Bornstein Windmill, Gut Altenhof, K. Gettorf
Kurt Möller wrote the following about the mills at Bornstein:
"Now we turn to the Bornstein windmill, which, like all of Bornstein, originally belonged to Altenhof. Old documents speak a great deal about milling concerns in Bornstein. For the sake of completeness, before the "Altenhof windmill in Bornstein" the "Altenhof watermill' should be mentioned. It was in existence around 1650. As its site is given: on the old mill paddock [enclosure] in the vicinity of the bay [or gulf] ( from Schröders Topography).
The Bornstein windmill, a "compulsory" mill of the Altenhof manor was a hereditary leasehold mill. The mill is mentioned in the Danish Atlas (1781) on page 721. There is the hereditary leasehold contract of 01. 05. 1777. In this contract it says: 'Purchase and hereditary leasehold contract for the windmill and dwelling between His Excellency Privy Councillor and Chief Chamberlain Count Detlev of Reventlow at Altenhof of the one party and the miller Cay Lorenz Bevensee of the other party'.
In the contract then are named: a dwelling of five rooms, a windmill and the farmland pertaining thereto, meadows and water-ground [Wassergrund?]. The dimensions of each are given precisely. Also the amount of the annual lease is mentioned.
The first Bornstein mill is said to have been a 'Bockmühle' which was blown down. Also it was at a different location from the last mill. In all probability it can be assumed that was approximately where Karl Ströh lives today. In support of this is first the term: "Möhlenhof" [dialect version of "Mühlenhof"= mill farm ?] used for properties in the vicinity (we remember the map of Bornstein from 1795), and secondly the names "Vorderster Müllerhof" [front mill-farm] and "Hinterster Müllerhof" [back mill-farm] for the farm properties on which Köpke and Hass live today."
A Bock Mühle
"Bock mills were rarely to be found in our part of the world. As far as their structure is concerned, they were made in such a way that the entire mill building revolved around a thick vertical axis [axle], so that the mill stood correctly [or properly] to the wind. By this they were quite storm-prone [at risk] and were sometimes even overturned.
The second mill in Bornstein was a Dutch-style mill. Whether it stood at same place as the Bock mill is questionable. On the map of du Plat from the years 1804-1805 at any rate a mill is marked in at the place where also the last Bornstein mill stood. This second mill was burned down.
And now we come to the last Bornstein windmill, that many of the older Bornsteiners still know. It stood on the Mühlenberg [mill mountain], called Nötzel today. In an article entitled "Wind- and water-mills in the Danish Wohld" by Wolfgang Scheffler (contained in a yearbook of the homeland association April, 1939), it says in addition:
"Cellar Dutch-style. Built about 1846. A copper plate with the inscription H A 1846 (Heinrich Arp) under the old metal Halsblock [neck block?], that forms the bed of the prone shaft [?]. Description of the building; Earthbank with originally plastered rock stone wall. Stone foundation eight-sided, bevelling set off [trimmed? Should this be abgesetzt?] curved down with horizontal board panelling. Thatch; sail; Steert; ornamental leaf [?]. Measurements: below 8,70, above 4,30 wide, height 9,30 metres. 4 floors. 4 pairs of millstones: flour, 2 overdrives (1853); 2 Rhine pairs of millstones, 1 Loh- ['Loh' refers to tanning], 1 pearl barley-, 1 French groats pair of millstones, crusher. Miller Arp.- , situated west of the village of Bornstein".
After the first Bornstein miller Cay Lorenz Bevensee, came Hans Caspar Ramlau from Kronshagen on 1 July, 1799, after Bevensee had moved to Warleberg. Then on 1 March, 1803 Joachim Diedrich Bevense is mentioned, who sold the mill to the citizen and Distiller Balthasar Detlev Harenberg from Eckernförde in 1806. On the 20 April, 1827 then Jürgen Hinrich Friedrich Arp from Kronshagen bought the mill with all that belonged to it. So here for the first time the name Arp emerges, under which already the 7th generation now lives there.
In the contracts of sale, it often says "with all that belongs thereto" and the milling plant [Mühlengewese ?] with residence and land is spoken of. At the same time the public-house [inn] is not mentioned, although (as we remember) on the map of 1804/1805 next to the mill is a "pub". Now we want to go more closely into the Bornstein mill. Details about this come among other things from the final examination work of Ilse Sievertsen (daughter of Johannes and Alma Arp, born 1941), which she did at the Gettorf secondary school.
