Broumov
The Hamerský potok Stream Nature Trail
The Hamerský potok Stream Nature Trail was completed in summer of 2010. It begins in the place where the forest road branches off from the main road from Zadní Chodov to Broumov. The trail reveals interesting sights of nature around Hamerský creek and the history of iron ore processing and the production of pigments. The creek valley was a major industrial area during the reign of Berchem – Haimhausen at the Chodovoplánské estate. The area surrounding the trail is formed mainly by cordierite and biotic gneisses and migmatites, which are permeated by bands of orthogneisses with muscovite and biotite. The trail is 2.1 km long and has 8 stops. It begins in the flat valley of Huťský creek about one kilometer before Broumov. The metalled road leads to Hamerský creek, whose water power was used to drive the iron-mills and flour mills. The Broumovský ash, more than a quarter of a millennium old, grows at the edge of the forest. It is the oldest ash in the Plzeňský (Pilsen) region and is the third largest ash in the Czech Republic.The tree has a huge trunk, the bottom of which has hypertrophies extending to the exposed roots.It was planted in 1746. Its circumference reached 673 cm in 2006. Behind the ash begins the memorable Oak avenue. From the mill the planted trees extend for a kilometer along the road to the little castle in Broumov. The Oak avenue leads futher to the remains of Dolní iron-mill. The bedrock of the trail between the Broumov ash and the Oak avenue consists mostly of gneiss. The fifth stop tells about Dolní iron-mill, which processed pig iron from the nearby blast furnace. A cottage and pond are on the private property above the iron-mill. The next stop tells the history of pigment production in the so called dyeing mill. Dyeing mill, for the first time mentioned in the year 1760, was called „The count blue-color plant" in that time, producing a blue pigment, generally termed „smalt". The essence of smalt is a cobalt glass, called “šmolka”. Usage of the cobalt color was wide. Textile, paper, porcelain, glass and other materials were tinted with that. The plant yearly bought and imported roughly 10 tons of cobalt ores from Jáchymov. In the year 1774 the plant approached turnover more than 12.000 guldens and more than 50 tons of šmolka have been sold. Blue colors were exported to wholesale store in Bamberg and to Amsterdam. Since as early as 1771 a blast furnace of the Broumov ironworks was constructed in the site of dye house. The Nature trail ends at the Broumov spruce, which has a trunk circumference of 4.3 meters, height of about 40 meters and its age is estimated to be 200 years. There is a monument of Sv. Vit .(St. Vitus) near the tree. The trail ends at the edge of Broumov by the historic little castle, which was used as the forestry and metallurgical office in the 18th and 19th century. Today it houses the restaurant.
Plan of naturetrail
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Pond at the Hamerský potok stream
