Züscher Hammer

Züsch and the Züsch Castle are first mentioned in documents in 1222; around 1300 the smelter and stamp mill in the Allbachtal - the Züscher Hammer.

During the Thirty Years' War, the castle, village and hammer were destroyed. The rebuilding of the village and hammer began. At the end of the 17th century, the largest ironworks in the Hunsrück came into being under the rule of the Walloon immigrant Joseph Hauzeur. From then on, the Züscher hammer secured wages and bread for lumberjacks, charcoal burners, hewers, smelters and blacksmiths.

The factory was abandoned in 1852 due to unprofitable production and unfavorable sales conditions. This ended the approximately 150-year iron industry at the Züscher Hammer.

Opening times (May to October):
open again on Sundays between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. from June 20, 2021!
The site with a water wheel, charcoal kiln and information boards is accessible all year round.

*** Recommended: ***
On 09/12/2021 Open Monument Day with demonstrations and supporting program!

Info: zuescher-hammer.de

largest ironworks of the Hunsrück in the 17th century

pre-industrial building. ironworks.
The largest iron works in the Hunsrück was built here at the beginning of the 17th century

Very interesting and instructive. For that you should definitely take a few minutes.

Very beautiful and loving
restored facility

extra

The owner of Züsch is mentioned for the first time in 1225 - "Knight Symon von Sussaü" -; he lived in a castle there. Around 1300 it came into the possession of those from Hunolstein, from 1437 to 1776 Züsch belonged to the rear county of Sponheim as "Palatinate-Baden". Züsch was completely destroyed in 1504. The Reformation was introduced before 1569: 20 families lived in Züsch in 1574. Around 1606 the village consisted of two parts - the upper and the lower - with 6 and 7 houses respectively After the 30-year war, the castle and village of Züsch fell victim to complete destruction again in 1635. It was not until the beginning of the 18th century that the population began to increase Territory under Margrave Karl Friedrich The French occupied the area in 1792. It became French territory in 1797 before being assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815. The in The Lutheran church erected in 1724 was replaced in 1836/37 by the new building of today's Protestant church. Built in 1783/84 in the baroque style, the cath. The church was expanded in 1848/51 and 1910/11 and is now one of the oldest churches in the area. In 1972 the 750th anniversary of the town was celebrated. Source: text information board

Zurich hammer

"Only 3.5 kilometers from the dam is the Züscher Hammer, a particularly impressive testimony to the pre-industrial history of the Hochwald. There was already a flourishing iron industry in the area before the Thirty Years' War. The largest one was built in Züsch at the beginning of the 17th century Ironworks of the Hunsrück On the initiative of the "Züscher Hammer" association, the old hammer mill was reconstructed and put into operation in 2001. Together with the remains of the wall of a former warehouse and the commemorative cross for the first church of the smelter, it conveys a lively impression of the work and life of the people in the woods around today's reservoir." Source: Text and further information talsperreverband-nonnweiler.de/zuescher-hammer

History of Züscher Hammer part 1

1627 - Lorenz Barth, an iron smelter, moves from Abentheuer to Züsch "in the same capacity".

1635 - Destruction of the iron smelter in the Thirty Years' War

1694 - Vogt Ernst Ludwig von Hunolstein - lord of Züsch - concludes a contract with the foreman Remacle Joseph de Hauzeur about the construction of the fallow plant in the valley

1696- construction of a wooden chapel near the hammer.

1697 - The smelting works are started.

1734 - The Electoral Lehnhof occupies the rule of Züsch with a sequestration (temporary administration); the company stands still for about 2 1/2 years.

1737 - The work passes from Hauzeur to his daughter Countess Roussel

1750 - The customs officer of the Grimburg office lists the goods subject to duty: "a cart of goods from Züsch, goods from Züsch and Nonnweiler to Trier, a cart of goods from Züsch to Liège", so the hammer is still in operation.

1765 - The smelter is converted into a grinding mill

1765 - Vogt Friedrich Christoph von Hunolstein concludes a contract with the foreman Rene Leopold Choisy from Trier for the construction of a new iron hammer "on the old Hammerplatz under the Schmelz"

1782 - The foreman Johann Carl Alberti comes into possession of the hammer.

1784 - Alberti sells the hammer to Heinrich Pastert from the Weitersbacher Hütte. He received it as an inheritance from Margrave Friedrich von Baden-Durlach.

