1 – Železná Ruda – centre
The Železná Ruda area lies in the so-called King’s Forest. This name originally referred to an uninhabited area covered in dense impenetrable forests at the Bohemian and Bavarian border, a strip of land somewhere between Zdíkov at the southeast and Nýrsko and the northwest of Šumava. The so-called Světelská trail which connected Bohemia with the Bavarian town Zwiesel, cut through the dense forest in the place of today’s Železná Ruda. Perhaps as early as in the 12th century, during the Bogen rule, the area is settled by Bavarians. In exchange for rental, these first settlers can take advantage of their various perks and freedoms (bird trapping, hunting, fishing). The opinion posing that these freedoms were granted to them in return for guarding the border is likely mistaken, even though the settlers mentioned it themselves while defending their rights and freedoms. The house of Bogen was related to the house of Přemyslid, so there were no power struggles over this area between the Bohemian state and Bavaria. This changed when the Bavarian noble house died out. The Bohemian king Ottokar II came out victorious and the land (reaching as far as Sušice) became part of the Bohemian kingdom. That is where the name King’s Forest comes from. But the king was far from his subjects, which they take advantage of by extending the privileges originally granted to only a few to all inhabitants of the Forest. Problems emerge when the king pledges the land to nobles who do not accept these privileges. One of the most well-known examples of this was Martin de Hoeff-Huerta, who demanded that the people of King’s Forest to labour at the Velhartice estate. Because of the mentioned long distance, the King leaves the people of King’s Forest to create their own administrative units called rychtas. Their number changed as centuries passed and eventually settles at nine. The reeves of the individual rychtas were subordinate to the high reeve who stayed in Zejbiš, today’s Javorná. Appart from Stašská rychta, where the majority of the population were Czechs, the dominant language in the rychtas was German. In the Železná Ruda area it was specifically a north-Bavarian dialect. The dialect was further influenced by the moving in of glassblowers and woodworkers. Železná Ruda’s belonging to rychtas changed over time, once it fell under the Eisenstrass rychta (Hojsova Stráž), later under the Zejbiš one. This administrative ruling of the rychtas was abolished after 1848 and Železná Ruda became an independent town with its own elected mayor.
In 1422, king Sigismund pledged King’s Forest, including Nýrsko, Hamry, and Hojsova Stráž, together with the customs rights to Sir Bohuslav of Janovice and Rýzmburk. This pledge was conditional upon the opening of a so-called Rothkoth, an iron stockpile for iron extraction and appointing a crusher. A portion of the profits made by this endeavour would then go the royal treasury. At this point, the names of the local settlements are already their official names, namely zum Eisenstein or zum Eisenbach (Železná Ruda), Eysenstrass, Hamry or Železné Hamry. The name Eysenstrass is spelled in all accounts with a “y”. Ironworks were built from Zwiesel, through the Fucherbach, Seebach, Seewand. Another version says that ironworks which had their own “mining right” fell directly under the Imperial Chamber, just like mills, sawmills and water hammer mills with their own water right.
It is also to those days that we date the creation of the Železná Ruda bourgate and the road connecting it to Hamry. This road, still recognisable today by its stone lining, led from Storn through the Frischwinkl valley to Horní Hojsova Stráž.
Specific settlement in the valley below Velký Javor is recorded in the first half of the 16th century by the king’s trail (Světelská or Výšinná), allegedly founded by Ottokar II in the second half of the 13th century and connecting the Řezno bishopric to Prague. In 1526, a master ironworker called Adolf is mentioned. Because it is known that the local hammermen did not only process new ore (siderite and limonite), but that they also picked out slag from old piles, people must have been processing ore here even before that. Some historians claim that it was at some point during the Bogen rule in the 12th or 13th century. Other sources date first mining to the 15th century. Some even state the possibility of Celtic mining, but that will probably always remain uncomfirmed. The ore was mined in a place called Red Pit, around the Black and Devil’s lakes and by the confluence of Jezerní (Lake) and Železný (Iron) streams. The mining was carried out in various intervals, last between 1929-34.
In 1542, the ore field belonged to Pavel Kozska. In 1560, the area (then called Waldhwozd) belonging to the Bohemian king and spanning from Nýrsko to Vimperk, together with the local settlers, is pledged to count Jiří Guttenstein from Rýzmburk.
