Castles of Stöfs
| Castles of Stöfs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alternative name (s): | Old castle | |
| Castle type : | Summit castle | |
| Standing position : | Slavic nobility | |
| Place: | Luetjenburg | |
| Geographical location | 54 ° 18 '34 " N , 10 ° 37' 5" E | |
| Height: | 35 m above sea level NN | |
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The Vagrian castles of Stöfs are located two kilometers north of Lütjenburg in Schleswig-Holstein near the Lütjenburg- Gut Waterneverstorf road (also known as Gut Waldersee), on a wooded ridge that can be seen from afar, which runs from southwest to northeast and is called the "Old Castle" .
Stöfs 1 or "Old Castle"
From the "Eetzkate" you can take a forest path to reach a double, concentric semicircular wall, the open south side of which leans against a steep slope, at the foot of which the Kossau meanders. The Kossau accompanies the ridge and flows at its end, where the second castle complex is, into the Great Inland Lake , which used to have a tributary to the Baltic Sea .
The semicircular walls are at their point of attachment to the steep slope at about two meters and are lower in the curve. The largest diameter between the outer wall ends is 210 m, the diameter between the ends of the inner wall reaches 120 m. Both walls are preceded by trenches. In the northeast, where the terrain is swampy, they are interrupted in places. Between the outer and inner semicircular walls there is a burial mound, presumably from the Bronze Age . The search cuts made in several places within the inner and outer ring yielded neither finds nor evidence of a culture layer.
From the south-western end of the semicircular ramparts, a burial mound field of 53 closely spaced low and medium-sized mounds of small diameter extends along the steep drop to Kossau to the west. Some of the larger hills can still be seen at the foot of the remains of square stone frames. The excavations by K. Hucke in 1959 confirmed the Slavic character of the graves, but did not provide any more precisely determinable finds. Two larger hills in the area of the group are likely to be Bronze Age. It can be assumed that there is a connection between the castle and the burial ground, especially since the type of castle fits into the image of Slavic hilltop castles .
Stöfs 2
About 700 m northeast of the "Old Castle" is a section wall. The ridge becomes narrower here and protrudes slightly arched into the Great Inland Lake. In the west, the plateau, which is reminiscent of Arkona in its location, is cordoned off by a straight, wide, approximately 1.5 m high wall with a ditch. The fastening is most striking where it reaches up to the waste to the inland water. To the southwest, the wall gradually tapers off and does not completely cut off the height. Presumably it was leveled here in earlier times. Some fragments from the Middle Slavic period (9th / 10th centuries) come from the castle grounds. Nothing is known historically about the two weir systems. On the other hand, two 11th century hacked silver finds that were made nearby should be emphasized. One comes from the Weberkoppe near Stöfs (district of Behrensdorf ), the other from the Scherfendiek corridor, near Waterneverstorf on the inland lake.
To the south of the path connecting the castles, old farm beds about five meters wide have been observed.
literature
- Karl Wilhelm Struve: The castles in Schleswig-Holstein. Volume 1: The Slavic castles (= Offa books. Vol. 35). Wachholtz, Neumünster 1981, ISBN 3-529-01135-5 .
- TK25 sheet 1629 (Giekau) edition 1918 ( as digital copy )
