Eichholz (Arnsberg)

Coordinates: 51 ° 23 ′ 12 ″  N , 8 ° 4 ′ 8 ″  E

Eichholz (Arnsberg)​

North Rhine-Westphalia

Location of the Eichholz in Arnsberg

The Eichholz is a forest in Arnsberg . It was claimed by the Wedinghausen monastery and the city of Arnsberg before the monastery prevailed after centuries of dispute. The forest was used for recreational purposes as early as the 18th century. The forest near the city still serves this purpose today. The nature reserve (HSK-172) covers an area of ​​around 23 hectares.

Ehmsendenkmal in Eichholz

View of the spa hotel in Eichholz

location

The forest is located south of the old town and the Wedinghausen monastery on a ridge in a loop of the Ruhr . The mountain is also called Eichholz. Settlement areas and the monastery are adjacent to the north. On the other three sides, the Ruhr flows around the elevation. The Ehmsendenkmal is located on the mountain . The former spa hotel is located on the edge of the forest . The Wedinghausen monastery with the Laurentianum grammar school is in the immediate vicinity . Below the Eichholz are the secondary school on the Eichholz , the vocational college on the Eichholz, sports facilities with a circular gym, the bird meadow for the shooters and a glider flying area . The Eichholzfriedhof takes its name from the forest.

Nature reserve

The Eichholz has been a nature reserve since 1998. Special protection purposes are the preservation of the tree population that characterizes the cityscape, the preservation of a well-developed biotope complex with high structural diversity, the protection of threatened plant and animal species and an amphibian and cave-breeder habitat. It is a deciduous forest with isolated conifers. Beech and oak are predominant. In addition, there are individual native and foreign tree species. Many trees have already reached the age of strong wood. There is also some old wood in the area. A pond ("Kinderteich") is located in the southwest. The banks are quite densely overgrown with reeds. The east side of the forest drops steeply and there are some rocks partially visible with corresponding rock vegetation. The forest is criss-crossed by paths and paths as a recreation area, which in part functions as a city park.

history

Monastery time

Count Heinrich von Arnsberg handed over the oak wood from his property for the material equipment of the Wedinghausen Monastery. The forest was not mentioned in the deed of 1173. But the forest, called Ekholt because of its many oaks , is mentioned in another document from 1183. There it is called Mons, qui dicitur Ekholt (The mountain called Eichholz).

The forest near the town and monastery was of great importance for pig fattening. The ownership and use of oak wood was disputed between the city and the monastery for centuries from the 14th century. The city viewed the forest as part of the urban field mark and the citizens saw themselves as legitimate market participants. For over 200 years the question remained unanswered. Both the official court in Cologne and that in Werl had to deal with the case. Because no solution was found, provisional agreements were made every 20 to 25 years.

In a first agreement from the 15th century, the monastery was granted the right to fatten pigs, while the citizens were allowed to remove the dry wood. In 1575, Elector Salentin von Isenburg brokered a solution to the dispute with the Salentin Recess. The use of the oak for the Hude, pig fattening and wood use was awarded to the monastery. The exception was the collection of fallen wood. Although the monastery also officially had the right to hunt, it was challenged on various occasions by aristocrats. In view of the proximity to the settlement and the relatively small size of the area, it had a considerable number of game in good years. The electoral hunt resulted in 32 hunted wild boars in 1606.

The monastery was interested in the forest primarily for economic reasons. It also operated a grinding and sawmill below the mountain on the Ruhr near today's sports fields. The way back then, on which the flour was brought to the monastery with donkeys, is still there today and leads from today's sports grounds past the Ehmsendenkmal to the monastery. In the vicinity of the mill there was also a water art to supply the monastery with Ruhr water .

Eichholz as a recreation room

Elector Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels had an English garden and an "English promenade" set up in addition to the Maximilian Fountain to beautify the city . This ran below the Landsberger Hof in the direction of Wedinghausen Monastery to Eichholz ("Eichholzpromenade"). A path led and leads in the extension around the oak wood. A ledge on the Witten Stein below the highest point in the forest, on which the Ehmsendenkmal stands today, had to be blown up in order to continue the path. The city of Arnsberg was forced by an electoral decree to cede the urban Hude in the area of ​​today's Eichholzpromenade. Today the festival hall of the Arnsberger Bürgerschützengesellschaft , a large playground and the former Park Hotel are located in this area . The path around the oak tree was the beginning of the forest's use for recreation. The spa hotel was later built on the site of the former summer cottage of the monks in Eichholz.

In the Hessian period from 1803 the monastery was closed and the forest became state property. It was used for forestry. After Prussia took over the rule in 1816, the oak wood became part of the Prussian tax authorities.

At the beginning of Prussian rule, from 1816 onwards, a new neighborhood in the classicistic style was built south of the old town. In the further course of urban development, further buildings were erected in parts of Eichholz, for example on Eichholzstrasse.

Even in Hessian and early Prussian times, the recreational value of the forest was given great attention by the government president Friedrich von Bernuth . The court gardener Haas from Münster was commissioned in 1820 to make suggestions for the design and layout of paths.

A promenade deputation was created in 1821 under the direction of the District President von Bernuth. The well-known landscape architect Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe was commissioned not only to design the castle hill but also to design the oak wood and the promenade. He made sketches of walking paths and suggested a forestry sensible planting. The current state of the forest essentially goes back to this time. As a result of a cabinet order of 1837, the income from the forest flowed exclusively into the maintenance, expansion and improvement of the facilities and not towards the general budget. After the turn of the century, the spa hotel was built in a castle-like style with urban funds.

After the abolition of the Wedinghausen monastery, the Eichholz cemetery was laid out some distance from the monastery and town at the beginning of the 19th century for hygienic reasons. The municipal overseer for the oak was initially also responsible for the care of the cemetery.

The Eichholzfreunde association takes care of the Eichholz forest. He also organizes the Eichholzfest.

See also

• List of nature reserves in the Hochsauerlandkreis

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Eichholz" nature reserve in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia , accessed on February 25, 2017.
2. ↑ Heinz Pardun: The Wetterhof in the Arnsberg district. Home pages of the Heimatbund Arnsberg 13/1992 P. 7, Heinz Pardun: Das Eichholz. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 20/1999 p. 4
3. ↑ The Arnsberg City Forest. Its history and meaning. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 5/1984 P. 63, Norbert Höing: Legendary, historical and rascally, from a chronicle of the Wedinghausen monastery. Heimatbundes of the Heimatbund Arnsberg 13/1992 P. 29 Heinz Pardun: Das Eichholz In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 20/1999 P. 5, compare: Ralf Günther: The Arnsberger Wald in the Middle Ages: Forest history as constitutional history. Münster, 1994 p. 134ff.
4. ↑ Heinz Pardun Das Eichholz In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 20/1999 p. 6
5. ↑ Heinz Pardun: The Maximiliansbrunnen. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 5/1984 p. 84
6. ↑ Heinz Pardun: The oak wood. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 20/1999 p. 7
7. ↑ Heinz Pardun: The Maximiliansbrunnen. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 5/1984 p. 7
8. ↑ Michael Gosmann: Make the friendly surroundings of Arnsberg even friendlier where possible ...! Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe as a garden and landscape designer in Arnsberg. In: Heimatblätter of the Heimatbund Arnsberg 13/1992. Pp. 56-58.
9. ↑ Heinz Pardun: The oak wood. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 20/1999. P. 8.
10. ^ Karl Heinz Strothmann: The Totenhof on Eichholzstrasse. In: Heimatblätter des Heimatbund Arnsberg 12/1991 pp. 70–74
11. ↑ Homepage of the association