Bilstein in Höllental

Bilstein in Höllental IUCN Category IV - Habitat / Species Management Area
location	On the northern side of the Berka valley near Albungen in the Werra-Meißner district in Hesse .
Identifier	1636001
WDPA ID	81402
Natura 2000 ID	4725-303
FFH area	3.24 hectares
Geographical location	51 ° 14 '  N , 9 ° 58'  E Coordinates: 51 ° 13 '36 "  N , 9 ° 57' 52"  E
Sea level	from 180  m to 284.3  m
Setup date	First protection status in 1914, nature reserve since 1960, Natura 2000 area since 2008.
particularities	Special protection as a Natura 2000 area and nature reserve .

At 284.3  m above sea level in the Werra Mountains, the Bilstein in Höllental is the highest cliff made of diabase , a basalt-like volcanic rock. Due to its geological and botanical importance, the Bilstein received its first protection status by administrative order in 1914. The designation as a nature reserve followed in 1960 and since 2008 it has been part of the Natura 2000 protected area system as a Fauna-Flora-Habitat (FFH) area . The Bilstein was settled from the 12th to the 16th century. In 1120 Bilstein Castle was built , which was enthroned on the rock until it was demolished in 1594 and of which only a few remains of the wall are left.

location

The striking rock massif of the Bilstein rises to a height of 284.3  m on the northern side of the Berka valley in the eastern Meißner foreland . From the valley, which is called "Höllental" in this part between Frankershausen and Albungen , it rises almost vertically and towers above the valley floor by around one hundred meters. The rugged cliffs are part of a diabase dike, which with its hard rock and higher resistance to weathering opposed the erosion of the Berka. So the brook was forced to arch around the Bilstein. Further diabase breakthroughs follow downstream, narrowing the valley and giving the Höllental its special scenic charm.

Administratively, the area belongs to the district of Albungen, a district of the city of Eschwege in the Werra-Meißner district in northern Hesse . The area is part of the "Geo-Nature Park Frau-Holle-Land" . In terms of natural space , it is assigned to the " Soodener Bergland " in the "Lower Werrabergland" , which belongs to the main unit group " Osthessisches Bergland ".

Protected position

As early as 1914, the Bilstein received the status of a natural monument to be protected due to its botanical and geological peculiarities by a decree of the royal government, the then Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau .

At the end of the 1950s, the Höllental and with it the Bilstein, with the "Ordinance on the Protection of Landscape Parts in the District of Eschwege", was declared a landscape protection area by the lower nature conservation authority of the District of Eschwege . No changes were allowed to be made within the protected areas that were likely to impair or damage nature. Two years later, with an ordinance of February 29, 1960 of the higher nature conservation authority at the regional council in Kassel , the Bilsteins was registered in the state nature conservation book and thus placed under the protection of the still valid Reich Nature Conservation Act of 1935. The protected area with a size of 3.24 hectares has the national identifier 1636001 and the WDPA code 81402.

As part of the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive, the State of Hesse reported the nature reserve for the Europe-wide network of special protected areas Natura 2000 to the EU Commission . Natura 2000 aims to promote biological diversity and to preserve or restore a favorable condition of natural biotopes. The habitat types (LRT for short) of the "Bilstein" that are worthy of protection, which are of community interest and for the conservation of which special protected areas must be designated include " ravine and hillside mixed forests " (LRT 9180) and two rocky habitats: "Silicate rocks with crevice vegetation" (LRT 8220) and "Silicate rocks with pioneer lawn" (LRT 8230). Legal protection took place in January 2008 with the "Ordinance on Natura 2000 areas in Hesse". The FFH area, which has the same size and the same boundaries as the nature reserve, has the area number 4725-303 and the WDPA code 555520066.

geology

The cliff of the Bilstein towers over the surroundings.

The rocky areas of the Bilstein are of volcanic origin and consist of magma that has cooled to form diabase . Diabase formed in the Devonian and Lower Carboniferous , around 420 to 320 million years ago through submarine volcanism . Expansion processes when plates in the earth's crust drift apart caused cracks and crevices, through which the basaltic lava that flowed out rose and solidified on the sea floor. Through processes during the mountain formation and the subsequent erosion , the diabase came to the earth's surface over the course of millions of years .

