High gate (Quakenbrück)
The Hohe Pforte is the only preserved city gate in Quakenbrück .
The city was once accessible via five city gates ( gates ), the Hohe Pforte formed the northern exit of the city. The Gothic gate, founded on wooden stakes and made of rubble stones, was built in 1485 and consists of four floors. The side walls of the passage have a wall thickness of 1.40 meters. The lower floor contains no rooms, but an open passage. The archways were originally Romanesque basket arches, but were replaced by taller Gothic pointed arches in the mid-19th century due to the increasing size of trucks and delivery vehicles. The first floor was previously divided into two rooms by a board wall; the area equipped with wooden benches and chains to tie up prisoners was called the scrubbing box and was used to accommodate women who had been convicted of quarrelsome women for minor offenses; the other half was the dreaded Up de porten city prison .
When it was built, it was referred to as the “nyen Porte” because before that there was already a north gate at the same place, which in older times was usually referred to as a stone gate . Another gate, the so-called Stumpfe Pforte, was built about 100 meters north of the Hohe Pforte , but the Hohe Pforte remained because the north side of the city was particularly endangered.
To operate the gates, especially for closing and opening, the council ordered porters, who were allowed to build their little house next to the tower assigned to them. The ridge grooves can still be seen on both sides of the gate, showing that houses were once built on both sides of the gate and that the gate was the only passage. The chains at the city gates were still closed until 1777, so that the cars were only allowed through individually. In 1782 the roof turret was renewed in baroque form when the building was a clock tower and "prison for quarrelsome weybers". There are loopholes in various shapes on the outside. The lower notches were directed towards the former drawbridge, because a hare arm, now diverted, used to flow here, which, instead of a wall, took over the defense of the enemy.
A comprehensive renovation of the building took place in 1999.
Incidentally, the city was not protected by city walls, but by a wall system, which was much more effective in the marshland. On both sides of a ditch rose walls planted with sloe bushes , whose heavily branched, high and thorny bushes were inaccessible. The branches were so tough that they could not be kinked and the plants did not burn because their roots were constantly in the groundwater. On the inner wall there was also a glynt ( palisade ). Every citizen had his assigned place on the wall, which he had to defend in the event of an attack and to maintain it in times of peace. Otherwise, the defense was subject to ten squads who provided the fire fighting, guard and military service.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Heiko Bockstiegel: High gate to Quakenbrück.
- ^ Böning: Quakenbrück. History of a small North German town.
literature
- Heiko Bockstiegel: High gate to Quakenbrück. Thoben-Verlag, Quakenbrück 2000. ISBN 3-921176-91-3
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 40 ′ 42.1 ″ N , 7 ° 57 ′ 28.8 ″ E