Some publications cite a first reference of Großdrebnitz already for 1007, when Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor donated a castellum Trebista  [de] to the Bishop of Meißen.

In the year 1559, when Augustus, Elector of Saxony had secularized the Stolpen territory of the Bishop of Meißen, the Amtsschösser was directed to search for gold in Großdrebnitz.

Records from that time finally tell about silver which was mined near the church.,[2][3] Augustus, Elector of Saxony, introduced Protestant Reformation to the Stolpen region in 1559.

In 1811, highly decorated Nake, one of the key persons of Saxony's world famous sheep breeding at that time, established a private farm in the Vorwerk in Kleindrebnitz.

After the Napoleonic wars Saxony urgently needed money to rebuild the country and thus decided to lift the export ban on living Merinos.

[6] It is reported that later forestry professor Max Neumeister was born here and it is supposed that for some years it served as manufacture to build the Herbrig organs.