This pledge also included the Eisenstein lands, which in 1569, count Guttenstein had to buy out from the holdings of Passau traders Konrád Geisler and Melchior Fiedler to construct ironworks and mining pits.
In other to make the most of his holdings, Count Guttenstein sold, leased out, or partly pledged various parts of the land to new settlers with the duty to cut down forests (sawmills), cultivate thus newly gained ground (mills) and mine ore (ironworks and hammermills). In this way, the area all the way up to Zelená Lhota (Grün) got settled by newcomers. They mined and processed iron and got all the way to Zelená Lhota and through Hochstrasse to Datelov. They made iron of various kinds, sometimes even finished products (Waffenhammern), but mostly it was raw iron. From there also come the words Hammermeister, Hammerwerke. One of these hammermeisters, called Fiedler and living in Zelená Lhota, is reminded to us even after the Swedish wars, which he waited through as the owner of “Eisenbergwerk Grün”.
Iron ore mining, processing and tool making was only for local consumption. The local hammermen never had any ambition to mass produce or to export their products further out. They could never measure up to metallurgical businesses in Podbrdí or the Krušné Hory regions. A precondition of all metallurgy is a sufficient supply of raw material. The Železná Ruda valley had siderite deposits (ferrous carbonate, FeCO3), also called white ore (weissrauch). These deposits spanned all the way to the Úhlava basin and further southwest. But the first local metallurgists had problems with the ore and at first only processed limonite (hydrous ferric oxide, Fe2O3 · nH2O, zunderfarb) which, though easier to melt, also had less iron. To successfully process siderite after torrefaction, the so-called smokers were needed. They were piece furnaces made out of stone, apart from the bottom part of the front wall, which was clay. The chest was broken down and an iron clod was pulled out through the opening. The interior of the furnace was smeared with a mixture of mud and soot. There were also smaller deposits of magnetite (ferrosoferric oxide, Fe3O4), which has the most iron, near Hojsova Stráž.
The largest deposits of siderite were in the cadastre of the village Špičák in places called Švýcárna. The deposit then spread from there through the valley to Saint Catherine. Iron ore deposits then continued all the way to Pocínovice. Other necessary materials like wood and water were plentiful in Šumava.
Around 1780, the only metallurgical professional in Železná Ruda was a nailer with his journeyman and apprentice. However, they managed to process 28 q of wrought iron annually and earn 800 golden pieces. In 1815, a local blacksmith Georg Schreil asked for leave to build a hammermill in Železná Ruda, because the smithy he took over from his father in 1801 burned down. He was given the permit the following year, on the condition of building the hammermill outside of town, precisely because of fire safety reasons. He was to pay yearly rent of 15 golden pieces to the owner of the estate, respectively to the guardians of then underage Franz Xaver Hafenbrädl. He was to buy wood from Bavaria. The hammermill most likely did not start functioning until after 1826, and it was definitely running in 1837. In 1841, Franz Xaver Hafenbrädl buys the indebted hammermill from Georg’s son for 6 666 golden pieces. In 1843, he leased it out to hammerman Pánka. Lessees change until 1945. We can name for example Franz Liebel, Georg Gschwendtner, Petr Ziegler or Karel Zoglauer. After 1945 the hammermill was declared a technological heritage site, but its furnishings rotted and the hammermill was rebuilt into a recreational facility.
In 1422, king Sigismund pledged King’s Forest, including Nýrsko, Hamry, and Hojsova Stráž, together with the customs rights to Sir Bohuslav of Janovice and Rýzmburk. This pledge was conditional upon the opening of a so-called Rothkoth, an iron stockpile for iron extraction and appointing a crusher. A portion of the profits made by this endeavour would then go the royal treasury. At this point, the names of the local settlements are already their official names, namely zum Eisenstein or zum Eisenbach (Železná Ruda), Eysenstrass, Hamry or Železné Hamry. The name Eysenstrass is spelled in all accounts with a “y”. Ironworks were built from Zwiesel, through the Fucherbach, Seebach, Seewand. Another version says that ironworks which had their own “mining right” fell directly under the Imperial Chamber, just like mills, sawmills and water hammer mills with their own water right.
It is also to those days that we date the creation of the Železná Ruda bourgate and the road connecting it to Hamry. This road, still recognisable today by its stone lining, led from Storn through the Frischwinkl valley to Horní Hojsova Stráž.