Diabase have an extremely large strength and a little weathering on. Humans have used the diabase for thousands of years. Its use as a tool , such as scrapers, axes and hatchets , has been historically documented since the Stone Age . The Bilstein possibly owes its name to the use of the rock. “Bilstein” could be a modification of “Beilstein”. Another explanation for the common name is the assumption that Bilstein goes back to a Celtic word. It means "steep rock mountain" and this designation applies to all Bilsteine.

nature

View from Bilstein over the Berka valley with the “Frau Holle” inn to the Hohe Meißner.

On the standard data sheet, which is intended to collect all information relevant to the Natura 2000 sites in the European Union, the classification as a habitat of Community interest is justified as follows:

"Due to its unique vegetation (many species reach their absolute limit of distribution here) one of the most important rock relic locations for rare and endangered rock-typical animal and plant species in Hesse."

The rock exposed to the south has extreme micro-climatic conditions with large daily and annual temperature fluctuations on the soil surface. Precipitation flows off the shallow steep slope and is hardly available for plants. These conditions favor warmth-loving and drought-bearing species that have developed strategies on how to survive in this particular habitat. The open rock areas of the Bilstein, with its steep cliff slope fully exposed to the sun, are home to many of these plants. Some of these plant species such as the stiff leek and the writing fern reach the northern limit of their range here, with isolated occurrences.

Also noteworthy are the occurrences of small meadow rue , blue fescue , mountain stone herb , blood cranesbill , knotty grass lily , large-flowered foxglove and pea vetch .

The wealth of small ferns such as spleen fern , wall rue , Nordic striped fern , brown-stemmed striped fern is particularly great . Rare striped fern bastards also inhabit the crevices. Scientifically significant mosses from warm, dry geo-ecosystems and sometimes very rare lichens grow on the rocks .

Warmth-loving butterflies also live on the rock, such as the rare sail butterfly and the swallowtail .

A canyon and debris forest has formed on the north and east facing slopes in the protected area . The area interspersed with stone blocks is home to hardwoods such as red beech , sycamore maple , summer linden , ash and elm . By removing spruce and pine trees , the diversity of species and structures is to be preserved and further developed.

Culture

The tower stump saved from deterioration in 1970 through fortification work.

→ Main article : Bilstein Castle (Eschwege)

The Bilstein was settled from the 12th to the 16th century and the castle on the steep hilltop was the ancestral seat of the once important and wealthy Count Bilstein. The Bilsteiners provided the counts of Germarmark until 1070 . They were subject to the jurisdiction in the region. The place of justice was on the "Katzenloh" near Weidenhausen. Rugger II from the Bilsteiner dynasty built the castle complex in 1120. He also founded the Premonstratensian monastery in Germerode in 1145 . In 1301 the last count of Bilstein, Otto II., Sold his fiefdom to the Hessian landgrave Heinrich I and soon afterwards his other property. The "last Bilsteiner" died impoverished in 1306.

According to an old legend, however, the end of the “Last Bilsteiner” looked different: Enemies had long since besieged the castle without being able to starve the inhabitants, because the people of the “Höllenmühle” in the valley always supplied the castle from a hidden corridor New with food. This passage was discovered and the miller was killed. The supplies in the castle were running low and hunger became unbearable. Then the count had the wildest of his horses harnessed to his carriage, got into the carriage with his wife and child, and drove the horses on. The team sped over the edge of the cliff, fell into the depths and shattered.

The former count's castle, which occupied a dominant place in the region in the early Middle Ages, became increasingly dilapidated and demolished in 1594 by the Landgraves of Hesse. Today only a few parts of the wall and the remains of a well are left of the former castle complex, as well as a tower stump that was saved from deterioration through fortification work in 1970. The Bilstein castle ruins are a protected cultural monument due to their historical significance.

