From among approx. 30 structures which were once operated on the river, there are currently a couple of them preserved in a really good condition. The most beautiful ones can be found in Talar, Barycza, Zielęcice, Wola Marzeńska, Brzeski, and Kozuby.

History

The first mentions about the farm in Talar come from the early 16th century. Originally, there was a forge here, powered by water. The mill was mentioned in documents of 1568. The mill building and other structures are located along the line of the earth causeway damming water on the river Grabia. In the causeway, a stone and concrete weir is embedded, with a free-flow culvert and two active culverts with turbine chambers. Over the weir, there is a road bridge - originally wooden, but currently made of steel spars, with the roadway of wooden beams. The mill building is located on the southern side of the mill race. On its northern side, there is a groats mill, probably built in the original location of the mill. Each of the buildings has its own water power station. The mill - built in the end of the 19th century - was traditionally powered by the dammed water of the river Grabia. Water moved the wheel which drove - through a transmission unit (consisting of a great spur wheel with stone nuts) - a mill stone unit. In the end of the 19th century, the mill farm became a property of Kazimierz Fiszer. The mill remained in the hands of the Fiszer family until the end of 1930s. They built the current structure, while the older one - small mill - they adapted to produce groats. Before the World War I, the undershoot wheel was replaced by a turbine. On the weir between the buildings, on old stone foundations, two chambers were built, where Francis turbines were installed. At a later time, the turbines were modernised by adding an inlet guide, which enabled to regulate the flaw of water through the rotor. The drive from the turbine was transmitted, through gearing, to the main shaft of the wide-face pulley, and then - to all mill devices and machines (coupled drive). During the World War II, the mill was operated under the supervision of a German, Meck. After the war, the property of the miller, which comprised 79 ha of land and the mill, was nationalised. The mill was leased from a communal cooperative by millers: Wypych, Tuszyński, and Łytka. In 1952, the turbine was replaced by a larger one (of analogical set-up and design), with serial number 1265, manufactured in the Machine Factory in Radmosko (the former factory of Kryzel and Wojakowski). As of 1971, the mill was driven by an electric engine. In May 1995, the production was discontinued as it became unprofitable. Currently the mill is a private property, and the owners organise in it a regional chamber. The mills were joined by a wooden bridge which collapsed in 2011, and was replaced by a new concrete one. The small mill was built in the mid-19th century. After a fire which destroyed the whole mill farm in 1881, it was reconstructed. It is known that until the end of the 1930s, it belonged to Józef Fiszer. After the World War II, a generator was installed in the building, which supplied a 100 V current to the neighbouring farms. In 1949, the building was nationalised. The small mill was in operation until 1965, and later it was used a storehouse.

