The Bürgermühle at the Rems and Zwinger

The large house on the left just behind the archway going towards Michaelskirche is the former Bürgermühle (Citizen's Mill), located directly on the Mill Canal and weir. The name of the alley on the right of the mill building - "Zwinger" - shows that there used to be a bailey here.

Bürgermühle - Citizen's Mill (Bürgermühlenweg 11)

"Several mills" are mentioned in records going back to 1268. Today the locations of four mills are still known: the Bürgermühle on Bürgermühlenweg, the former Häckermühle near the Haus der Stadtgeschichte, the Walk- und Lohmühle on Kegelplatz and the Waldmühle on Waldmühleweg. The mill canal was also built at that time in order to provide the mills with a regular and controllable water supply. The flood marks from the years 1817 / 1824 / 1827 / 1919 / 1889 / 1862 / 1893 / 1920 / / /1663 / 1956 on the house corner show how ubiquitous the danger of flooding was on the Rems. The Bürgermühle, known since 1806 as 'Hahnsche Mühle' after the last owners, was one of the few buildings to survive the fire of 1634, and is thus one of the oldest buildings in the town. The coat of arms stone above the door on the gable side from 1574 (the oldest coat of arms of Waiblingen) shows a double "W", which means that the town had received the mill as a tenure of Wirtemberg. The mill was closed in 1921. Of the original five water wheels in the Mühlkanal, the largest one with a diameter of 6 m has been preserved. It only rotates for demonstration purposes and does not serve to generate electricity. In the glazed annex, Stadtwerke Waiblingen set up a hydroelectric power station (Francis turbine from 1896) for demonstration purposes. This can supply up to 30 households. (see information board in the annex).

Zwinger (Bailey or Kennel)

The outer or forewall ring which originally encircled almost the entire town begins at the Bürgermühle going towards the former Fellbach Gate. The space between the two walls is called the Zwinger (bailey) and served as a defensive area. In times of peace, the area was used as a garden and grass court. From here you can take a short cut through the Zwinger to the former Fellbacher Tor, which stood behind the archway at the end of the "Zwinger" alley.