Dobřív's unique surviving smithy forges ahead

About 30km east from Plzeň's famous beer works is another, very different sort of factory. At the village of Dobřív, not far from Rokycany, is one of the world's rarest examples of a surviving, working 'hammer mill': a water-powered smithy. It's still working today.

Until the industrial revolution, such mills were common. Along the river here, there were many such, burning the local beechwood to make the plentiful red, iron-rich sand into worked metal objects: ploughs, spades, nails, whatever.

It involved very hot fires - 1100C - and a lot of banging. First, a huge water-driven mechanical hammer would bludgeon the iron into rough forms. Then the blacksmith would smack it with hammers into the exact shape required.

The forge miraculously survived destruction through the centuries at the hands of capitalists, communists, or just impatient planners. In the 1970s, after all the forges around had long gone, it was an open-secret workshop where locals could get otherwise unobtainable bespoke metal parts and spares to repair equipment.

You can visit in summer, when the place is open for visitors and working, and hear the remarkable story. You can also have a try at clonking out your own bits of ironwork. It's hard graft enough for half a minute, never mind the four hours at a time sustained by the smiths of old.

Dobřív is a nice largely flat bike ride from Plzeň along the Panevropská ('Pan-European') bike path no.3. Allow a couple of hours. There's a riverside pub and restaurant in the village near the mill, and you can get the train back with your bike from Hrádek or Rokycany stations nearby. (Hrádek is about 4km from Dobřív but you have to change at Rokycany, which is a 9km ride from the mill.)

@visitplzen #visitplzen @visitcz #visitcz #visitczechia @turisturaj #turisturaj