Pluwiger Hammer

Pluwiger Hammer
Former iron smelter with a grinding and sawing mill. Likely dating back to the mill auctioned in 1806 by the cathedral chapter located on the Ruwer, whose buyer, Peter Jost, also referred to himself as "Fabricant de fer." According to the school chronicle, the iron ore was extracted from the nearby mountains and the hammer mill operated until the last third of the 19th century. Afterwards, it was only a cutting and grinding mill.
The complex contains baroque buildings and already comprised a significant industrial complex of seven buildings around 1810. With the construction of a cutting and rolling mill in 1829, the complex reached its greatest extent. After the iron hammer ceased operations, the two hammer works, the cutting and rolling mill, as well as the coal storage building fell into disrepair.
The water canal (Hammerbach), fed from the Ruwer via a weir, achieves a steep gradient towards the Ruwer through a partially artificially walled terrace step. Two ditches were derived from the Hammerbach, along which workshop buildings were arranged on both sides, operating a total of up to ten water wheels. The larger ditch for the two former hammer works is fully preserved. This flows as a waterfall through a tunnel.
The complex is dominated by the residential building on the upper terrace level. This is a slope-parallel single-story plastered schist masonry building with 15 window axes, only one story visible from the road. The building, which is one room deep and constructed in four phases since the 18th century, is unified and given a noble effect by its row of windows and mansard roof. Details such as wooden frame windows from the late 18th century, baroque door leaves, and divided window panes are preserved.
Next to the residential building stands the former bakery. Below the residential building on the north side, the former grinding mill remains in ruins. From one of the hammer works, the iron store survives as a single-story hipped roof building. A completely preserved workshop building is the sawing mill established in 1812, along with the stables modified according to the uses. An elongated schist masonry building, partially combined with half-timbering, features a hipped roof. The technical equipment (water wheel, saw frame) is preserved. Also part of the complex is a chain bridge from the 19th century over the Ruwer.
The preserved buildings and their arrangement to the functioning ditch system convey the production methods and the still baroque layout scheme. The current buildings reflect the technical changes while retaining the original conception.
Attached to the hammer works are the garden to the south and the former arable land located above the mill ditch. The area extends to the preserved weir on the Ruwer. The entire historical complex of the Pluwiger Hammer is bordered by the Ruwer, which also marks the boundary of the district, and the road to Ollmuth. This monument zone is evaluated as an overall architectural ensemble, including the natural stream bed of the Ruwer bend.
Opening hours: freely accessible