Slitting fire process
The slitting fire method was mainly used in the Middle Ages to destroy buildings constructed in shell construction. Fortifications such as castles or city walls , but also larger houses, were built using this method of construction , as it was possible to build quickly, cheaply and at the same time on a massive scale. A shell wall consists of two walls (shells) with loose stones and mortar in between.
With the slitting fire process, the walls were pried or chiseled open at a height of about one meter, with the removed masonry gradually being replaced by wooden planks. In addition, oak planks were driven deep into the masonry. Then wood and brushwood were piled up around the building. If you then set the wood on fire, the lime in the mortar burned and the outer shells collapsed because they were only weakly connected to the filling material. In this way, large buildings such as towers or gate structures could also be dragged .
The razing of the Isenburg in Hattingen is an example of the application of this process. During the excavation work were Palas several charred ends found by chosen oak planks.
proof
- ^ Heinrich Eversberg : Count Diedrich von Isenberg and the Isenburg, 1193-1226. 20 years of research, excavation, restoration 1969–1989 (= Hattinger Heimatkundliche Schriften. Vol. 32, ZDB -ID 500141-9 ). Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Hattingen eVua, Hattingen 1990.