Damshausen hilltops
The Damshausen peaks are in the Rimberg up to 497.1 m above sea level. NN high mountain range of Central Hesse in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district . They represent the outermost north-east foothills of the Gladenbacher Bergland , at the seam line between the natural areas of the Westerwald , Rothaargebirge and West Hessian Bergland .

geography
Location and places
The Damshausen peaks are mainly located in the districts of the communities Dautphetal and Lahntal . In the less domed south they extend to the northeastern districts of Gladenbach , while the community of Weimar ( Nesselbrunn , in the southeast) and the city of Marburg ( Dilschhausen , in the east) have only a small share.
The northern limit of the ridge is the Upper Lahn valley between Dautphetal - Friedensdorf and Lahntal - Caldern , behind which there are the bagpipe foreheads as the eastern roof of the Rothaargebirge .
To the east, the Dautphe valley and the saddle of Bundesstraße 453 that adjoins it to the south, east of the 551.8 m high Daubhaus, delimit the Damshausen peaks of Breidenbacher Grund and Bottenhorn plateaus - both also part of the Gladenbacher Bergland. The aforementioned saddle , which is 370 m high, to the Bottenhorn plateau is the only corridor that connects the peaks with the other more montane parts of the Gladenbacher Bergland.
In the south the watershed between Allna and Salzböde forms the border to the natural area Salzbödetal , in the east the Elnhausen-Michelbacher Senke represents the corridor to the Marburg Ridge and thus to the West Hessian mountainous region.
Rivers
Apart from a few short streams that drain directly north into the Lahn or west into the Dautphe, the Damshausen peaks correspond almost exactly to the catchment area of the upper reaches of the Allna and its left (= northern) tributary Ohe , with the Ohe being the area of the peaks flows centrally from northwest to southeast, the Allna flows through its south. North of the Ohe rises the Waltersbach , which - already outside the hilltops - flows into the Ohe tributary Elnhauser Wasser .
Topographical course
The Damshausen peaks have their height focus in the north and in the northwest. While the central northern Rimberg is an almost completely independent knoll, the 493.5 m high cap that adjoins it to the west is more of one of several knolls that cover a ridge in a northeast-southwest direction. It looks similar with the peaks further west, up to the approximately 451 m high Hornberg .
To the south - in the west, for example, over the approximately 473 m high Schweinskopf and the 456.7 m high Dusenberg (both near Herzhausen) - the mountains deviate more and more from the shape of the hilltops and are more similar in shape to the elevations of the Marburg Ridge.
Striking elevations at the transition to the Elnhausen-Michelbacher Senke and thus at the seam line to the Marburg Ridge are in particular the 369.6 m high Donnerberg in the east south, the northeastern, distinctly asymmetrical-domed Auersberg ( 385.3 m ) and the pyramidal, flat-crested Starving ( 411.5 m ) in the northeast. The actual corridor to the Marburger Ridge is located on the 260 m high saddle between Hungert and the western foothills of the 370 m high Vogelheerd .
In the far north, directly on the Lahn valley, there are some independent peaks that reach heights of a little over 400 m. For example, the 412.8 m high Feiselberg northwest of Caldern, which is more reminiscent of a heap in shape , the 425 m high Roßberg to the northwest and, in the extreme northwest, finally the 402.5 m high Hohenfels on which is located the Hohenfels castle ruins are located.
Mountains after mountain ranges
The Damshausen peaks can be divided into 4 groups according to forest cover and mountain ranges:


Rimberg Group
The clearing of Damshausen in the west and that of Dilschhausen (south-east) and Caldern (north-east) - the latter connected by state road 3288 - separate a consistently wooded ridge dominated by the 497.1 m high Rimberg , which extends north into the Lahn valley and merges into the offshoots of the cap ( 493.5 m ) in the north west .
While the northernmost peaks of this area, above all Feiselberg and Roßberg together with the rear-view mirror, are very hilly and still quite independent, the peaks that adjoin the Rimberg to the south become noticeably flatter
From north to south follow one another:
- Feiselberg ( 412.8 m ) - northeast
- Rimberg ( 497.1 m )
- Störner (approx. 411 m )
- Bernhardt ( 386 m
- Old Church ( 373.8 m )
While the Halden-shaped Feiselberg in the north-east is still noticeably independent (notch at least over 350 m, i.e. 82 m prominence ), the prominence of the Störner is below 30 m, that of the Bernhardt around 44 m.
The old church falls out a bit because it is separated by the Waltersbach (Ohe) | Waltersbach. It can be reached on the watershed between Damsbach or Ohe and Waltersbach via the island-like wooded area surrounded by fields
- Hardt (396.5 m) south of Damshausen, whose gap to the Rimberg is about 333 m. The saddle between Hardt and Alter Kirch is about 318 m.