To the Bornstein mill belonged as a result of the mill compulsion besides Bornstein, also Aschau, Rothenstein, Hohenholm and Altenhof. Altenhof as a noble manor was freed from the mill compulsion, though. Besides farmers, also beer brewers and tanners came to the Bornstein mill.
For the beer brewers, malt was ground. Malt was produced from barley (exactly like it is still today). One shook the barley into a barrel filled with water. The barley soaked up the water and swelled. Then the barley came into the oast [kiln] for drying. This oast was next door in the bakery. For the tanners dried oak and birch barks were ground. This ground bark then yielded the tan. This tan-milling was very hard, the mill here was one of few that performed this work. It required much wind and thus at times the milling had to be done at night. Then it was a matter of: "Get up! There's a bark wind."
To obtain this milling, customers came in part from some distance away. In old account books these names can be read: Christian Rodde, Alt-Bülck; Siemond Sadtler, Ehlersdorf; J. Beckmann, Achterwehr. Even people from the area around Kappeln came.
The milling toll was not paid in money, but rather grain was retained, the so-called Matte. This grain was stored in a chest reserved specifically for that. In the evenings the chest would be looked into to see if it was full. If it was not full, it was helped along a bit with the Matt-shovel. There were also forgetful millers or their millhands, and if one did not know exactly whether one had already gemattet, one would prefer to matten once more. Also disputes arose at times because of the quantity of (whole) meal, that a farmer got back. Since there were no scales, a check was impossible. It could also happen that the millhand would say: "Master, there's still a sack of corn there. Shouldn't that be milled still?" Thereupon the master would answer: "Let that stand, that was forgotten!" And so it was well then too.
The withheld grain naturally had to be used, and so in many cases the miller fed pigs with it. Once the Altenhof inspector came and scolded the miller Arp as a cheat because he had withheld too little wholemeal. Henceforth he would have his corn milled in Eckernförde. But he came back to Bornstein soon enough, for at the other miller's, not only his grain, but also the sacks had been kept. That happened in about the year 1865."
Bornstein Windmühle, 1934. This mill was built circa 1846 and was the last mill to stand at Bornstein
The interior of Bornstein Windmühle, 1934
Bornstein Windmill and accompanying property, 1934
Tüttendorf Mill, Gut Warleberg, K. Gettorf
Marianne Wolf wrote the following about the mills at Gut Warleberg:
"Behind the densely overgrown hill, Techelsberg, there lies in a sharp curve at its base the beautiful farmstead "Warleburger Mill." The names of the fields "Mühlenkoppel" [mill paddock or enclosure] and "Mühlenholz"[Mill wood] are also witness to a past that involved mills. Then Techelsberg was also the ideal location for a windmill, an Erdholländer. The massive sails were covered with sailcloth and they were turned into the wind by means of a Steert and thick rope [or cable].
The description of the building in Scheffler is as follows:
"Broken base of red brick. Eight-sided, panelled [or encased] below with horizontal boards. Ret -Segel -Steert. 3 storeys, whose dimensions in ells; 14.211; 12.20 and 10. Lower down 8.84 m, above 4.66 m. Height 12.47m - 3 pairs of millstones (2 for flour = 1 for pearl barley). - Without an assistant [or temporary worker]."
In addition, it is mentioned that from Techelsberg you could see 25 other mills. The mill on Techelsberg was, as the name already says, in the possession of the Warleberg manor. The fate of two mills on Techelsberg was in the first instance tied to economic circumstances of the nobilitys manor.
The first Dutch [Holländer] mill belonged to the bankrupt estate of Chamberlain von Neergaard. According to the conditions of sale of the Warleberg manor it was sold on 4 April 1827 for demolition, even though it was completely undamaged and well equipped. With its destruction also "the law of compulsion (Zwangsrecht) was cancelled at this mill, to which the manors Warleberg, Rathmannsdorf and Quarnbek had been obligated with those who belonged under them. Rathmannsdorf later got its own mill, Quarnbek was given to the Ottendorf mill."
