Hileweg
The Hileweg is a prehistoric to medieval old road , a trade and military route between the Wetterau and Essen .
description
The name Hileweg, as evidenced by old documents, is probably a form of Hellweg . The name was first mentioned in the Haigerner deed, a boundary description by Haiger , dated April 28, 1048. It is assumed, however, that this deed is already a copy of a document that is more than a hundred years older. Thus, the name Hileweg (as a German name in the Latin document text) has been in use since the 10th century.
The well-known beginning of the Hileweg is in the south of the Wetterau, although a possible continuation to the south is also being discussed. It runs in a straight line to the northeast and crosses the ridges of the Slate Mountains on the right bank of the Rhine , which run in an east-west direction . The path runs parallel to the long-distance paths on the Rhine ( mouse path ) and the wine route and is possibly a deliberate bypass of these old roads.
It leads through the Siegerland iron ore district and is therefore also called the iron road in local sections . Some assumptions suggest that the path was mainly used to develop the Siegen iron mines. A section of the Hileweg is also one of the three branches of the Bergische Eisenstraße at its beginning in Siegerland.
The Altstraße is known under the name Hileweg mainly in the section between the Sieg bei Betzdorf and the Brüderstraße near Hohenhain , other local names are Bornweg (Betzdorf area), Heller Höhenweg, Wetteraustraße ( Meinerzhagen area ) and Hadamarstraße ( Pracht - Alsdorf - Steineroth - Kirburg - Gemünden - Hadamar - Limburg an der Lahn).
The Hileweg ends in Essen an der Ruhr, where it met the Westphalian Hellweg .
course
South of the Lahn
The exact course south of the Lahn is disputed. Presumably there were several parallel branches locally, which make it difficult to identify a clear course. In the sources, several routes south of Limburg an der Lahn are named as Hileweg, such as a branch coming from Koblenz or Neuwied , which was probably a feeder from the Rhine. On the main route from the Lahn in a southerly direction to Frankfurt am Main , also known as Frankfurter Strasse , the Hileweg probably shared a common route with the Mauspfad. This was the most important and busiest connection from the Lahn to the Frankfurt area until the Federal Motorway 3 was built.
North of the Lahn
North of Limburg an der Lahn, the course of the Hileweg is the same as that of Mainzer Straße (Siegen - Limburg - Mainz ). The route leads north via Elz , Hadamar and Langendernbach . The two old roads separate between Rennerod and Burbach and the Hileweg runs in a north-easterly direction along today's border between Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia . According to a document from 1350, the route there already separated the dioceses of Cologne , Mainz and Trier as the border . He passes a castle complex near the Hohenseelbachskopf as well as a prehistoric rampart near Mahlscheid and crosses the Heller near Herdorf . Between Heller and Sieg, the route leads directly past the so-called Druidenstein .
The Sieg was crossed at Betzdorf and the path climbed the watershed in the direction of Katzwinkel and Molzberg , where military forces and a medieval military camp secured it. Further stations are Ebertseifen , Fallenbach , Hassel , Busenbach , Altenhofen , Hohäuschen and Wöllenbach , with today's state road L279 following the course of the old road. At Engelshäuschen , the Hileweg separates from the state road again, leads via Oberstöcken and Mausbach to Gerndorferhöhe and meets the Brüderstraße at Hohenhain. From Betzdorf to Hohenhain, the Siegener Landhecke , one of the longest preserved land weirs that runs around the Siegerland, also ran parallel to the Hileweg .
Via Hühnerkamp it went to Römershagen , where the Hileweg splits into three branches. Probably the oldest route leads via Dörnscheid , Wilhelmsthal over the Löhkopf to Rothemühle . The second route led over the so-called Femebuche to Rothemühle and the third over the Heider Kirchweg . The branches meet again at Huppen . No fewer than seven highways met in Huppen, including the Hileweg from southeast to northwest, Nutscheidstrasse from southwest , Römerweg to northeast , an arm of Brüderstrasse and Bergische Eisenstrasse from west .
The Hileweg initially divides the route from Huppen in a north-westerly direction with the Bergische Eisenstrasse through the Brachtpetal , half- cough , cough and Gelslingen . In Gelslingen, the old roads divide again and the Hileweg continues over the Biggeriegel , the watershed between the Bigge and the Agger , north to Belmicke .
The Hileweg divides again at the height between Belmicke and Benolpe . The older route leads through the center of Belmick to Attenbach , then on over the Arstein to Wegeringhausen . Numerous ravines and other traces of the terrain have been preserved along the route. The younger route runs in a more straight line via Feldmannshof to Wegeringhausen. There the path also divides: One branch leads over the Wahlert , Bleche and Schlade to Lüdespert , the other runs over Schlenke , Scheda to the Schützenbruch , where it leads together with the Märkische Eisenstraße to Lüdespert.
There both branches come together and lead mainly along today's federal highway 54 via Piene , Buntelichte and Grünewald to Meinerzhagen . There Heidenstrasse crossed . More or less following today's state road L528, the Hileweg ran to Kierspe .
From Meinerzhagen are Holt , Kiersper Löh , Schmidthausen , Wegerhof , Schneehohl , Bergfeld and Burg stations. In Neuenherweg shortly before Halver , the Zeitstrasse merges with the Hileweg. Between Halver and Breckerfeld , today's state road L528 provides the route; at Dommelnheide and Landwehr , deep ravines and land weirs that accompany and block the route have been preserved. To the north of Breckerfeld there are again two main routes on the Hileweg. One ran along the state road L528 via Königsheide , Weißenpferd , Zurstraße (the name is also a reference to the Altstraße), Rafflenbeul and Eilpe to Hagen , crossed the Ruhr at Herdecke and ran via Witten and Bochum to Essen. A branch led from Zurstrasse via Schöpplenberg and Hinnenwiese to Hagen. The other route led along today's state road L701 via Delle , Steherberg , Oberbauer to Voerde . There it split again: one branch went via Nieland and Meininghausen to Gevelsberg , the younger branch via Altenvoerde and Milspe to Gevelsberg.
He reached his destination in Essen via Sprockhövel , Hattingen and Essen-Steele . According to some researchers, it did not end there, but continued as Holland-Wetterau-Straße to the Netherlands .
literature
- Herbert Nicke : " Forgotten ways - the historical network of long-distance routes between the Rhine, Weser, Hellweg and Westerwald, its protective systems and junctions ", Volume 9 of the series " Land and History between Berg, Wildenburg and South Westphalia "; Martina Galunder Verlag; Nümbrecht; 2001