Description

The water mill complex is located on the river Grabia in the village of Talar (once part of the village of Ldzań, a mill settlement). The mill is a wooden, free-standing building erected on a rectangular floor plan, with three storeys, basement, and a loft. It was built on a foundation made of field stone bound with concrete. On the axis of the longer side, a foundation slab runs through the centre of the foundation. On the stones of the foundation, under the wall base, along the whole circumference, there is a soldier brickwork band. The wall base is made of oak logs connected with scarf joints, and the structure of walls is mixed. In the corner, there is corner-notched log structure with “dovetail” corners. The openings are embedded in a post-and-plank structure. The south-eastern corner from the outside, at the level of the second and third storey, is reinforced with supports. The gable walls of the loft are covered with abutting weatherboards. The roof truss structure is of a purlin type. The tie members are supported on posts with raking shores. The rafters in the upper section are connected using lap joints, with dowels. The roof is of gable type, and it is covered with felt on weatherboarding. The eaves projecting ahead of the wall face are supported on sculptured braces. The ceiling is made of visible beams, with a crossbeam. The ceiling beams and the crossbeam are chamfered. The floors are made of pine boards in abutting arrangement. The internal stairs are single-flight and made of wood. The front doors are wooden, two-leaf, made of boards, and clad from outside with weatherboards arranged in herringbone pattern. The edges of the battens are profiled. The door is mounted on strap hinges and equipped with a rim lock. The handle and blacksmith’s escutcheon are embedded in the door frame. The building features two-leaf six-panel single framed windows. Also, all grinding devices inside have been preserved, as well as the transmission system with the main shaft and belt pulley attachments. Although the mill had been operated for many years with the use of an electric engine, the complete water turbine has been left in the chamber (rotor with vertical shaft, inlet gauge with blades, mechanical regulator of the inlet gauge, gearbox between the vertical and the horizontal shaft, and closing mechanism of the inlet to the turbine chamber). The vertical shaft of the turbine is ended with a wheel with conically arranged wooden teeth pointing downwards. The wooden teeth of the wheel interlock with a gear wheel on the horizontal shift. The latter, fixed on two sliding bearings, leads to the production building of the mill, where, through a similar conical transmission, it drives the main transmission shaft (13 m long). This shaft - which is the main element of the mill’s drive system - runs along the parallel wall to the axis of the river, and it rests on six sliding bearings, fixed to wooden supporting beams. On the main transmission shaft, there are also nine belt pulleys fixed with diameter of 1.3 m each, and one clutch. The shaft ends with a cast iron wheel with conical teeth which transmits the rotation from the turbine. By the main transmission, there is an electric engine placed on steel guides, powering, through a belt pulley transmission, the main transmission. The rotation from the main transmission was transmitted to individual machines through a system comprised of the main shaft and belt pulley attachments. The complete set-up of the transmission system has been preserved in the mill. The main transmission is 12 m long and suspended under the roof of the loft. It is comprised of a shaft (50 mm in diameter), on which 14 belt pulleys are fixed with diameter of 340 mm each. The main transmission is fixed to the ceiling with ten sliding bearings. The drive system is supplemented by two belt pulley attachments: an attachment with a shaft of 45 mm in diameter and 3 m in length, with three sliding bearings and three belt pulleys of 340 mm in diameter; an attachment with a shaft of 40 mm in diameter and 6 m in length, with eight sliding bearings and three belt pulleys of 340 mm in diameter; and an attachment with a shaft of 40 mm in diameter and 2 m in length, with two sliding bearings and three belt pulleys of 340 mm in diameter. The belts of the pulley transmissions are absent, and their technical condition is variegated. The turbine’s power was approx. 80 HP. The small mill is a wooden, two-storey building with a basement and a loft, built on a foundation of field stone and concrete. From the south, it is adjoined by a turbine house resting on a concrete foundation. The structure of walls is complex: the eastern and southern walls at the level of the ground floor features post-and-plank structure, and log structure in the corners, and in the higher section - half-timbered structure covered with weatherboards with battens on joints, and the eastern and northern wall, throughout two storeys, feature a mixed structure: post-and-plank and corner notched one. The gable walls of the loft are covered with abutting weatherboards. The ceilings are made of wood, with visible structure, and laid on beams resting on the external walls of the building. The building is covered with a gable roof with a wooden rafter structure. The rafters are joined with collar beams, resting in the joining points on a queen post frame with raking shores. From the south, from the side of the mill race, a power room with a shed roof adjoins the building. Its foundations are made of concrete and form an open chamber inside which there is a Francis turbine. Over the chamber, a single-storey power room building is built with a half-timbered structure. The walls are covered with vertical abutting weatherboards.

The historic monument is accessible. The buildings may be visited in the spring and summer season, on Saturdays and Sundays.

compiled by Agnieszka Lorenc-Karczewska, Regional Branch of the National Heritage Board of Poland in Łódź, 08-09-2014.

Bibliography

• Baranowski B., Polskie młynarstwo, Wrocław 1977.
• Katalog zabytków budownictwa przemysłowego w Polsce, t. 4: Województwo łódzkie