1792 - After the occupation by the French, it comes to a standstill again

1799- The work is valued at 1658 livres (old French coin).

1804/05 - The blast furnace is blown out due to a lack of wood, the small hammer stands still, only a fresh fire is maintained, 8 workers are still active

1808 - Of the two fresh fires, only one has been in operation for several years due to a lack of wood

1819 - Two workers work on the hammer; wrought iron is produced, 1 hundredweight of wrought iron yields 5 talers, 12 groschen and 4 pfennigs.

1821 - The hammer's workforce drops to four workers

1833 - Contract between Maximilian Pasterts and the smelter owner Carl Rıchard Gottbill von der Mariahütte on the sale of the Züsch hammer for 12,000 thalers.

1834 - The Gottbill family, Mariahütte, becomes the owner of the Hammergeländ

1836 - The plant consists of a stretching hammer for the production of small and fine iron; wagon axles were also manufactured.

History of Züscher Hammer part 2

1841 - "Züscher Hammer, which supplies the preparatory iron from its own pig iron to Nageleisen. Fuel - charcoal, 4 worker families with 20 souls, a fresh fire"

1843 - 10 male and 6 female Catholics live in two buildings on the Eisenhammer Züsch.

1852 - The Züsch hammer has been out of operation for several years due to unfavorable sales conditions.

1855 - The possessions of the Gottbillchen heirs include the hammer, coal shed and residential building.

1982 - Excavation work is carried out on the site of the hammer. “The foundation walls are uncovered, measured and partially conserved. In the west, the hammer mill is connected by a canal system with a reservoir in the east, of which the remains of a melting furnace, a wooden construction (dendrochronologically dated at the earliest 1778) and as finds the fragment of an iron water wheel, iron bars and an iron angle hook bear witness. A larger square building with numerous iron slags to the south (warehouse?) and a rectangular building to the east, probably used for residential purposes, with room divisions and three separate entrances complete the ground plan of the facility, which was abandoned in the 19th century.

2001 - reconstruction of the hammer mill

2007 - Establishment of forge and tool exhibition

A flourishing iron industry was at home in the Hochwald even before the 30-year war. Ore deposits in various places in the region and the abundance of water formed the basis for the development of the iron industry. In addition, there were extensive forests that supplied the wood or the charcoal produced by charcoal burners for melting the ores. The builders of the ironworks include Remacle de Hauzeur, who came from near Liège and was also the operator of the Abentheuer, Eberswald and Mariahütte huts (later called "Buß" in the vernacular), as well as the Heinrich Pasterts, Leopold Choisy and Carl Richard families Gottbill and Stumm. The Hunsrück was the cradle of the Saarland iron industry. The driving force for the operation of the hammer was provided by the water of the Altbach, which was dammed in a 10m wide and 48m long pond in front of the system. The water was over the 2m high dam directed by a 6m wide and 60m long inflow onto the wooden waterwheel. Directly behind the dam there was a residential building measuring 7x13m Cams or wooden teeth. By turning the camshaft the hammer was brought upwards its own weight on the red-hot iron. The pig iron was repeatedly heated by the fire until a large part of the carbon was burned off. Steel was produced by these processes. The blacksmith could shape this as desired under the hammer, whether flat iron for weapons or knife smith or square iron for the village blacksmith. The water was led back below the wheel through a 10m long canal and through a 1.50m high and 40m long tunnel into the Altbach. Source: Text Infotafe

The Altbachtal with the Züscher Hammer is a very beautiful section of the premium hiking trail Dollbergschleife. Water, rest areas, footbridges and a historic industrial building in the middle of the countryside. The place invites you to linger.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCscher_Hammer

Nice area to rest, there is still an intact mill wheel nearby

The Züscher hammer at work

A good opportunity for a break and rest. Not far away there are countless seating options with tables

Unfortunately he was closed. Nevertheless, always nice here. Also an ideal place to take a break.

The Züscher Hammer is an industrial monument from the 17th century in the Rhineland-Palatinate municipality of Züsch in the municipality of Hermeskeil. It is a former smelting works that was in operation until the mid-19th century and of which some of the foundation walls and the hammer mill have been preserved. The facility is under monument protection.

Excerpt Wikipedia

The waterfall rustles and hisses when it no longer rustles, water is all 🤪

This is a wonderful place for a wine hike.

A great interesting sight.