Lambertsmühle

The Lambertsmühle in the wooded Wiehbach valley near Burscheid is an ensemble that includes a stable, a carriage house and a barn in addition to the mill building and has been a listed building since 1983.

Lambertsmühle was the manorial mill belonging to the knight's estate "Haus Landscheid". The knight's estate, as a fief, and thus also the mill, likely originated with the settlement of the Bergisches Land region in the 12th century. The farmers who lived on the fields belonging to the knight's estate were obligated to have their grain milled at the manorial mill and simultaneously pay their dues.
The mill is said to have received its current name from a "Lambert" born around 1570, who lived in the mill with the privilege of the Lords of Landscheid.
Under the name "Hunds-Mühle" it remained in the possession of the Lordship of Landscheid, the middle of three old Burscheid Honn- or Hundschaften around the knightly estates of Grünscheid, Landscheid and Bellinghausen, until 1751.
Peter Busch, the last tenant of the mill, acquired the property in 1751 from the noble estate of Baron von Hall zu Landscheid and sold the mill a decade later to the alderman and miller Philipp Klein. In February 1766, the mill burned down. It is reported that the maid of the house was murdered by the farmhand because of alleged pregnancy and burned in the fodder store.

The mill received its present form during its immediate reconstruction in 1766. An inscription carved in sandstone above the oak-framed entrance door testifies to that reconstruction:
"Philipp Klein and Anne Beckers, married couple, bought this mill and had it built here in the year 1766: May God bless our coming in, bless our going out as well, bless our daily bread, bless our work and our doings, bless us with a blessed death, and make us heirs of heaven, amen." The Klein family remained owners of the mill estate until 1858.

In the years leading up to 1916, the Conrads family owned the mill as millers and bakers. Following an inheritance dispute, it was subsequently transferred to the Wilhelm Maibüchen family. The bakery attached to the mill closed in February 1942, while the milling and grinding operations were maintained until December 1956 by Ernst Maibüchen, the last operator of the miller-baker families who had worked at the Lambertsmühle. Ultimately, however, it fell victim to the rise of large, factory-style mills and the animal feed industry.

The mill property was placed under monument protection shortly before the death of the widow Erna Maibüchen in 1983. Lambertsmühle is one of the most beautiful preserved mills in the Burscheid area. Siel is a popular hiking destination in the vicinity of Burscheid, on the Knights' Trails of the Bergisches Land region and on the path between Lützenkirchen (near Leverkusen) and Altenberg, amidst historically significant scenery.

Viewings

The Lambertsmühle mill in Burscheid is an ensemble that, in addition to the millponds and the mill itself (with waterwheel, millstones, and stone oven), includes a stable, a carriage house, and a barn. A working forge with a hearth, a woodworking shop/wheelwright's workshop, a shoemaker's/saddler's shop, a loom room, a vaulted cellar (wine cellar), an ecologically designed kitchen garden, and various agricultural implements, such as a functioning apple press and a threshing machine, complete the picture. An innovative measure is the research project "Sustainable Wastewater Concept with Separate Toilets."

Guided Tours These will take place by appointment with members of the association for the promotion of the Lambertsmühle in Burscheid eV

Contact persons: Armin Busch (Tel.: 02174 8147), Rolf Engelhardt (Tel.: 02174 1211), Klaus Hoppstätter (Tel.: 02174 892929)

Weddings

Couples can be married at the Lambertsmühle upon request. Further information is available from the Burscheid town administration (Ms. Preuß, Tel.: 02174 670-146).