Tourist development

• Parking spaces for hikers are available at the “Frau Holle” inn and at “Nedderborn” on Landesstrasse 3242 in the Berka valley.
• From the hiking car park, a circular path with a length of 2.5 km leads over the Bilstein and through the valley, right along the stream, back to the starting point.
• The premium hiking trail P 23 "Höllental" runs with a length of 10 km partly on the same hiking trails also over the Bilstein.

literature

• Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen, protect-experience-maintain. Volume 3, Werra-Meißner district and Hersfeld-Rotenburg district . cognitio Verlag, Niedenstein 2005, ISBN 3-932583-13-2 .
• Hanna Wallbraun: On a journey of discovery on the Hohe Meißner . Ed .: Hanna Wallbraun and the Meißner-Kaufunger Forest Nature Park. Berkatal 2015.
• Adalbert Schraft: GeoTours in Hessen - Geological forays through the most beautiful regions of Hessen. Volume 3 - East Hessian Buntsandstein-Bergland and Werra-Meißner-Bergland . Hessian State Office for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology, Wiesbaden 2018, ISBN 978-3-89026-384-7 .
• Uta Hillesheim-Kimmel, Helmut Karafiat a. a .: The nature reserves in Hessen . Ed .: The Hessian Minister for Agriculture and Environment. Supreme nature conservation authority. 2nd Edition. Darmstadt 1978.
• Heidrun and Friedrich Jantzen: Natural monuments of Hesse . Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1985, ISBN 3-7842-0323-X , p. 50 f .

Web links

Commons : Bilstein im Höllental nature reserve  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fauna-Flora-Habitat-Guideline on the website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on January 19, 2020.
2. ↑ Classification of natural areas according to Otto Klausing in the Hessen Environmental Atlas at atlas.umwelt.hessen.de ; accessed on January 19, 2020.
3. ↑ Marcus Schmidt: The pioneering phase of state nature conservation in North Hesse in: Yearbook Nature Conservation in Hesse. Volume 14/2011/2012; accessed on January 19, 2020.
4. ^ Ordinance on the protection of parts of the landscape and parts of the landscape in the Eschwege district in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, No. 10/1958 of March 8, 1958, p. 327.
5. ↑ The ordinance came into force on April 2, 1960, the day it was announced in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse.
6. ^ Ordinance on the nature reserve "Bilstein im Höllental" in the State Gazette for the State of Hesse, No. 14/1960 of April 2, 1960, p. 426 f.
7. ^ "Bilstein im Höllental" nature reserve in the world database on protected areas; accessed on January 19, 2020.
8. ↑ List of habitats occurring in Germany in Appendix I of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive; accessed on January 19, 2020.
9. ^ Ordinance on the Natura 2000 areas in Hesse of January 16, 2008, in the Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse, Part I, No. 4, of March 7, 2008.
10. ↑ Profile of the FFH area “Bilstein im Höllental” on the website of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN); accessed on January 19, 2020.
11. ↑ FFH area "Bilstein im Höllental" in the world database on protected areas; accessed on January 19, 2020.
12. ↑ Heidrun and Friedrich Jantzen: Naturdenkmale Hessens , p. 51 f.
13. ↑ Standard data sheet for special protected areas; accessed on January 19, 2020.
14. ^ Uta Hillesheim-Kimmel, Helmut Karafiat a. a .: The nature reserves in Hessen . P. 344 f.
15. ^ Lothar and Sieglinde Nitsche, Marcus Schmidt: Nature reserves in Hessen . P. 105 f.
16. ↑ Katzenloh Court Square. Courts in Hesse. (As of July 11, 2013). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
17. ↑ According to other sources, the founder was his eldest son Rugger III.
18. ↑ Hanna Wallbraun: Exploring the Hohe Meissner . P. 176 f.
19. ^ "The last Bilsteiner" in Karl Lyncker German sagas and customs in Hessian districts . P. 119 f; accessed on January 19, 2020.
20. ↑ Monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cultural monuments in Hessen. Werra-Meißner district I, old district Eschwege. Peer Zietz in collaboration with Thomas Wiegand, Braunschweig; Wiesbaden: Vieweg. 1991. ISBN 3-528-06240-1 . P. 329 f.
21. ↑ Map on the website of the Geo-Naturpark Frau-Holle-Land; accessed on January 19, 2020.