Fockenbachtal
The Fockenbachtal is a side valley of the Wied . The approx. 12 km long valley northeast of Niederbreitbach has been one of the five core zones of the Rhine-Westerwald Nature Park since 1978 .
location
The Fockenbach rises at a height of approx. 350 m in the hamlet of Niederhonnefeld , which belongs to the local community of Straßenhaus . It winds, fed by several tributaries, through a closed deciduous forest area, in the upper section of the valley partly along steep slate rocks, past the only settlement in the valley, the former Fockenbach's mill and the foot of the Neuerburg (Wied) in a south-westerly direction. In the lower section the valley is often widespread, so that there are ponds and wet meadows in places . In the local area of Niederbreitbach (120 m) the Fockenbach is regulated. On the last half kilometer between the street of the same name and Margaretha-Flesch-Straße and it flows into the Wied next to the bridge to the campsite and sports center.
landscape
Beech forests dominate, interspersed with maple, ash and hazel. A solitaire is a centuries-old ivy-covered oak tree on the road about 4 km from Niederbreitbach.
At the creek there are high ferns and tall herb communities . In midsummer the thimble dominates . Kleinseggenriede and reed vegetation characterize the pond and meadow landscapes.
The protected animals that can be found in the Fockenbachtal include crested newts, as well as various frogs and bat species.
Infrastructure
Margaretha-Flesch-Straße can be driven by car from Niederbreitbach to the Fockenbachsmühle (approx. 5 km) and is frequented by cyclists and hikers. In the middle section of the valley, an additional hiking trail runs parallel to the road. The upper section beyond the Fockenbachsmühle is only accessible on hiking trails. From Niederhonnefeld, the stream from the source area to the Hümmericher Mühle is also accessible again on a narrow asphalt road.
Hiking trails also run along the tributaries and include some of the municipalities and villages belonging to the Waldbreitbach and Rengsdorf associations, e.g. B. Kurtscheid , Hümmerich , Dasbach, Siebenmorgen, Hollig, Goldscheid, Hochscheid and Verscheid.
According to the state ordinance of August 18, 1978, the natural landscape must not be changed by building or additional infrastructural facilities.
Mills in the Fockenbachtal
Until the 19th century, several oil mills competed with each other on the short watercourse. The miller's struggle for existence was tough. The mills, as far as they exist, serve other purposes in the 21st century.
- The Rhenish regional historian Wilhelm Fabricius, who was active around 1900, located the Hümmericher Mühle in the upper Fockenbach valley as the Fackenbacher Mühle in 1670 , which, according to the prevailing opinion, refers to the mill that was acquired by a councilor from Dierdorf in 1830. After the cessation of grinding operations, it was an excursion restaurant until 1983; since then it has been privately owned. The historic millstone and grinders are kept in the half-timbered building. Next to it is the contemporary home of the current owner.
- The Fockenbachsmühle is an animal shelter (dogs, horses, goats, donkeys) run by a local animal welfare organization. This mill, presumably built around 1500 by the lords of the Verscheider court, was called the other Fockenbach mill by the Counts of Wied , while the tenants of the Hümmericher mill called it Holliger mill .
- The stately Bannmühle on today's outskirts of Niederbreitbach, also known as Krölls-Mühle , was first mentioned in a document in 1644. According to another source, however, it is said to have existed before 1630. Milling existed until the First World War. In addition to the original mill building, a mill with an overshot mill wheel and complete grinder was built at the end of the 1980s, so that today the Krölls mill is a "real" mill again.
- From the Fleschmühle in the lower section of the valley, only one millstone remains in place. The mill only existed for 42 years, but gained local importance due to the fact that it was the home of mother Rosa , founder of the Waldbreitbach Franciscan Sisters . M. Rosa Flesch lived there from 1838 to 1851 before the order was founded and, as a child and adolescent, collected medicinal herbs in the nature of the Fockenbach Valley , which she used in nursing. The mill was demolished in 1878 when none of the Flesch family lived there. In 2004, when the scientific interest in the long-forgotten founder was revitalized in the run-up to the 100th anniversary of Mother Rosa's death, the Franciscans erected a half-timbered memorial chapel for her at the Fleschmühle site. The fact that the former location was found exactly is thanks to the efforts of the village museum 'director' Herbert Kröll, who was able to 'read' the approximate location in old writings and found the floor of the mill almost at the first cut of the spade. Inside there is literature and information material.
Goals away from the valley
- In the forest in the upper valley section near Niederhonnefeld, two shaft entrances to the former Louisenglück mine were opened again in 1996 . Iron ore was mined here from the 16th century until 1877.
- On the 1.5 km long hiking trail from the Fockenbachsmühle, you can climb the Stangenstein, commonly known as the Teufelstreppe . According to legend, the devil is said to have tried to build a staircase to heaven out of stones, which was torn down in their destructive rage by his people who were led to evil. There are large boulders in a line that look like a staircase has collapsed. The real history of the formation of the formation is a natural vein of quartzite, which can be found in large parts of the area. The quartzite stones can be seen at the points where the vein reaches the surface of the earth.
- In the middle section of the valley, approx. 300 m from the road near the mouth of the Verscheider Seifen stream, there is a memorial to Sergeant Friedrich Bruchlos (* on February 17, 1919 in Berlin-Pankow) who fell here on March 9, 1945. The memorial stone between two small cypress trees bears a corresponding inscription. Parts of the recovered flying machine can be viewed in the Niederbreitbach village museum . This aircraft was an Arado Ar 234 , the world's first jet engine bomber. The machine was used to destroy the Remagen Bridge , which was captured by the Americans .
- The walls and pentagonal keep of Neuerburg , which can be reached on an approx. 1 km long branch path in the lower section of the valley along the side stream Burgseifen, are still preserved. It was built in the 12th century by the lords of Neuerburg; in the 13th century it belonged to Mechthild von Sayn , who then ceded it to Kurköln , in whose possession it remained de iure until the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803. In fact , it was already in ruins in the 17th century. A reconstruction model is in the Niederbreitbach village museum .
Web links
Literature / map
- Hiking map of the circular routes Verbandsgemeinde Waldbreitbach, The Middle Wiedtal, ed. from the Waldbreitbach community, 2005
- Albert Hardt: In the land of Neuerburg an der Wied, ed. by the Waldbreitbach community, 1987
- Josef Hoffmann: Land on the Wied, 1929
Coordinates: 50 ° 33 ′ 3.8 ″ N , 7 ° 27 ′ 52.3 ″ E