Lime kiln plants Walheim / Kornelimünster
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The Walheim / Kornelimünster lime kiln plants are a series of historic kilns that are mainly located in the Kornelimünster / Walheim district south of Aachen . They were used to extract burnt lime from limestone and were built between 1870 and 1924 and partially supplemented and modernized after the Second World War . However, they had to be closed as early as the mid-1950s, as structural changes in the lime industry meant that the operation of smaller individual kilns was no longer profitable.
In the 1980s, thanks to the initiative of geologist Werner Kasig from RWTH Aachen University, a large number of the lime kilns in Walheim , Hahn and Kornelimünster were saved from impending decay and restored. They were then placed under monument protection as industrial monuments and made accessible to the public. For this purpose, the "Kalkofenweg" was set up in 1989 between Walheim and Hahn along the Inde , which thematically connects the local lime kilns and was integrated into the Eifelsteig . In addition, there are other lime kilns in the neighboring villages of Sief and Schmithof , which have been left in their original state and are exposed to weathering.
geology
The Aachen limestone has its temporal origin in the Devonian , especially in the period of the Eifelium about 393 to 387 million years ago, and was especially widespread in the Eifel , the part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains on the left bank of the Rhine . At that time there was a tropical shallow sea with reef-building marine life, in particular the hard corals and calcareous sponges, and above all the now extinct stromatopores . They lived in large colonies and built huge coral reefs . After their death, their calcareous hard parts settled on the sea floor.
Due to global climate and environmental changes, this process was ended about 350 million years ago. In addition, in the course of the Variscan Orogeny, enormous tectonic forces lifted the land masses, folded them into mountain ranges and the sea retreated. Over the next 60 million years, the limestone banks were additionally covered with a thick layer of earth made of clay and fine sand deposits. In the Aachen area, these mountain ranges reached heights of 600 to 800 meters and were eroded to their present height in the following millennia . Due to the pressure of the mountain formation and the loads of the layers of layers on top of it, the still loose limestone sediments gradually solidified into solid limestone.
The Devonian reef limestone found in Aachen is characterized by a special purity and has freshly cut and polished an almost black, blue-gray to blue-green color, which changes to a white-gray color when it is exposed to weathering for a long time . This gave it the name " Aachener Blaustein ". It is ideal for Steinhauer - and stonework and found especially since the Baroque period many uses as a stone .
history
After lime could already be extracted from limestone in the Neolithic Age , about 2000 years ago the Celts first burned lime in the Aachen area and made it usable as lime mortar and lime whitewash for various purposes. These achievements were later adopted by the advancing Romans and Teutons and they used lime, among other things, in fresco painting, for fertilization in agriculture, for tanning leather and in medicine. The lime was initially burned in simple pits or kilns or in brick-built shaft kilns. The existence of lime kilns in the Aachen area is only recorded in writing from the 14th century. Above all, it was the prince abbots of the imperial abbey of Kornelimünster who enfeoffed qualified subjects with quarries and mines and granted them the right to build lime kilns and burn lime. In the 18th century, several quarries were added in the Hahn district.
In the course of industrialization in the 19th century, lime was increasingly required, for example as a raw material for cement , sand-lime brick and aerated concrete , for the production of mild steel and artificial soda or as a fertilizer in agriculture. Between 1870 and 1930 this led to the construction of modern kilns in the Kornelimünster / Walheim area, which were mostly operated by private companies. Since the southern area of Aachen was also opened up by the new Vennbahn , which runs close to the lime kilns, this region was able to become one of the most important lime-producing areas in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century.
The oldest lime kiln is the one from 1870 on Bilstermühler Strasse between Kornelimünster and Krauthausen near the overpass over the Inde. The largest and most important monument with several ovens was built in 1890 by two foreign manufacturers near the Walheim train station . After the Second World War, almost all the lime kilns in the Walheim / Kornelimünster area were completely overhauled, but as early as the 1950s they had to be shut down one after the other for economic reasons, as the structural changes in the lime industry meant that the focus was only on very large operating units . The last plant to be closed was the Walheim plant in 1959, which, however, processed quicklime from the Stolberg branch into white lime hydrate and highly hydraulic lime until 1964 .