Cap group
The peaks around the 493.5 m high cap are separated from the neighboring mountains to the east by the Kernbach in the north , between Rimberg and cap by a notch at around 408 m and in the south by Damsbach and Ohe.
From northwest to southeast follow one another:
- Hohenfels ( 402.5 m ) - with Hohenfels castle ruins
- Treisberg ( 436.8 m )
- Canopy ( 493.5 m )
The saddle between Hohenfels and Treisberg lies at around 335 m, the one between Treisberg and cap at around 375 m, which is why all three mountains can be regarded as sufficiently independent. On the line of this hilltop row, at some distance, lies the Hardt (see Rimberg Group).
The cap is, however, also on a row of knolls from northeast to southwest:
- Rearview mirror ( 337.6 m ) - Roßberg- Nordostaboffger
- Roßberg (approx. 442 m )
- Ehlenholz (a good 460 m)
- Canopy ( 493.5 m )
- High Hell ( 471.1 m )
- Kronenberg (approx. 454 m )
Here, the Roßberg is separated from the row further to the southwest by a distance of almost 2 km from the cap and a notch at 385 m, the peaks of which are only about half a kilometer apart. The ridge of the Hohe Höll lies at about 437 m; the two outer of the four peaks have notches under 20 m high.
Western peaks
The western Damshausen peaks are separated by the Friedensdorf - Weitershausen district road , which follows the Ohe from Damshausen . The saddle to the cap group is on this road at about 415 m.
Eichelhardt and Hornberg , which adjoin the offshoots of the cap to the west, are more ridge-shaped than dome-shaped. The elevations in the south and east of the forest also have a significantly less pronounced dome shape than z. B. Rimberg or cap . Only the pig's head is an exception.
From northwest to southeast and finally to southwest follow one another:
- Hornberg (approx. 451 m ) - west north
- Eichelhardt ( 465.3 m ) - east north
- Pig's head (approx. 473 m )
- Streichenberg ( 456.4 m ) - east
- Dusenberg subgroup
-
Lämpberg (well over 450 m)
- Wilkenberg (approx. 421 m ) - southeast foothills
- Kaltenberg (a good 450 m) - northwest foothills
- Dusenberg ( 456.7 m ) - southwest
-
Lämpberg (well over 450 m)
The Hornberg is separated from the neighboring mountains by a comparatively deep notch (around 385 m), while that between Eichelhardt and Schweinskopf is just under 430 m. The Streichenberg is separated from the neighboring mountains by two 415 m high notches, the notch between Lämpberg and Dusenberg is just under 430 m. To the south in the direction of Bellnhausen, the heights tend to flatten out gradually.


Eastern ridges
In the eastern transition of the peaks into the Elnhausen-Michelbacher Senke and in the south into the Salzbödetal , a narrow, wooded strip stretches from the pyramidal Hungert near Caldern over the striking, asymmetrically domed Auersberg west of Elnhausen to the Donnerberg and finally to the Gladenbacher Kirchberg ( 362.3 m ) in the extreme south, which is already part of the Salzbödetal natural area. To the west of this strip is a strip that has been cleared from Dilschhausen via Nesselbrunn to Frohnhausen near Gladenbach. Only in the north, immediately when hungry, is the clearing limited to the state road 3288 between Caldern and Dilschhausen.
From north (east) to south (west) follow one another:
- Starving ( 411.5 m )
- Koppe ( 385.4 m )
- Stackelberg (approx. 366 m )
- Auersberg ( 385.3 m )
- Gansei (approx. 357 m )
- Allersberg ( 349.5 m )
- Donnerberg ( 369.6 m )
- Gladenbacher Kirchberg ( 362.3 m ) - extreme south, already in the Salzbödetal natural area
Mountains according to absolute height
- Rimberg ( 497.1 m ) - northeast, between Caldern and Damshausen; with observation tower
- Cap ( 493.5 m ) - north, north of Damshausen
- Hohe Höll ( 481.1 m ) - southwest of the cap
- Schweinskopf (approx. 473 m ) - northeast of Dautphetal-Herzhausen in the west of the peaks
- Ehlenholz (approx. 470 m ) - northeast of the cap
- Eichelhardt ( 465.3 m ) - southeast of Friedensdorf
- Dusenberg ( 456.7 m ) - south of Dautphetal-Herzhausen in the southwest
- Streichenberg ( 456.4 m ) - central, southeast of Damshausen
- Hornberg (approx. 451 m ) - north-westerly knoll, south-west of Dautphetal-Friedensdorf
- Roßberg (approx. 425 m ) - in the far north between Kernbach and Elmshausen
- Feiselberg ( 412.8 m ) - striking because of the shape of a dump; eastern extreme north, northwest of Caldern
- Hungert ( 411.5 m ) - pyramidal, most easterly of the peaks on the seam line to the Marburg Ridge , southeast of Caldern
- Störner (approx. 412 m ) - the highest point in Marburg; Rimberg sub-peak north of Dilschhausen
- Hohenfels ( 402.5 m ) - in the western extreme north near Dautphetal-Allendorf - with Hohenfels castle ruins
- Hardt ( 396.5 m ) - central, between Diedenshausen and Damshausen
- Auersberg ( 385.3 m ) - eastern knoll between the Marburg districts of Elnhausen and Dilschhausen and Weimar-Nesselbrunn
- Alte Kirch ( 373.8 m ) - central, "local mountain" of Weitershausen
- Donnerberg ( 369.6 m ) - eastern hilltop in the (no longer very hilly) south, northeast of Gladenbach
- Stackelberg ( 366 m )
- Gansei (approx. 357 m ) - northeastern pre-summit of Donnerberg
vegetation
A good half of the Damshausen peaks are forested, with beech being the predominant wood, but there are also spruce forests . Agriculture is practiced in the cleared valleys, which are mainly found in the center of the region. Preferred crops are potatoes , rye and wheat .
The west is a little colder and has significantly more rainfall than the east.
Individual evidence
literature
- Emil Meynen (Hrsg.): Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany. Self-published by the Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Remagen 1953–1962 (Part 1, includes delivery 1–5), DNB 451803159 .
- Emil Meynen (Hrsg.): Handbook of the natural spatial structure of Germany. Self-published by the Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Remagen 1959–1962 (Part 2, contains delivery 6–9), DNB 451803167 .
Web links
- Environmental Atlas Hesse (→ Nature and landscape → The natural areas of Hesse or natural spatial structure) - Natural area 320.10
- Federal Agency for Nature Conservation: "Gladenbacher Hügelland" landscape profile
- Map / aerial photo of the Damshausen peaks with all elevations and rivers / placemarks ( Google Earth required)