Bernsbach

Bernsbach is a village and a former municipality in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in Saxony in Germany that together with its constituent community of Oberpfannenstiel has roughly 4,700 inhabitants. Since 1 January 2013, it is part of the town Lauter-Bernsbach.GeographyThe community stretches from the valley of the river Schwarzwasser up to the Spiegelwald at 728 m above sea level, thereby offering a good view over the Ore Mountain towns of Aue and Schwarzenberg. This has led to Bernsbach’s nickname Balkon des Erzgebirges .HistoryIt is believed that Bernsbach was founded about 1200 by Frankish settlers. It had its first documentary mention in 1240 under the name Wernhardispach. About 1460, it was named in the gazetteer compiled by the Zwickau Franciscans as Pernsbach. At this time, Bernsbach belonged to the Grünhain Monastery, after whose dissolution in 1536 it passed to the Amt of Grünhain. In 1874, the community was assigned to the Amt court of Schwarzenberg, and since 1950 it has belonged to the court district of Aue.From 1679 to 1681, a church was built in the middle of the community, thereby splitting Bernsbach from the neighbouring community of Beierfeld, to whose parish it had hitherto belonged.During the community’s mining heyday, the Ore Mountains yielded forth iron, silver and sulphur. The ores were processed at a smelter. About 1538, hammer millers and tinners settled in the upper village, thereby bringing their skills at crafting metal by hand to what was once purely a farming community. To supply the ovens with fuel, charburners, among others, came to town.