The Käshammer is a preserved historic hammer mill in the Gelpetal in the district Cronenberg of the North Rhine-Westphalian city Wuppertal. The building is registered as an architectural monument in the monument list of the city of Wuppertal.
The cheese hammer 1607 is mentioned for the first time in documents, where it was occupied with a Goldgulden water knowledge (right to water use). At this time, farmers of the Saalscheider Mark shared the facility as a bone mill. Over the centuries, the ownership changed several times through estate divisions and sales. Depending on the respective tenant or owner also changed the name of the hammer, so that he was also mentioned in the documents Henshammer, Saalscheider Hammer, Golden Bergshammer, Höltershammer among others. From 1824, the name Käshammer prevailed under the owner Carl Noltzen.
In 1829 the plant was operated as a refining hammer, where pig iron was refined to stainless steel, ie refined. Three overshot water wheels powered the monkey and two forge-fired blowers. To have enough slope for the fall water, the Gelpebach was dammed to a Hammerteich. Nevertheless, in the late summer months there were often long periods when the water level for a farm was too low and the work had to be stopped.
At the end of the 19th century, the owner Johann Hölter and his wife founded a restaurant on the property, which until 2005 was a popular excursion restaurant in the Gelpetal. At the beginning of the 20th century hikers paddled on the Hammerteich and the waters served as an outdoor swimming pool for the youth. On the first floor of the Hammer building he set up a silk weaving mill in 1896 and discontinued its use as a hammer mill.
From the middle of the 20th century, the building served as a pure residential building with a workshop and rapidly disintegrated. Hydropower has not been used for a long time. In the meantime the property of the company Vorwerk was renovated by the following owner Peter Rudolph and today presents itself from the outside as one of the best preserved historical workshops in Wuppertal.
Source: Wikipedia