Historic city fortifications of Plettenberg

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The city model in the Heimathaus with city walls

The town fortifications of Plettenberg existed from the end of the 14th century to 1725. The course of the wall can still be clearly traced today, as the houses - for example on Kirchplatz and Kirchstrasse - are based on the old floor plans from the times before the town fire in 1725 and thus the fortifications were rebuilt.

When the settlement was granted city rights by Count Dietrich II von der Mark in 1397 , Plettenberg received a city court and a protective wall was built around the place. Presumably the count wanted to restore a military equilibrium on the southern borders of his territory.

Only around 1500 was the fortification of Plettenberg (previously a moat wall system with wooden palisades) replaced by a city wall. At the same time, the settlement was enlarged significantly to the north (corresponds to the area of ​​today's Alter Markt and Untertor). This new part was also surrounded by a wall and included in the fortification area. As a result, an older section ran through the middle of the city and was removed. The old lower gate remained in place until the end of the 17th century. Two of the several defense towers in the wall were also preserved until 1725.

The city fortifications had two gates: the upper gate and the lower gate . The Obertor led over a bridge over the Oesterbach onto the road towards Attendorn , the Untertor led onto the road towards Arnsberg .

The town center around the church was lower than the buildings outside the wall. That was also the reason why the city cleaning could be carried out in a very memorable way earlier, when there were no sewers yet: Twice a week - and additionally before public holidays - water was dammed in the Obergraben and then channeled into the streets of the city center, where the residents were obliged by law to clean up and remove the rubbish. Anyone who lived alone on a street had to clean the entire street.

After the great city fire of 1725, in which all the houses within the walls were destroyed, the gates and large parts of the city wall were demolished and the old moat, which was also used for defense, was built over. The irrigation system was redesigned so that the ditches allowed the sewage to run off and that in the event of a fire, water could be channeled into the city as quickly as possible.

A model in the Heimathaus Plettenberg shows the city before 1725 with the city walls.

Individual evidence

  1. alt-plettenberg.de: City history
  2. Plettenberg-Lexikon , quoted from: Fröhling, Carl Peter: To the tradition of the Plettenberger Freiheitsbriefes from 1397, in: Der Märker, H. 1, 1980, S. 3. Assmann, Reiner: Die Städteppolitik der Graf von der Mark, especially in Süderland , in: Der Reidemeister, No. 99, v. June 11, 1986, p. 782.
  3. "Plettenberg", Genwiki
  4. Walter Stahlschmidt, oral lecture during a city tour for the Sauerland Stammtisch of Wikipedia on August 18, 2018.
  5. Plettenberg Lexicon , quoted from: Die Dunkelsche Mühle , in: Albrecht v. Schwartzen, Plettenberg - industrial city in the Sauerland in the Mark region, 1962, pp. 154–155.