Water mills of Imstychevo village. Part One.

I have to travel a lot around Transcarpathia with local history tasks and get to see a lot. But it is for the first time I meet several water mills in one village. Yes, exactly three water-mills are located in the village Imstychevo of Irshava district. All of them are located in a small village Bystryy, which is situated 3-4 miles from the center of the village. Unfortunately, only one of three mills is running now. One more has been recently abandoned, but its parts are used as "spare parts" for the remaining working mill. The third one is completely collapsed. The "water wheel" and the skeleton of the walls are only remained.

By the way, water mills have been known since the Roman Empire of IIth century BC and described by Vitruvius. They were widespread in the Middle Ages, especially in the monasteries. Benedict of Nursia appointed each monastery to have a watermill.

We arrived in the village early in the morning, discovered that the road was quickly deteriorating, we left the car at the old "like a barn" building with stone walls. As it turned out, it was an electric mill which was still running. A huge electric motors twist millstone and they have fulfilled a useful function for many years. There is the old Jewish cemetery opposite the mill. The road goes sharply up and crosses the territory of the Gypsy camp behind the cemetery.



About forty minutes of quick walking on rural streets, occasionally passing by fantastically beautiful old houses made of abode, with the harvest of pumpkins in the yards, and you go to the edge of the trough. Somewhere below you hear gurgling of a creek.

We go down the winding path down the slope and soon come to a metal trough for diverting water from the stream. As it is evident from the construction, a wide trough gathers sufficient quantity of water, acting as a kind of "surge tank", and thanks the sharp narrowing of the construction, raises the water level and accelerates its flow.



The flow of water enters the inclined chute, and, gaining enough speed, hits the blades of the wheel on the axis which goes into the bowels of the mill.



Below, view of the chute, a wheel, and a side wall of the mill. Water is bubbling, and the wheel is not moving. As it turned out – it was locked inside. There is no work - what's the point to turn it out. It is rather strangely. Most of the mills that I've ever seen had a system of valves to divert water at times when the mill is not used. In the case of "Imstychevo Mill" - I could not find a similar system.



In general, the mill is a long hut, consisting of a technical room in which actually, all is happening, and another room, as I understood, currently is used by the miller's family to stay. We knocked. A little girl opened and she gladly agreed to show us mechanisms of the Mill.

That, what will be grinded, is filled through a wooden hopper from the top. The girl drew our attention to the fact that their "Mill" grinded not only wheat but also, for example, corn. What is ordered – that is between the millstones. Slightly adjust the process - and already ground maize pours out of millstones...



The cobweb covered with shallow flour dust looks just gorgeous. Psychedelics. My first thought, when you saw that, was about the evil spirits, who, as you know, always liked to stay at mills very much and rubbed shoulders with millers.



It is another view on the heart of the mill. A bucket full of wheat is on the right. A system of any levers is behind the bucket. A huge 'wheel' of millstone is further. All constructive elements are as old as life itself.



By the way, water mills, those which I have ever seen, besides its main purposes, always have secondary ones. It is not good if the driving force of the water disappears in vain. It is a belt taken from the pulley on the photo below. When you put it on, somewhere in the depths something rumbles and the grinding wheel starts working. By the way, it happened to meet the "gearings" for all sorts of blacksmith's tools on some mills.



There is the oven at the exit of the mill. Judging from the construction, it is used for blacksmithing.



After a hard working day this couple is resting on the fence...



There are several glades with mowed grass around the old mill. A creek and its branches share the glades. There are few old bridges across the creek. Pay attention that one of them starts between two tree trunks.



In one of the glades, after mills the part of the water flow is assigned with a trough to the middle of the glade into a small "lake" which is used, apparently, for watering of the cattle. Or children play breeding newts. In order a small lake is not overflowed; water goes into the main stream through the outlet channel (on the left).



As I have already said there have been two abandoned mills in the village Imstychevo. They are situated in 150 meters above the creek. You can read about them in the second part of our story.


Related links:

Water mills of Imstichevo village. Part Two.

05.10.2012. 09:45

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