Environmental & Socio-economic Studies DOI: 10.1515/environ-2015-0032 Environ. Socio.-econ. Stud., 2014, 2, 2: 1-9 © 2014 Copyright by University of Silesia ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Watermills – a Forgotten River Valley Heritage – selected examples from the Silesian voivodeship, Poland Maria Fajer Department of Environment Reconstruction, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Będzińska Str. 60, 41-200 Sosnowiec, Poland E–mail address: [email protected] ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT This study is an attempt to describe the current condition of the watermills situated in the river valleys of the Silesian voivodeship. Changes in the number and distribution of mills from the late 18th century until the 20th century have been presented (as exemplified by the Liswarta River basin in the northern part of the voivodeship). Watermills have been discussed both as industrial monuments that document the history of the milling industry and as tourist attractions. Currently, working mills that serve the local population in rural areas are a rarity, and working watermills are unique sites that should be protected as industrial monuments that constitute an important part of our cultural heritage. They are among those industrial monuments that are particularly vulnerable to destruction. Such mills increasingly attract the interest of industrial tourism promoters. Activities aimed at promoting watermills as cultural heritage sites and leading to their protection and preservation as part of the river valley landscape have also been discussed. In the Silesian voivodeship, there are many watermills that deserve attention; some of these are listed in the register of monuments maintained by the National Heritage Board of Poland. Unfortunately, most disused mills are falling into disrepair and are slowly disappearing; only a few have been preserved in good condition. Many of these have long histories and they are also situated in areas attractive for tourists. There is no doubt that watermills should be preserved. Their inclusion in open-air museums is not the only solution – any form of protection in situ by putting them to different uses is also valuable. Changing the function of a mill to serve as a hotel, restaurant, cultural centre, etc. makes it possible to maintain these sites as parts of river valley landscapes. KEY WORDS: cultural heritage, tourism, industrial monuments, protection of watermills ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Introduction be found that used hydro power; many of these are industrial monuments nowadays. This group For several centuries, watermills used to be a also includes watermills, which not only testifies characteristic element of river valley landscapes. to the use of rivers as sources of power and From the Middle Ages, the water wheel was used showcases ancient technology but also gives to produce the mechanical energy required to insights into the life of the people who lived power cereal mills and later also iron smithies. around them. Most extant sites were constructed Other plants, e.g. fulleries and sawmills, were also in the 19th century, or at the beginning of the 20th often situated close to watermills. The water century. Today, they are mostly disused and falling wheel was later superseded by the water turbine, into disrepair; only a handful of upgraded ones which became popular in the 1920s and 1930s. continue to operate. These sites are present Milling with the use of hydro power was one of throughout the Silesian voivodeship, but they are the oldest forms of food processing in rural areas. usually treated marginally in various studies of In the age when flowing water provided the the area. most important (and fairly reliable) source of As industrial monuments, such mills increasingly energy, river valleys played the role of axes along attract the interest of industrial tourism promoters. which various branches of industry developed. Although owing to the peculiar characteristics of In river valleys throughout Poland, plants can still the Silesia region, the most popular industrial 1 tourist attractions tend to be coal mines and steel did the number of mills grow but the technical mills, large hydro-engineering structures and standards of milling improved as well. The railway facilities, more attention should be paid engineers gained the ability to bank up water and to the somewhat forgotten watermills. Abandoned bring it to the wheel and also to construct various mills are falling into disrepair; in many cases, hydraulic structures. Watermills with overshot only ruins of buildings and weirs are left, and wheels, multiple wheels and wheels whose sometimes the only evidence that a mill used to position could be varied depending on the water operate at the site are morphological traces stage became widespread. Mills with multiple showing the former course of a dyke or mill race. wheels were also present in the territories that now belong to the Silesian voivodeship (e.g. in 2. Materials and methods Krzepice, Kłobuck and Częstochowa) (SŁOWNIK HISTORYCZNO-GEOGRAFICZNY). Dams or small ponds The conditions of mills in selected areas of the were constructed for the purposes of operating Silesian voivodeship have been analysed. Basins watermills. Milling became one of the most of the Liswarta and upper Pilica Rivers (Fig. 1A) important branches of production in the Polish have been examined in detail. In the upper economy. Liswarta River basin, comparative analyses of In addition to cereal mills, iron smithies also maps from different periods (from the 18th to the used water wheels as sources of power. From the 20th century) have been conducted to determine 14th/15th century onwards, such smithies operated changes in the distribution of mills. In the study, on the River Pankówka (Kuźnica Stara – “Old the register of monuments maintained by the Smithy”) and later also on the Liswarta (Kuźnica National Heritage Board of Poland and historical Nowa – “New Smithy”), Warta, Czarna Przemsza, sources (literature, photographs and plans) as Biała Przemsza and Mała Panew rivers (ZIĘTARA, well as the information included on the websites 1954). Some cereal mills were accompanied by of museums and municipal offices (lists of specialist production plants, e.g. oil presses, fulleries monuments) were used. Field observations were or sawmills, which subsequently either became also conducted, during which the condition of separate branches of industry or lost their watermills and hydro-engineering structures was significance (fulleries). examined. In the territories that are now Poland, ca. 17,000 mills operated in the late 18th century, of 3. Watermills in river valley landscapes which ca. 10,500 were watermills. Approximately 82.4% of mills were located in rural areas and ca. Watermills appeared in Poland in the late 11th 17.6% in cities. On average, one mill served an and early 12th centuries, and became widespread area of about 18 km2 and 500 inhabitants. In the in the 13th century (Baranowski, 1977). From that districts that are now included in the Silesian time, they formed part of the landscape of almost voivodeship (e.g. Gliwice, Lubliniec, Pszczyna, every village and town for several centuries. Bytom) watermills clearly prevailed with windmills Initially, watermills with undershot wheels were accounting for less than 2% (BARANOWSKI, 1977). constructed, which did not require water to be In the 19th century, small mills began to be banked up. In the second half of the 15th century, replaced by larger and more efficient plants; as a mills with (three times more efficient) overshot result, the number of watermills decreased and wheels became widespread; races or flumes were they became more concentrated. In the 1920s then used to guide water to such wheels. They, and 1930s, water wheels were increasingly however, required the water to be banked up superseded by water turbines, which were 25– fairly high. In the mid-18th century, mills 40% more efficient (Baranowski, 1977). Steam equipped with breastshot wheels began to be and combustion engines and electric motors also constructed (BARANOWSKI, 1977). started to be used to drive mills – initially as The distribution of mills depended on the auxiliary sources of energy, and subsequently existing river network, population density and mills emerged that were entirely driven by property ownership. In the mid-14th century, engines or motors and no longer had to be built there was on average one mill per 1.5 villages in on rivers. Technological advances were also some areas of Lower Silesia (BARANOWSKI, 1977). apparent with respect to the machinery inside – Between the 16th and 18th centuries, watermills millstones were replaced with roller mills, and were already a common feature of the landscape modern cleaning and sieving equipment was in the territories that are now Poland. Not only installed (BARTYŚ, 1978). 2 Fig. 1. Changes in the number of watermills in the Liswarta River basin from the 18th to the 20th centuries A – location of the areas analysed within the Silesian voivodeship, B – decline in the number of watermills in the Liswarta River basin from 1790 to 1960 (according to Fajer, 2011), C – changes in the distribution of watermills on the Liswarta