Sluice Gates St.Alban-Tal - Basel, Switzerland - Historic Hand Operated Sluice Gates on Waymarking.com

This pair of sluice gates are located just next to the last remaining part of the medieval city walls of Basel. They control the water flow of a canal called St. Alban-Teich. The canal was originally dug by the monk of St. Alban monastery in the 11th century. It connected the river Birs to the area east of the monastery, where a craftsmen quarter developed as a consequence.

The western arm of the canal leads to "Schindelhof". In the Middle Ages Schindelhof was the terminus of the timber shipments that were passed over the canal into the city. The wood was sold here as building material and fuel. In addition, in Schindelhof directly shingles, fountain basins and wooden water pipes called Deicheln were prepared.

The eastern arm of the canal leads to the area where over dozen mills were located. One of them a former corn mill, that was converted into a paper mill in the 15th century, is still operational today as the living history and science museum "Swiss Museum for Paper, Writing and Printing".

The sluice gates control the flow of the two canal arms. They are in good condition, only the cranks are missing. But I guess this is on purpose, they are only temporarily added when the sluice has to be adjusted.

Name of Waterway.: St. Alban-Teich Roughly when was the Waterway created?: 11th century Is this waterway working?: Working What is the condition of the sluice gate?: Reasonable What is/was the water used for?: Other

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