Ahrhütte

Ahrhütte Municipality Blankenheim Coordinates: 50 ° 23 ′ 18 ″  N , 6 ° 44 ′ 19 ″  E
Height :	356 m above sea level NHN
Area :	18.13 km²  (with Dollendorf)
Residents :	256
Population density :	14 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	53945
Area code :	02697
Location of Ahrhütte in North Rhine-Westphalia

Ahrhütte is a district of the municipality Blankenheim in the district of Euskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia .

Surname

The name Ahrhütte consists of two parts: the first part is “Ah” and indicates “water”, the letter “r” belongs to the roots rhe and rho; they mean "to flow" (cf. ancient Greek ʻρέω [rheo] = "I flow"). The old Germanic word “ara” means “river water” that is in unavoidable movement. The word "Ahr" means "flowing water". “Hut” is related to the Old High German word “hutta”, or to the ancient Greek word κεὑδείν [keuthein], meaning “to hide” and “to be safe”. Ahrhütte can therefore be translated as “apartment on flowing water”. The name of the place also indicates the former steel works on the Ahr.

location

Less than ten kilometers southeast of Blankenheim and around 325– 420  m above sea level. NHN is the small town of Ahrhütte on the B 258 . The village extends geologically in the "Dollendorfer Kalkmulde", a coral reef from the Devonian period (390-360 million years). The living conditions at that time are likely to have been optimal for numerous marine life forms, as the limestone basin is known for its wealth of fossils. The landscape around Ahrhütte is characterized by juniper-rich lime-lime lawns, extensive pastures, species-rich bush formations and mixed deciduous forests. The area is cut through by the Ahr , into which the Mühlenbach flows.

history

The first mention of the place comes from the year 1511. The Duke of Arenberg had an income register made in which it was written: "The hoff up of the huts (huts) gylt dit jair 30 times halff eyn halff others" (Der Hof von / at the Hütten there are 30 painters this year , half one, half the other).

The village owes its origins and name to an industry long past, the iron industry. The Dukes of Arenberg , whose ancestral seat was in the nearby Aremberg , built the iron processing plant as a “lease hut” , probably in the early 16th century . The factory was in their possession until the French troops marched in in 1794. The last blast furnace went out in 1861, and the history of the iron processing industry in the town was over. The lime industry, which flourished with several lime kilns and quarries, represented a small substitute with the decline of the iron industry . From the construction of the first lime kiln in 1859 to the closure of the last lime works in 1969, this branch provided the only industrial jobs in the area. The plant on the Freilingen side, which was last in operation, produced around 50 tons of lime per day until it was closed . After the demolition in 1975, the site was acquired by the NRW Foundation in 1982. As part of the “Ahr 2000” project, this section of the valley was included in a federal funding program that secures parts of nature and the landscape that are worthy of protection.

As early as 1849, plans were made to build a brick factory, but they were not implemented until 1854. Around 1866 the facility was expanded. The clay was lifted near Neuhof and carted into the village. The sale of these so-called "Schottel spans" extended to Schleiden . The brick bakery existed until the beginning of the 20th century, in 1911 the site was sold and rebuilt.

While remains of the lime industry can still be found here and there, the last evidence of the iron industry has long been removed. Around 1950 part of the blast furnace was cleared, the remaining remnants were demolished in 1965 because the plot was to be rebuilt. The coal shed that belonged to the ironworks was still in agricultural use for a while, but was demolished in 1983. In its place stands today's parish hall. The street names of the place "Am Hammerwerk", "Hüttenstraße", "Hüttenhof" and "Hüttenberg" keep the memory alive of a time when the prosperity of the residents was based on the work of the miners and metallurgical workers. What has been preserved, however - in addition to the ducal riding master's house from 1677 - is the Stollenhof or Goddarzhof, a courtyard from the 16th century (engraving in the lintel: 1549), which was later renovated and expanded. Like the hut, it is on the left, the Arenbergische Ahrseite, while the actual place was mainly on the right Ahrseite. This natural boundary is no longer relevant for the place today. In the feudal period, however, it represented the state border between the Duchy of Arenberg (left side of the Ahr with the parish of Lommersdorf and the communities of Freilingen and Lommersdorf ) and the county of Manderscheid-Blankenheim (here the rule of Dollendorf with the parish and the community of Dollendorf of the same name) The river was formally preserved as the municipality boundary until 1969, and since the beginning of the 19th century, Ahrhütte has been cared for exclusively from Dollendorf .

Ahrhütte had a rail connection via the Dollendorf train station in the village, the Upper Ahr Valley Railway . A good 40 years after its shutdown and the dismantling of the tracks, a cycle path was built on the railway line, which was opened in 2005. There are several restaurants in the village.

Sightseeing and tourism

See also : List of architectural monuments in Blankenheim (Ahr)

There are only a few art monuments on site. In addition to the ones mentioned (Stollenhof and Reitmeisterhaus), the Antonius Chapel , consecrated in 1932 and built with funds from the population, the former Sons'sche or Dollendorfer Mühle upstream and the Lommersdorfer Mühle (also Dreimühle) downstream, as well as individual houses.

The Eifel-Höhen-Route cycle path , which runs around the Eifel National Park , leads through the village . Likewise the Ahr cycle path , which connects the Ahr source in Blankenheim with the Ahr confluence with the Rhine near Sinzig .

In 2016, a new tourist attraction opened its doors with the Eifalia Butterfly Garden. You can see 400 tropical butterflies in the tropical house and in the outdoor area native species and their forage plants. In 2017, Eifalia already had 15,000 visitors.

literature

• Johannes Becker: History of the parishes of the deanery Blankenheim. Cologne 1993, p. 461 ff.
• Christoph Bungartz , Ralf Gier, Peter Scheulen: From the Eifel to America. Emigration to North America 1840–1914. Euskirchen 2005.
• Hermann Bungartz: Dollendorf / Eifel. Landscape and history. 2. verb. Hillesheim 1989 edition.
• Thomas Eßer: The steelworker Stejnmans. Euskirchen 1987.
• Ralf Gier: Neuhof 1725 until today. In: About castle and source. No. 94, April 2001, pp. 15-23.
• Jochen Kirwel: Ahrhütte - history of an Eifel town. Ahrhütte 2011.
• Peter Neu: The Arenbergs and the Arenberger Land. Volumes 1-6; Koblenz 1995 ff.
• Paul Spülbeck: Lommersdorfer Chronik . 2nd improved edition. Lommersdorf 1950 (revised and supplemented new edition by Albert Luppertz 1999).
• Ernst Wackenroder : The art monuments of the Schleiden district. Düsseldorf 1932, pp. 106-108, 473.

Web links

Commons : Ahrhütte  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Ahrhütte near the municipality of Blankenheim

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ahrhütte. (No longer available online.) Blankenheim community, archived from the original on August 2, 2016 ; accessed on October 6, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Michael Greuel: The Eifalia Garden in Ahrhütte shows the colorful world of butterflies. In: General-Anzeiger (Bonn). August 21, 2018, accessed May 5, 2019 .