Powder mill (Heinsberg)

Powder mill (Heinsberg)
Heinsberg on the first recording from 1843
Location and history
Coordinates	51 ° 3 '48 "  N , 6 ° 5' 20"  E Coordinates: 51 ° 3 '48 "  N , 6 ° 5' 20"  E
Location	Germany North Rhine-Westphalia District of Heinsberg Heinsberg
Waters	Worm , young worm, overflow (Kalle des Stadtgrabens)
Built	1608
Shut down	1672
technology
use	Powder mill
Grinder	1 grind
drive	1 water wheel
water wheel	undershot

The powder mill was a water mill on the Junge Wurm , in the town of Heinsberg in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Heinsberg in the administrative district of Cologne .

location

The powder mill had its location on the boys worm , at the overflow (Kalle) of the moat, Near West Promenade, in the town of Heinsberg. The property on which the powder mill stood was approx. 35 m above sea ​​level .

Waters

The Junge Wurm was a body of water that ran more or less parallel to the Wurm . The junction from the Wurm was in Nirm, a district of the city of Geilenkirchen . Here the worm has a height of 54 m above sea level. The river Junge Wurm, also known as the Kleine Wurm , flowed in a north-northwest direction via Randerath , Horst , Porselen , Dremmen , Grebben , Heinsberg , Kempen and Karken across the German - Dutch border towards Vlodrop and empties at an altitude of 29 m above sea level on Dutch territory into the Rur . It was a natural body of water in which humans had a hand in many places. The Junge Wurm was connected to the Heinsberg moat , the mill canal, the Liecker brook and the mill brook . This composite body of water served for surface drainage and the benefit of the people. For centuries there were around 15 water mills on the Junge Wurm, with a slope of 26 m between Randerath and Karken. With the worm straightening in the 1960s and 1970s, the young worm disappeared from the maps . Instead, drainage channels and trenches were created. The water association Eifel-Rur (WVER) is responsible for the care and maintenance of the water body with a catchment area of 355.518 km ² .

history

Who the ability had gunpowder manufacture, lived indeed dangerous, but was a popular and much sought-after man. In 1608, Duke Johann Wilhelm von Jülich gave Johann von Frenz permission to build a powder mill in Heinsberg . For two gold guilders a year he received a piece of land protected by a dam and a pond northwest of the town of Heinsberg. The necessary materials were crushed and mixed using a small mill operated by water power . The mill drew this water from a narrow overflow of the city moat, which was fed by ponds and by the Junge Wurm. Powder makers were aware of the dangers of their profession and exercised a certain degree of caution . But they too were powerless against force majeure . On June 20, 1652, the mill was struck by lightning during a summer thunderstorm . A huge explosion destroyed the mill and killed the tenant Michael Pulvermecher.

The pastor of St. Gangolf recorded the event in the book of the dead:

In the early morning of June 20, a terrible thunderstorm tore Michael Pulvermecher, a citizen of this city, archer of the St. Sebastianus Brotherhood and this year's rifleman king, from his life. A sudden lightning bolt ignited the powder in the little house in front of the walls of the city near the powder mill on the bank of the fish pond, in which gunpowder was prepared and made, and completely destroyed the house. Said Michael was knocked down and killed. It lay black and torn between the stones and beams of the house. He was carried away and buried on the 23rd of this month. He was a good person in conscience and in life.

More than six months after this terrible accident, on January 11, 1653, Helena, the powder maker's widow, gave birth to her daughter Anna.

gallery

• 

  Heinsberg on the new recording from 1893

• 

  Heinsberg on the tranchot card 1806/1807

literature

• Hans Vogt: Lower Rhine water mill guide 2nd edition. Verein Niederrhein, Krefeld 1998, ISBN 3-00-002906-0 , pages 305-306.
• Heinrich Tischelbäcker: The Heinsberger Mühlenkanal home calendar of the Selfkantkreis Geilenkirchen-Heinsberg 1962, page 128-134, 1963, page 142-144.
• Paul Krückel: A powder mill in Heinsberg home calendar of the district of Heinsberg 1989, page 69-73

→ See also the list of mills on the Wurm

Web links

Commons : Pulvermühle (Heinsberg)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the city of Heinsberg

Individual evidence

1. ^ German basic map 1: 5000
2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ http://www.wver.de/