“Straight in front of one, on the lovely rocky heights clad in green meadows and shrubbery along whose walls the river Rienz, foaming and roaring, cuts a channel through a wild gorge, is the venerable Lamprechtsburg stronghold […] In the immediate vicinity of the ‘Lochmühle’ mill on the edge of the forest, in the months of May and June, the loveliest Alpine roses can be found. A little to the right of the mill a small, extremely romantic valley opens up, through which a rushing stream flows towards the river Rienz.” This is how the author of the tourist guide, “Bruneck and its Environs” described the surrounding area of the Lochmühle in the Lamprechtsburg Gorge in 1874.

The Lochmühle was originally operated by contract millers. In 1860 the innkeeper and brewery owner, Josef Stemberger, acquired the mill, which by then had burned down. Some years later he built an inn here. The Lochmühle quickly became a popular destination for day trippers. However hygiene was not its strong point. Several times the Pusterthaler Bote newspaper called upon the landlord to deal with the “disgusting lack of cleanliness”.

The Lochmühle was swept away by the deluge of water during the great flood of 1882. This was followed by a landslide that significantly altered the landscape. Historic pictures lead us to believe that the Lochmühle stood at the confluence of the Heinrichsbach stream and the river Rienz – in other words, a little in front of today’s Lamprechtsburger bridge to the east.