Pagan house
| Pagan house | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Heidenhäuschen of Merenberg seen from |
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| height | 398 m above sea level NN | |
| location | Border Upper Westerwald - Limburg Basin | |
| Mountains | Westerwald | |
| Dominance | 5.3 km → Hohler Stein ( Hausen ) | |
| Notch height | 136 m ↓ Mühlbach | |
| Coordinates | 50 ° 28 '47 " N , 8 ° 5' 17" E | |
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| Type | Ridges | |
| rock | basalt | |
| Age of the rock | Transition Oligocene / Miocene | |
| First ascent | unknown | |
 Basalt blocks on the summit of the Heidenhäuschen |
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The Heidenhäuschen is a ridge and at the same time a nature reserve on the southern edge of the Upper Westerwald to the Limburg Basin in the northwestern district of Limburg-Weilburg in Hesse .
geography
The ridge belongs to the Upper Westerwald , a high plateau of the Rhenish Slate Mountains . The multi-peak plateau extends over a length of about 3 km in a north-south direction. The Elbbachtal extends to the west in a north-south direction . The Limburg Basin is located south of the ridge.
The Heidenhäuschen is about 11 km north of Limburg an der Lahn , between the places: Ellar , Hintermeilingen , Steinbach , Oberweyer , Oberzeuzheim and Hangenmeilingen (all districts of Limburg-Weilburg , Hesse ).
geology
The heather house consists mainly of olivine basalt of volcanic origin. This formed about 28-22 Mya in the transition from the Oligocene to the Miocene . Two former volcanic craters are detectable. The basalt boulder sea was formed mainly under ice age conditions.
height
The Heidenhäuschen reaches a height of up to 398 m above sea level. NN and towers over the adjacent Limburg Basin and the Elbbachtal by up to 200 meters.
history
Archaeological finds show that people settled in the area of the heath house early on. A stone box was discovered near Niederzeuzheim , which was made around 1900 BC. Was created. Burial urns from around 1000 BC were found in several nearby places . Discovered. For the Hallstatt period (around 700-450 BC) ramparts can be proven at the summit.
During the La Tène period (around 450-0 BC) the region was populated by Celts . Several ring walls were built on the heath house. Relations to the Celtic oppidum on the Dornburg , about 6 km away, are to be assumed. In 1902 two coins were found on the Heidenhäuschen that were minted by the Treverians .
The Celtic population was from 300 BC. Chr. Increasingly displaced by Teutons . The Ubier settled around the heathen house . This ethnic group maintained a court on the mountain, which was dedicated to the Matronae Mahalinehae . This court continued to exist as the court of the Franks . With Christianization , the court was subordinated to St. Maximin of Trier and moved to Ellar in the Middle Ages. The local saga of the Wild Heer is interpreted to mean that the old pagan court went underground with Christianization and continued to exist as a Vote court . To this day, the immediate vicinity of the heathen house is still popularly called "the court".
In the area of the Heidenhäusen there are several old streets that are part of the network of paths between Limburg and Siegen . These include the Hohe Strasse , which was presumably laid out during the Carolingian era as the Königsstrasse, the Alte Landstrasse through the forest and the Alte Rheinstrasse . In the 18th century, the long- distance road network was redesigned with the construction of the long mile (now the B 49 ) and the Mainzer Landstrasse (now the B 54 ).
The Catholic pilgrimage site Seven Pains - Seven Joys was created in 1885 at a spring at the foot of the Heidenhäuschen . Healing powers are attributed to the source. Processions to this pilgrimage site take place from neighboring towns.
On February 7, 1927, a nature reserve was set up in the area of the Heidenhäuschen.
Origin of the name
The name of the heath house is derived from the former court. The collection of laws of the Ripuarian Franks Lex Ribuaria , written under King Dagobert I around 633, determined the harahus as the place where oaths were to be sworn . This name has been preserved in the dialect hârehäusje and was interpreted as a pagan house in the early 19th century . Similar developments can also be seen at other court locations.
The name of the Ubic matron Mahalinehae is said to be the root word of the place names of Hintermeilingen and Hangenmeilingen and Remelsberg.
Routes to the summit
The summit of the Heidenhäusen can be climbed from all surrounding places. The long-distance hiking trail IV of the Westerwald-Verein passes directly below the summit.
Nature reserve
The reserve Heidenhäuschen existed since February 7, 1927. It now has a size of 114.23 hectares and is part of the conservation area, Südoberwesterwälder hills with Gauder Bacher plate . The Heidenhäuschen nature reserve is almost congruent with the FFH area of the same name with an area of 116.27 hectares. Conservation objectives of the site are the woodruff - beech forest and ravine and slope mixed forests . In addition, some plants that are on the Red List grow here , including the two-leaved forest hyacinth ( Platanthera bifolia ) and the greenish forest hyacinth ( Platanthera chlorantha ).
literature
- Walter Rudersdorf : In the shadow of Ellar Castle . Ed .: Municipality of Ellar / Westerwald. Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1967.
- Falko Lehmann: Cultural monuments in the Hesse district Limburg-Weilburg . Ed .: State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen. tape 1 . Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-528-06243-6 .
Fantasy novel
- Axel Ertelt : Alwin and the secret of the dwarf cave , e-book, Ancient Mail Verlag, Groß-Gerau, 2016
Web links
- Elbtal community - Hangenmeilingen district
- ippsch.de (PDF; 1.13 MB)
- ahlbacher.info