Voborník Mill (Old Mill)

Also previously known as the Old Mill. It is located at the end of the promontory directly below house No. 1212, at the foot of the Zázvorka Tower. The first known decree of Jan I. z Kácova from 1503 mentions it, and another reference is contained in a report from Jan II. z Kácova dated 1527. In 1757, the mill is listed as the manorial mill, and continued to operate as such until 1787. In 1613, Rudolf ze Stubenberku had obtained the mill for his own use, and assigned it to his neighbours in Nové Město, "in the old mill, its lower wheel with the mill in the manorial mill, below the town for grinding malt”. Records further state that new terraces above the old mill were similarly granted, at the expense of the municipality in 1616.

During the life of Jan Černčinský, water was pumped from this building up to the bastion of the city’s waterworks. In 1636, the old mill in Nové Město nad Metují was also called the Red Mill. In 1737, the mill was bought by Václav Král for 900 gold coins from the nobility. At that time it was a mill comprising three parts, obliged to grind grains for "half the city (both sides) with the suburbs and the villages of Wrchoviny, Jestřabí and Blažkov.” This remained the case until 1893. The mill was listed as building No. 1080, and it was a town mill. The tenant of the mill was still Jan Voborník (1841-1930). He came from Lhota u Nahořan and lived a very colorful life. In the war of 1866, he became famous for his fearless raids against the Prussians, waging a veritable partisan war. After the war he worked as a mason in Pecs (today’s Budapest) on construction of the parliament building, and when he returned, he bought the old mill No. 1080 under Zázvorka. His entrepreneurship and hard work led to its complete reconstruction, and he set up a power plant at the mill at the end of the 19th century, being at the time only the second power plant in Eastern Bohemia in private hands. In 1925, the city bought and operated the plant. During World War II, the mill was known as Horák’s Mill. However, the miller Horák was only a tenant. The mill was never returned to any of its former owners under restitution.

GPS: 50° 20' 42.9'', 16° 9' 8.4''