Paper mill sluice

Detailed replica of the bascule bridge over the lock (based on plans from 1902)

Drive recreated from old photos

Lock gate reconstructed from old photos

The old Werden paper mill lock in Essen 's Werden an der Ruhr was built between 1777 and 1778. This lock, which is no longer in operation, is now located between the Baldeneysee and the Kettwig reservoir in the Löwental.

history

Between 1774 and 1780, 16 locks were built on the Ruhr between Ruhrort and Langschede . At the insistence of Friedrich II of Prussia , the Ruhr was to be made navigable along this length, which happened despite resistance from local landlords. Only with the help of locks can coal be transported without reloading from the Grafschaft Mark to the Rhine . But from 1860 the emerging railway took over a large part of the transports on the Ruhr, the most traveled river in Europe at the time. After all, shipping on the Ruhr was dependent on the seasons.

The abbot of Werden monastery , Johannes Hellersberg (abbot from 1774 to 1780), had the lock built from 1777 to 1778 directly at a mill on the left bank of the river. In 1834 this was replaced by the new paper mill lock with the preserved lock keeper's house. The old one disappeared with the construction of the new Laupendahler Landstrasse.

The lock was in operation until the early 1950s, and only became superfluous with the newly created Kettwig reservoir . Because now the water level was about two meters higher and offered sufficient water depth in this area, for which no lock was needed. The old paper mill sluice was filled in in 1956 with the accumulated dredged material, which resulted from the dismantling of the old weir. Before the lock including the lock keeper's house was placed under monument protection in 1987, the State Office for Water and Waste Management Düsseldorf (StAWA) opened the lock again, restored it, and merely connected it to the underwater.

Technical specifications

The lock is 63.67 meters long and 5.58 meters wide. The lock wall ends 3.5 meters above today's water level, which was around 2 meters lower when the lock was in operation. At that time, the lock overcame a difference between upper and lower water of 2.70 meters.

Along the sluice there are still about 80 meters of the pavement of the old tow path , over which horses pulled the Ruhraaken on ropes upstream. The originally 3.70 meter wide towpath had to be relocated here in 1993.