Specific settlement in the valley below Velký Javor is recorded in the first half of the 16th century by the king’s trail (Světelská or Výšinná), allegedly founded by Ottokar II in the second half of the 13th century and connecting the Řezno bishopric to Prague. In 1526, a master ironworker called Adolf is mentioned. Because it is known that the local hammermen did not only process new ore (siderite and limonite), but that they also picked out slag from old piles, people must have been processing ore here even before that. Some historians claim that it was at some point during the Bogen rule in the 12th or 13th century. Other sources date first mining to the 15th century. Some even state the possibility of Celtic mining, but that will probably always remain uncomfirmed. The ore was mined in a place called Red Pit, around the Black and Devil’s lakes and by the confluence of Jezerní (Lake) and Železný (Iron) streams. The mining was carried out in various intervals, last between 1929-34.
In 1542, the ore field belonged to Pavel Kozska. In 1560, the area (then called Waldhwozd) belonging to the Bohemian king and spanning from Nýrsko to Vimperk, together with the local settlers, is pledged to count Jiří Guttenstein from Rýzmburk.
This pledge also included the Eisenstein lands, which in 1569, count Guttenstein had to buy out from the holdings of Passau traders Konrád Geisler and Melchior Fiedler to construct ironworks and mining pits.
In other to make the most of his holdings, Count Guttenstein sold, leased out, or partly pledged various parts of the land to new settlers with the duty to cut down forests (sawmills), cultivate thus newly gained ground (mills) and mine ore (ironworks and hammermills). In this way, the area all the way up to Zelená Lhota (Grün) got settled by newcomers. They mined and processed iron and got all the way to Zelená Lhota and through Hochstrasse to Datelov. They made iron of various kinds, sometimes even finished products (Waffenhammern), but mostly it was raw iron. From there also come the words Hammermeister, Hammerwerke. One of these hammermeisters, called Fiedler and living in Zelená Lhota, is reminded to us even after the Swedish wars, which he waited through as the owner of “Eisenbergwerk Grün”.
Iron ore mining, processing and tool making was only for local consumption. The local hammermen never had any ambition to mass produce or to export their products further out. They could never measure up to metallurgical businesses in Podbrdí or the Krušné Hory regions. A precondition of all metallurgy is a sufficient supply of raw material. The Železná Ruda valley had siderite deposits (ferrous carbonate, FeCO3), also called white ore (weissrauch). These deposits spanned all the way to the Úhlava basin and further southwest. But the first local metallurgists had problems with the ore and at first only processed limonite (hydrous ferric oxide, Fe2O3 · nH2O, zunderfarb) which, though easier to melt, also had less iron. To successfully process siderite after torrefaction, the so-called smokers were needed. They were piece furnaces made out of stone, apart from the bottom part of the front wall, which was clay. The chest was broken down and an iron clod was pulled out through the opening. The interior of the furnace was smeared with a mixture of mud and soot. There were also smaller deposits of magnetite (ferrosoferric oxide, Fe3O4), which has the most iron, near Hojsova Stráž.
The largest deposits of siderite were in the cadastre of the village Špičák in places called Švýcárna. The deposit then spread from there through the valley to Saint Catherine. Iron ore deposits then continued all the way to Pocínovice. Other necessary materials like wood and water were plentiful in Šumava.
Around 1780, the only metallurgical professional in Železná Ruda was a nailer with his journeyman and apprentice. However, they managed to process 28 q of wrought iron annually and earn 800 golden pieces. In 1815, a local blacksmith Georg Schreil asked for leave to build a hammermill in Železná Ruda, because the smithy he took over from his father in 1801 burned down. He was given the permit the following year, on the condition of building the hammermill outside of town, precisely because of fire safety reasons. He was to pay yearly rent of 15 golden pieces to the owner of the estate, respectively to the guardians of then underage Franz Xaver Hafenbrädl. He was to buy wood from Bavaria. The hammermill most likely did not start functioning until after 1826, and it was definitely running in 1837. In 1841, Franz Xaver Hafenbrädl buys the indebted hammermill from Georg’s son for 6 666 golden pieces. In 1843, he leased it out to hammerman Pánka. Lessees change until 1945. We can name for example Franz Liebel, Georg Gschwendtner, Petr Ziegler or Karel Zoglauer. After 1945 the hammermill was declared a technological heritage site, but its furnishings rotted and the hammermill was rebuilt into a recreational facility.