Geographically, hammer mills were dependent on the availability of water power. At the same time, there had to be forests nearby to produce the large quantities of charcoal needed. In addition, there had to be deposits of iron ore in the vicinity in order to ensure that there was only a short distance to transport the iron-containing ores to the smelteries. Finally, agricultural land was needed in order to feed the many craftsmen involved.
Germany Hammer mills were widespread from the late
Middle Ages in the following regions: •
Bergisches Land (with more than one hundred sites) •
Upper Palatinate, especially in the area of the towns of
Amberg and
Sulzbach •
Thuringian Forest: Lauterhammer and Niederhammer in
Suhl by 1363,
Tobiashammer in
Ohrdruf (later also Kupferhammer and copper hammer mill) •
Fichtel Mountains •
Ore Mountains: 1352 Hammer in Pleil, c. 1380 Hammer Erla,
Frohnauer Hammer •
Harz Mountains •
Siegerland on the
Sieg river (today around
Siegen) •
Sauerland around
Hagen • Lahn-Dill Region and on the upper
Eder river In these regions there were iron ore deposits, which could be extracted with the means available at the time. There was a higher density in the Wupperviereck, where there were several hundred sites. The
Upper Palatinate was one of the European centres of iron smelting and its many hammer mills led to its nickname as the "
Ruhrgebiet of the Middle Ages". Placenames with the suffix
-hammer are very common in this region. The home of the lord in charge of a hammer mill was rather grandly known as a "hammer castle" or "hammer palace" (
Hammerschloss). This usually inconspicuous
schloss, which acted as the family seat of the "hammer lord", was generally located in the immediate vicinity of the mill. Important hammer castles may be seen along the
Bavarian Iron Route, for example in
Theuern, Dietldorf and
Schmidmühlen Austria In Austria the hammer mills were mainly found in the Iron Roots (
Eisenwurzen) along the Austrian Iron Route around the tripoint of the states of
Lower Austria,
Styria and
Upper Austria (e. g.
Ybbsitz) and in the Upper Styrian valleys of the
Mur and
Mürz and their side valleys. The seats of the hammer lords ("black counts") were known as
Hammerherrenhäuser ("hammer lord manors").
France Steelworkers in
Thiers,
France used hammer mills, powered by the Durolle River in the
Vallée des Rouets, for the production of
knives and other
cutlery until the middle of the 19th century.
England Hammer mills were not widespread in England, but there are examples such as the one at
Abinger Hammer in
Surrey from which the village derived its name. == Products ==