Mühlenweg 25

The Burgmühle stands beside the Streu in Mellrichstadt, a working sawmill that has been cutting timber for centuries. First recorded in 1303 when Siegfried von Stein held it as a Würzburg fief, the mill passed through many noble hands—Eberhard von Maßbach, the von der Kere family, and Berthold von Bibra among them—before reverting to the Hochstift in 1592. Heavy damage during the Thirty Years’ War left the mill in ruins, yet it rose again and, in 1780, Johann Herter built the new sawmill that still stands today. What makes the Burgmühle worth the journey is its unbroken line of ownership spanning seven centuries and its status as Mellrichstadt’s oldest surviving mill. The structure itself tells that story: beams bear the marks of generations of millers and stonemasons, while the Streu’s steady flow still powers the blades. Local historians such as Walter Graumann and Josef Kuhn have chronicled these details, and Helmut Schlereth’s 2019 study of inscribed stones adds further layers to the site’s layered past. Visitors find the sawmill set in a quiet riverside clearing just outside the town centre. The main building houses the original waterwheel and a restored saw frame that still slices logs on busy days. A gravel path follows the Streu upstream, where willows dip into the water and kingfishers flash past. On the far bank, a low stone bridge built in the 18th century carries Mellrichstadt’s old trade route over the river, completing the picture of a place where industry and nature have worked side by side for hundreds of years.