Street mill
The street mill is a water mill near the Schaafheim district Schlierbach in the Darmstadt-Dieburg district . The mill has existed on this site since the 15th century, and there has been an organic fruit growing business there since 1979. It is located in the valley of the Schlierbach brook , halfway to the neighboring village of Langstadt .
Reasons for the creation of another mill
In the 15th century there were already two mills in the village of Schlierbach, but not in the neighboring Kleestadt . Its farmers had to have it ground in Schlierbach. The way there led over a mountain, was arduous and also there were always disputes about the order of grinding.
Tired of the ongoing dispute, the Counts of Hanau (see Amt Babenhausen ) decided to build their own mill for Kleestadt. Kleestadt does not have its own powerful stream for a water mill. Schlierbach, on the other hand, could easily operate two mills with the stream of the same name. In addition, the new mill had to be easily accessible for the carts. Therefore, the choice fell on the site of a former Roman horse changing station with a fountain on Römerstrasse Dieburg – Stockstadt. This old road was well paved and was 1.5 m above level in boggy terrain and is known as the "Hohe Straße".
Schlierbach Castle is believed to be near the mill .
Hydraulic works for the operation of the mill
The location of the previous Roman building was not on the Schlierbach. A third arm of the Schlierbach was therefore created over a length of about one kilometer. This arm ran first in a ditch, then at ground level with side walls and at the end on a dam that still exists today. So the mill could be operated with relatively little water over a 6 meter wheel . The third mill in Schlierbach was born and it was called "Mülln uff der Hohe Strasse", today's street mill.
Destruction in the Thirty Years War
The future of the mill was saved, because at that time the townspeople Klee farmers were at their mill banned . Apart from natural imponderables, such as crop losses or low water, distant political events and the plague also cast their shadows on the street mill. The mill was destroyed by marauding troops in the Thirty Years' War and it took almost 50 years until it was rebuilt after the end of the war.
The artificial water inlet caused problems, the maintenance of which was very laborious. There was also a constant struggle between the three Schlierbach millers over the sometimes low water supply in the Schlierbach. This was remedied by a retention basin created in the 19th century .
Start of apple cultivation on the street mill
At the beginning of the 19th century, under Napoleonic influence, a high-stem apple plant was laid out on a meadow with several, then modern, apple varieties from France . Müller , who returned from the Franco-Prussian War , renewed this system in 1871. It was worth mentioning that he used purely German varieties.
New building in the First World War
During the First World War , the last miller decided to build a modern house in the Argentine style. He only made it to the shell and had to sell the mill with all inventory and water rights in 1918. In the following six years, four buyers tried their hand at different ideas for use, until Otto Jakobus Wolff bought the mill in 1924 and finished building the house. In the same year he renewed the orchard from 1871, again with some French varieties, such as the apple from Croncels , also known in the Rhine-Main area as the Transparent Dörnigheimer .
Current usage
The street mill has been owned by his son Burkard Wolff since 1974. He has been growing organic fruit on the street mill since 1979.
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 55 '11 " N , 8 ° 57' 58" E