Henning Meyer
The mill is rattling by the babbling brook...’
This text line of an old folk song, which is very popular in Germany, describes in a vivid way what was very usual for our ancestors for many centuries. Since the Middle Ages, the power of water has been used to process the often heavily harvested grain into flour, to bake the daily bread. As the mill, like the church, was a public institution, the administration lay with the local authority, that was in the Middle Ages the feudal lord. The mill was built on his orders, and all local farmers had to frequent exactly the mill that their lordship assigned to them. The local mills were under the responsibility of the district magistrate, who resided on the Hornburg as an officer of the bishop of Halberstadt.
The existence of a mill in Hornburg is documented as early as the 14th century. Where exactly it was located is not certain. Perhaps it was the reason for a watercourse to be diverted from the main stream of the Ilse river near the castle in order to use it to operate the mill. The watercourse of the so-called "Mühlenilse" still flows through the middle of the town today. During the 19th century, it was built over in today´s “Wasserstraße”, German for “Waterstreet”, which is not named for nothing. So nowadays it runs underground on the stretch between St. Mary's Church and the old Braunschweig Gate in the north of the town. But here at the Hagenmühle it still flows openly in its bed and contributes to the tranquil atmosphere of this lovely place.
To distinguish it from the “Lower Mill” which was located in the middle of the town on the market square, the Hagenmühle on the southern edge of the town was formerly called the "Upper Mill". It dates from 1552, at least the stone part that faces the watercourse. The pretty half-timbered building that was built above it is half a century younger and dates back to 1604.
For centuries, the people of Hornburg had their grain milled here, and an oil mill was added in the 18th century. The Hagenmühle served faithfully until 1969, then the milling operation was stopped. However, not completely and entirely, because its water wheel is still turning today.