William Shakespeare just brought Romeo and Julia to life, Galileo Galilei revolutionized natural sciences and Rembrandt learned how to walk. When the Ahe-Hammer blacksmith’s shop started up its operations in Herscheid/Werdohl more than 400 years ago, the world was still a different one.
Visitors to the historic blacksmith’s shop can still immerse themselves in this world today. It is the Foundation’s first and until now only early industrial monument site. Craftsmen produced the so-called "märkische Osemund iron" here by using hydropower. This iron was a soft and malleable material that especially served to produce high-quality wire.
The plant takes its name from the Schwarze Ahe River, where the blacksmith’s shop was built. A hammer pond is right behind the building, in which the river’s water still dams up today. The craftsmen generated the power they needed from here to drive the imposing forge hammer inside of the plant: The water fell through flood crates on two overshot water wheels, which consequently set it into motion. One wheel drove a bellow that stoked up the blacksmith’s fire. The other got the hammer shaft going, therefore ensuring the hammer’s operation: Ridges of the axis pressed the hammer handle downwards. The hammer head swung up and quickly dropped down to the anvil again due to its tare weight.
And this already at a time when the invention of the steam engine was still about 100 years ahead in the future.