The Warleberg manor that was up for sale was acquired by the chancellory councillor and postmaster H. H. Radbruch, who in the same year had a new Erdholländer built with two pairs of millstones for flour and one for pearl barley on the foundation of the old mill. According to a new ordinance of 1805, the mill owners in districts of the nobility from now on had to make a contract for attending the mill with the farmers who belonged under the manor as a requirement (prerequisite) for the law of compulsion that was being introduced again. The miller received as payment from the "mill guests" a measure of the flour 1/16 and also of the grain. The measure was a measure of capacity, with which the miller took the corn out of the sacks as his share "full to the brim" and put it into his measuring chest.
The new compulsory mill [Zwangsmühle] chancellory councillor Radbruch leased to the miller Friedrich Petersen, whose term of lease (from 1 May 1828 to 1 May 1831), was laid down in a lease contract available to us. Also the list of the inventory, set up already on 28 Sept 1827, has been preserved to us. To the mill belonged approx 54 Tonnen of land, a residence, a stable, a pigsty, peat stall, bakehouse and garden.
The Warleberg mill was operated as a compulsory mill, as already mentioned, which meant that the citizens and residents were obliged to have all their grain milled at this mill. For a better understanding the comments are inserted here of the mill researcher Hans Petersen, who tracked the changes from free farmers mills to compulsory mills:
"The building by the feudal lords of new large water mills 1575 to 1595 already pointed to changes in the circumstances of mills. Thus towards the end of the 16th century compulsion was introduced by them. With few exceptions, this was generally the custom in the first decade of the 17th century. The noble had a special position, and it is not clear when he followed the example of the princes. There is no legal document for the introduction of compulsory milling. It was derived from the law of mill prerogatives entitling the landed gentry with regard to the use of wind and water. At the same time noble and spiritual lords of the manor had received their original right to construct their own mills on their properties. Compulsory milling extended to bread corn, malt, as also Brennkorn, and since about the middle of the 18th century also to corn for pig food, after fodder from the woods was no longer possible due to clearing of the woods. Groats was well known and was made at home in minor quantities on the Handquers and was not subject to compulsory milling. Good corn quality and also pearl barley was introduced over Hamburg and Holland up to into the 18th century. Its origin begins here with us quite timidly predominantly at windmills at the beginning of this time. In the middle of the century groats and barley windmills shoot up like mushrooms on the land of the princes and nobles. The settlement of the Danish Wohld took place since the 13th and 14th centuries and the knights castles set up by the nobles are the germ-cells of the later large manors. In this time there arose numerous small watermills of the nobles estates and also peasant mills, which however are no longer traceable today . . . With the privileges [grants, licences?] of 1524 the manors with their own jurisdiction became a state within a state. Now began also the time of the great formation of farmsteads by the demolition of farmlets and entire villages, and many a peasant mill also disappeared. Towards the end of the 16th century no mill-building activity can be seen among the nobility. The existing manor mills were maintained, but large watermills with two water-wheels did not emerge here."
The noble manor of Warleberg no doubt took the development with its mills that Petersen described. Scheffler's Danish Atlas (1781, p. 721) does indeed mention a watermill, but until now no further details could be ascertained. It is probable that the manor had the corn milled by a watermill as long as sufficient water was available to operate it. With the emergence of the Dutch windmills, the decision was made in favour of building them. When the first windmill on Techelsberg took on its task is not verified, only its previously mentioned demolition in 1827, which was followed immediately by the erection of a new compulsory mill. In the lease contract of the miller F. Petersen it says word for word:
"All the local inhabitants are obligated and liable without exception to have all their corn that they need for their housekeeping milled and ground at the Warleberg mill for a Matte [measure] which is a 16th part of a ton, and they must they must leave it lie at the mill for three times 24 hours before they may take it away unmilled. But every duty bound person has preference over any foreigner."
