Aumüli

The Aumüli is a hamlet in the municipality of Stallikon, in the Affoltern district of the canton of Zurich, at the southern foot of the Albis, east of Stallikon, between the hamlets of Gamlikon and Tägerst, on the Reppisch. It takes its name from the historic mill at its centre: listed in 1993 together with its outbuildings among objects of cantonal and national protected significance, it is the only stone mill in the Knonauer Amt (Affoltern district) to have kept its ancestral water right, wheel and sawmill. The Federal Office of Culture added it to the federal inventory of sites worth protecting (ISOS) in late 2012.

The first mill at Aumüli probably dates from the 9th century, which would make it one of the oldest in the canton of Zurich; deeds record it from 1328 in any case. It originally supplied the mills of Stallikon, Wettswil, Bonstetten, Aeugst am Albis, the Aeugst valley with the Obertal, and Buechenegg, linked by direct paths — a cart track still crossed the property between Bonstetten and Langnau until the road was built in 1860. At its peak it had two water wheels for one or two grinding mechanisms and a dehusking wheel, plus a saw wheel; a little higher up, the Vormühle drove, with two further wheels, a millstone, a hemp grinder and two feed stampers.

The double barn, built in 1852 in the Bernese farming style brought by Bernese immigrants, replaced an older, smaller stable building; it received a raised cart entrance in 1892. In 1872, the Bernese immigrant Johann-Ulrich Weyermann acquired the estate with 24 hectares of land and 5.5 hectares of forest; the Weyermanns traded in grain and timber, kept livestock, ran a carting business and bred horses there. Left to decay, the mill has been restored since 1999 by the Pro Aumüli foundation and association, largely through volunteer work: the centuries-old water channel and the Reppisch weir were rebuilt in 2007, and the wheel again drives, after 117 years of silence, the spelt-milling and the frame saw. In 2012, the two-storey timber-framed granary was restored and the estate's plum-brandy distillery brought back into use.

Why this place is remarkable

The Aumüli is the only stone mill in the Knonauer Amt to have kept, as a single working set, its ancestral water right, wheel and sawmill: a complete mechanism, recorded from 1328 and probably built in the 9th century, silenced by neglect for 117 years before a volunteer foundation set it running again from 1999. The water wheel once more mills spelt and drives the saw, in a hamlet that once supplied six neighbouring localities by direct paths.

History and origin

The mill, recorded from 1328 and probably built in the 9th century, served Stallikon, Wettswil, Bonstetten, Aeugst am Albis and Buechenegg until the 1860 road changed local traffic patterns. Listed in 1993 and added to the ISOS register in late 2012, it has been restored since 1999 by the Pro Aumüli foundation and association: the water channel and the Reppisch weir, rebuilt in 2007, let the wheel regain, after 117 years of silence, its milling and sawing function.