Heeßel Castle
The castle Heeßel is the Burgstall one of walls surrounded, early medieval fortification near the Burgdorf district Heeßel in Lower Saxony . The period of use extended from the 8th to the 13th century, and the castle is said to have been the seat of the Burgdorf family from Depenau at times. Today there are still extensive earth walls and the castle hill from the complex.
location
The castle is located about 20 km as the crow flies northeast of the city center of Hanover and about 2 km west of Burgdorf . It is located in the "Heeßeler Tannen" forest about 200 m outside of Heeßel within a landscape protection area . It can be reached via the Burgweg, which leads south in Heeßel from the main road (formerly B 188 ). While the place is on a ridge , a former fen begins at the castle site . The builders had carefully planned the location of the complex and placed the ramparts exactly where the raised sand island of the Geest extends into the marshy valley in the shape of a tongue. The castle site once existed with forest that the builders had cleared by burning down. This was evident from a layer of charcoal discovered during the 1934 excavation.
discovery
Until the 20th century, only the local population was aware of the walls of the former castle , which were hidden in the forest . The elevations were thought to be due to the Ice Age and were not seen as the former fortifications. A teacher recognized the importance of the rampart when the property owner removed a 90 m long stretch of rampart for agricultural reasons in the early 1930s. As a result, the complex was recognized as a cultural monument worthy of protection and placed under monument protection in its entirety .
excavation
Between March and June 1934 an archaeological investigation of the fortification was carried out under the direction of the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover and with the participation of students. During the extensive excavations , around 25 excavation cuts were made in the ground and the ramparts and 10 excavation areas were extensively exposed. A topographical recording of the facility and the area was also made, which resulted in a detailed sketch of the location (see web links).
construction
At the castle there was a lowland castle type a Turmhügelburg , additionally by ramparts in the style of a hill fort was surrounded. The core of the fortification was a small castle hill with the dimensions of about 20 × 20 m. There was probably a wooden tower on it, which was used for defense as well as residential purposes. The hill was secured by a ditch. The interior of the facility was secured by two gates.
The castle hill forms the main castle , around which a large spiral rampart leads. Outside, a smaller, triangular outer bailey resulted from a partial wall in front . The surrounding walls were made of clay , sand and pest . The eastern part of the outer bailey was reinforced with a wall made of lawn iron stone. The ramparts are still around 3–5 m high today. In a late stage of use, the outer bailey was created by expanding it into the lowland to the east. It consisted of a 180 m long wall that is still in place today. It was 5 m wide but only about 1 m high. Remnants of this still exist on the way to Ahrbeck . Presumably it used to close in a circle and large parts of it have been removed due to agricultural use of the site. During the excavation in 1934, a 1.5 m deep well with wooden casing was found inside the outer bailey.
Ramparts
The up to 5 m high walls were built from sand and plague . There were no indications of a wood-earth construction. A gray layer of burnt clay about 40 cm high was found in the main wall, which was a leveled previous wall. In the area of pre-rim is the foundation of a 1.3 m thick walls from found bog iron , which could have had previously a height of 3 m.
Castle hill
Inside the main wall is the castle hill with a height of 2.5 m and dimensions of 17 × 25 m². It was surrounded by a 7 m wide and 1 m deep trench. The investigation of the hill produced hardly any useful findings. The ground was badly disturbed by digging and digging. In the hill there were loose boulders that were seen as the foundation stones of an earlier building with a wooden structure.
building
Two buildings were found inside the main castle. These are the 70 cm wide foundations of a rectangular building (10 × 6 m) with a tamped clay floor and a brick hearth. A wooden structure should have stood on it. Immediately in front of the house there was another bricked cooking area with ceramic remnants. The remains of the foundations of a second building had the dimensions of 6 × 9 m². There was still an intact clay soil inside.
Found objects
Based on the ceramic remains found, the settlement phase of the castle grounds can be traced back to the 8th – 13th centuries. Date to the 16th century. Other finds were an iron spur, parts of a leather shoe and a hand mill for grinding grain.
Use theory
More detailed information about the builders and users of the ring wall and the castle hill is not yet available. Based on the archaeological finds, the useful life of the facility can be estimated from the 8th to 13th Century with focus in the 10th – 11th centuries Assign century. It is conceivable that the castle hill and ramparts were built at different times. In comparable systems (see: Elmsburg ), the medieval castle was only integrated into it centuries after a ring wall was built. One suspicion is that Heeßel Castle is, at least temporarily, attributable to the nobles of Depenau. They ruled in the 12th – 13th centuries. Century in the Burgdorf area. Dietrich von Depenau went to West Prussia around 1236 , where he received a castle and lands from the Teutonic Order . His sons administered the possessions in Burgdorf, but the family died out with the death of Volrad von Depenau in 1283.
See also
literature
- Horst Wolfgang Böhme (Hrsg.): Castles of the Salierzeit, part 1: In the southern landscapes of the empire . Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz, Research Institute for Prehistory and Early History, Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4134-9 .
- Hermann Schroller: The Saxon hill fort near Heeßel, district of Burgdorf. In: Lower Saxony Yearbook for State History. Vol. 12, Hildesheim 1935, pp. 27-46.
- Drost von Holle zu Burgdorf: Contributions to the history and the constitution of the city and the office of Burgdorf . In: Patriotic archive of the Historical Association for Lower Saxony . 1823 ( online ).
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann about Heeßel Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Brief description of the castle with a sketch of the location
- Entry on Heeßel Castle in the private database "Alle Burgen".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Blazek, Matthias: “How beautiful are you!” West Prussia - The land on the lower Vistula, ibidem: Stuttgart 2012, ISBN 978-3-8382-0357-7 , p. 10 f.
Coordinates: 52 ° 26 ′ 22.3 " N , 9 ° 58 ′ 47.6" E