French period , it was bought by the family. The master mill was a " compulsory mill ", all land tenants were forced to have their grain milled in this mill. The miller kept the 16th part of the grist for his work and expenses. The Reifferscheidt family owned the mill for a long time.
Today only the street name on the Herrenmühle reminds of this mill.
Pantaleon or Abtsmühle
The Pantaleon or Abtsmühle was located at the western end of the village, roughly opposite today's church, was not a forced mill and therefore could not compete with the mill of the order in the long term. It therefore soon switched to the production of woad , from the 15th century it appears under the term woad mill . In the following centuries the mill property was still referred to as the Abtsmühle, but nothing was reminiscent of a mill. The field name “am Mühlenacker” persisted and can still be found in a street name there today.
Lowenmühle Schleifkotten
In the Efferen area of the Duffesbach there was only one mill, the Lowenmühle (probably from Gerberlohe ). Here oak bark was pounded into tannin for the Cologne red tanners. It was mentioned for the first time in 1211 in a document from the St. Maria monastery in the Capitol . In later times, when weapons were being sharpened there, they were called Schleifkottenmühle or just "the Schleifkotten". It stood a little outside the village in the direction of Cologne, below the tributary of the Burbach. A small bend in the slope at the transition from the central terrace to the lower terrace about 5 meters lower also favored the location. The mill was not operated as a flour mill, because the landlord of Efferen, who had the mill ban, received permission from Duke zu Jülich to build a windmill in 1559 (later the Düppelsmühle ) after he had another mill on the brook from the city of Cologne, which who owned water rights had been denied. In 1554 the Lohmühle was taken over by the city of Cologne. After the French era and the lifting of the mill ban, the mill was again operated privately and as a grain mill. A starch factory was built from 1843, and an additional steam engine was documented in 1875. In 1903 Adolf Halstrick founded the paper factory Efferen, Halstrick & Co , which burned down in 1913 and was then no longer allowed to be rebuilt in the Cologne fortress ring that had now been built. After its abolition (1919), a small glass factory was built in 1926, which did not last long. With the creation of the Cologne green belt , the mill was finally done. The last buildings were demolished in the mid-1970s. The name lives on only as a location designation for a piece of forest in the green belt.
Cologne
In Cologne, the Duffesbach served mainly as process water for wool manufacture, tanners and dyers who settled in its vicinity. In 1572, the city built the malt mill on the last terrain level before it entered the Rhine .
Windmill in Efferen
From 1559 to 1830, the Efferener Windmühle stood on the road opposite the confluence of the Hönninger Weg , a post mill , which was called Düppelsmühle after it was moved to Titz., The Effern wind is proverbial for the Efferner , on the formerly open field.
The modern times / today
Under Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , the Mill Shutdown Act was passed in 1957. It granted millers and mill owners a state premium on the condition that they would no longer operate the disused mill for thirty years. Most of the mills were given up in the course of government subsidies . Most of the mills in Hürth had already given up.
For more than a century now, applications of electricity for light, heat and power have determined human life more and more. A wind or water mill is something nostalgic and romantic for the people of our hemisphere . However, it should not be forgotten that there are people on our earth who would be happy to have this technology that is out of date for us.
Literature / sources
- Hürther Heimat, magazine for history, culture and local history. Volume 76 (1997) and Volume 84 (2005) with a focus on mill contributions.
- Elmar Brohl : Hermülheim and the German Order. Heimat und Kulturverein Hürth, 1975.
- Brühler Heimatblätter - For the area of the city and the former Kurkölner Amt Brühl. Edited by Brühler Heimatbund, Brühl 1951 1/1.
- ^ Engelbert Nothhelfer: Horse Göpel in the village of Burbach in: Hürther Heimat. 84 (2005), p. 43 ff.
- ↑ According to information from: Franz Oebel (descendant of Theodor Oebel), 65558 Balduinstein
- ↑ Desery / Draaf, in HH No. 76, p. 54 ff.
- ^ Deutschherrenmühle according to Elmar Brohl: Hermülheim and the German Order. Huerth o. J. (1975), p. 112 f.
- ^ History of the Fasana paper mill (today Metsä Tissue plant in Stotzheim near Euskirchen ) at Wisoveg
- ^ Rainer Draaf: 'The historical Efferner Windmühle', Hürther contributions, Volume 87, year 2008, pp. 39-48