As "mill visitors, who belong to the Warleberg corn-mill" the following farms are named: "All the subjects of the Warleberg manor, furthermore the owners or leaseholders of the main farm Warleberg with New Warleberg, as well as the Holand and Cronshörn dairy farms." It went without saying that to the subjects of the Warleberg manor at that time belonged the villages of Neuwittenbek and Tüttendorf, also the crofters villages Heidholm, Kattendiek, Roggenhagen, Wehrdamm and Landwehr. The miller paid 500 Reichsthaler in Schleswig Holstein currency to the manor nobles. He had entered into great commitments. Thus he had to not only keep buildings and stables in good repair at his own expense, but also paths, fences and brush [Knicks?]. His own fields were tilled according to the orders and schedules of the masters, by which all agricultural work had to be carried out exclusively by those belonging to Warleberg manor. Foreigners could be employed only with the consent of the authorities. Neither plagues nor war were grounds for compensation; only catastrophes caused by the heat of fire and by storm induced the lord of the manor to provide financial and personnel help with rebuilding.
The chancellory councillor H. H. Radbruch on 24. 09. 1831 handed over to his son Jürgen Jakob Radbruch the mill with 92 Tonnen of land. The lease contract of Miller Petersen had been in the meantime redeemed by a J. D. Lohff, who was committed until 1834. Miller J. J. Radbruch expanded his milling rights in 1832, by concluding a contract concerning compulsory milling for parts of the Quarnbek manor with the manor owner of Augustenhof, Danielsen, who at the same time was leaseholder of Quarnbek. These rights included not only the farms Quarnbek and Dorotheental, but also farmlets and residential areas at Strohbrück, the islet at Landwehr, Ziegelhof and Stampe. Radbruch paid for this only 80 Reichstaler. The lease contract was current only until 1834. The law of compulsory milling guaranteed lessor and tenant a good income; all the harder the 21. 11. 1852 law for the lifting of compulsory milling for the duchy of Schleswig hit the mill-owners, nevertheless from now on every peasant could have his corn milled at the mill most conveniently located for him.
In a report directed to the royal ministry for the duchy of Schleswig, there was protest against the lifting of the compulsion law, especially since a natural right was seen in it: "The law of compulsion exists, as far as can be ascertained, from ancient times and is extended in perpetuity by the purchase contract of the miller." (Section 6, reports . . . )
From the communication it can be gathered that the manor district numbered about 900-1000 inhabitants, that the stock was largely fed with whole-corn and that already at that time Hornvieh [horned cattle] and pigs were fattened with corn. The consequences of lifting of the compulsory milling were predictable: The mill farmers chose in part the Levensau or Suchsdorf mill, as they undertook the journey to Kiel and on the way back took their meal or wholemeal back with them. The building of new free mills was now legally possible and meant a further loss of revenue. J. J. Radbruch had success with his report and received from the Ministry of Finance 4928 Reichtstaler 77 shillings compensation, with which also the cancellation of the team service [Spanndienst] was taken into account. Despite this success it must be emphasised that with the lifting of the law of compulsory milling the hayday of the Dutch mills was past.
After the turn of the century at the latest there were large electric mills with new milling techniques, and the requirements of people had changed. Vollertsen writes: "One has the impression that with the lifting of compulsory milling the fate of our local mills was already sealed. In addition, with electrification the farming businesses set up their own wholemeal mills and groats and pearl barley lost more and more of their significance as one of the main foodstuffs. Beside this, in the large mills milling techniques were developed that with more cost effective expenditure led to the production of far finer flour - if one thinks only of the blossom-white superfine flour. The trade with corn, seed and fertilizer gradually transferred to wholesale firms and thus the great death of mills showed itself as an expression of this development."
For the time being, however, life at the Warleberg mill ran its customary course until in 1854 a fire destroyed the residence. In the same year still the present building was erected a bit further back. Presumably, stone slabs on the present approaches stem from the original house. The accompanying barns were built in 1857."
Ms. Wolf believes strongly that the mill operated by Cay Lorenz Bevensee, beginning in 1799, was the watermill mentioned in the Danish Atlas of 1781. Bevensee was still operating this mill in February, 1803.
Warleberg Windmill
Printed Sources:
Bornstein: Chronik eines Dorfes im Dänischen Wohld, by Kurt Möller, published by the village of Neudorf-Bornstein, Germany, 1994, pages 57-61.
Chronik of Neuwittenbek, containing the article: "Die Warleberger Mühle", 2002, a yet-to-be published work by Marianne Wolf
(Texts courtesy of Matthias Roese; Marianne Wolf; translation of texts: David Strelan)
