Brod and Vyrov
Although the place might have existed as early as in the mid 1100’s, Brod is first mentioned in writing in Pope Gregory IX’s false text from 1239: it is called Nabrode and confirmed as a property of Kladruby Monastery. When the original trade route through Milevo and Prostibor to Sedmihori was not fit for the growing wagon traffic any more, a new route replaced it, leading from Kladruby, along the Dusnik Forest toward Brod, further to Stare Sedlo, and later pass Bonetice and Primda to Nuremberg. The village of Brod [Engl.: ford] must have got its name after the route ford on the Vyrovsky Creek.
In 1421 when the monks of Kladruby Monastery escaped the Hussites to Bavaria, the Emperor Sigismund issued a document in Stribro, which rents the monastery village of Brod and the Ochosice Forest to brothers Vlachs from Krsov. In return they were to provide him with five hundred men-at-arms every year. Upon the monks’ return, the monastery suffers serious economic difficulties and Abbot Busek decides to lease Brod to Otik from Tlucna. Later, the entire village falls back to the monastery property. In 1526 Abbot John leaves one of the Brod homesteads to Sigismund Manik of Brod in return for his protection of the surrounding monastery forests, meadows and lakes.
Tax property roll from 1654 states 114 inhabitants of Brod, 51 out of which were marked as the monastery subjects. Names of nine Brod farmers show that germanisation of its population was faster than in other places. Their names were Vaclav Lutz, Matej Lutz (earlier written as Luc), Jan Preys, Jan Hecht, Jan Stadelman, Vaclav Scharer, Peter Rott, Matej Ries and Sebastian Reminger. The mill of Brod with two wheels and saw belonged to Jirik Bintner. The Brod sloping village square has a four-sided chapel, which was reconstructed at the beginning of 90’s.
The above mentioned document of Pope Gregory IX’s speaks also about Vyrov (Wirov). Somewhere between Vyrov and Stare Sedlo there used to be a relatively large village of Cvrckov. In 1560 it is already presented as deserted. In 1420 the monastery leases Vyrov to Jindrich Strela of Bezdruzice; in 1506 a meadow is let to a Pilsen burgher for 20 heaps of groschen; in 1522 the village was indicated as deserted and belonged to the property of the Bor Schwambergs. In 1511, Jan of Schwamberg agreed that the monastery should build a large artificial lake between Brod and Vyrov. The project required substantial labour and financial costs. In 1654, the monastery owned the Vyrov Meierhof called Vejrovo with 6 subjects. In 1838, Vyrov is only a small village with five houses, a homestead, a gamekeeper’s lodge and a mill. It was divided in two parts, one belonged to Brod, one to Benesovice. In the first half of the 20th century the whole village fell under the Brod municipality.
Close to the Vyrov pond dam, two English businessmen built a smelting furnace in 1838–1841. A water-powered forge-hammer called Ludwigshammer on the meadow close to the Vyrov Creek east of the village was a part of it. Bellow Brod, the hammer had a system of small ponds supplying it with water in case of low water levels of the Vyrov Creek. According to a chronicle, the facilities employed up to 36 workers. In 1858 the dam of the Vyrov Lake broke, the flood destroyed the entire business and the Englishmen ran away without settling debts with their creditors. From the remainders of the forging hammer, the owner of Kladruby estate, Alfred Windisch-Grätz, built a lumber mill producing roof shingels. For a long years afterwards, black slag could be found in the place of the former furnace.
Since 1976, Brod and Vyrov have belonged to the municipality of Kladruby.
As of December 31, 2010, the village of Brod u Stribra has 59 permanent residents.