After that, the lime kilns were forgotten for a long time and gradually weathered. Werner Kasig's initiative mentioned in the introduction, who together with the Geological Institute of RWTH Aachen University was able to carry out an extensive renovation of most of the ovens in 1984/1985, finally ensured that these facilities would be preserved as restored industrial monuments in the long term are. The city of Aachen supported this project and the labor office of the city of Aachen made staff available as part of job creation measures. Using the lime kiln path set up in 1989 between the central plant in Walheim and the lime kilns in Hahn, the buildings can be viewed from the outside and those interested can obtain information about the history of Aachen lime processing from extensive display boards.
The lime kilns in detail
Walheim lime kiln
The Eschweiler lime burner Christoph Heinen had the first kiln of the ring lime kiln built in Walheim in 1890 and had its own rail connection to the Vennbahn. In 1898, Heinen merged with the businessman Wilhelm Kalversiep, who had meanwhile entered the business, to form "Walheimer Kalkwerke GmbH" and one year later they converted their company to "Neue Walheimer Kalkwerke AG". As a result, they bought a double furnace system of the "funnel furnace" type for the production of 30 tons of lime per day as well as two further round-chamber furnaces and a double furnace system in 1905. The company mainly produced quicklime for the construction industry as well as for the regional steel and chemical industry.
In 1921 the company was bought by the "Westdeutsche Kalkwerke AG", which in turn emerged in 1910 from the "Rheinischer Kalkverkaufsverein". This AG later took over the operations in Büsbach near Stolberg (Rhineland) , in Eilendorf and in Niederforstbach from the Aachen area . As a result of the global economic crisis , the company had to temporarily stop its work, but was able to resume operations in 1934 and changed its name to “Westdeutsche Kalk- und Portlandzement-Werke AG” from 1936 after cement production had started in the associated Sötenich plant . In Walheim, fertilizer lime was increased and, from 1938, building lime was mainly produced for the construction of the west wall .
At the end of the Second World War, parts of the facility were blown up and the heavily damaged ring furnace was torn down, but operations continued. From 1947 onwards the orders picked up again and the main customer was the company Knapsack-Griesheim AG in Hürth-Knapsack , whose deliveries over the Stolberg-Walheim railway line were handled in open-plan cars. Although another funnel shaft furnace was purchased in 1956, the Walheim plant had to close three years later, only smaller orders were still processed until the final shutdown in 1964.
Leisure area Walheim
In the course of the next few years, the area around the quarries and the company premises in the area of the decommissioned lime kilns were declared a nature reserve Walheim and initially no longer made accessible to the public. Then in 1971 the "Freizeit- und Erholungsverein Walheim e. V. ”, who took over large parts of this area and set up an adventure playground , a mini golf course , a barbecue area with lawns and a beach volleyball court . He then leased his premises to the city of Aachen, so that the association is only responsible for the entire care and maintenance of the facility. Since then, the leisure area has had over 100,000 visitors from Aachen and the region annually, who can also visit the lime kilns, which have been accessible again since 1989, via the established Kalkofenweg. In addition, coming from Kornelimünster, the first of the 15 stages of the 313 kilometer long Eifelsteig leads via Hahn, past the lime kilns, through the leisure area and on to Friesenrath .
Rooster
Lime Kiln In der Au
The funnel lime kiln "In der Au" was built in 1899 by Christoph Heinen, who had founded the Walheim plant nine years earlier. Originally he planned two ovens in the Au, but left it with one. After Heinen withdrew from the business at the beginning of the 20th century, his Walheim partner Wilhelm Kalversiep and then the Lambert Hoven company from Kornelimünster took over the plant and added two meters to the furnace. Operations ceased in the 1940s and did not resume after the war.
The structure, which has only been preserved on one side, was subsequently placed under monument protection in 1984 after its partial renovation by the Geological Institute of RWTH Aachen University, whereby, due to the scarce financial resources, it was limited to exposing the furnace and securing the existing building fabric and the surrounding area.
Hahner Mühle lime kiln
The funnel shaft furnace Hahner Mühle was built in 1920 by the company "Becker & Krutt" and later came to the "Kalkbrennerei Thelen" before it was finally taken over by the "Rheinische Kalksteinwerke GmbH" from Wülfrath . At the front there is a vaulted working room for removing the lime and in the walled-up part to the right of the working room a fan was installed, which the kiln had received in the 1930s to increase its output. After the furnace was shut down in the 1950s, the Thelen company used the quarry behind the furnace until 1979.
This facility was neither restored nor placed under monument protection, instead the German Federation for Bird Protection took over the entire area and left it for natural settlement by plants and animals.
Wolfspfad lime kiln
The Wolfspfad funnel shaft furnace was built in 1924 by the company “Schornstein & Driesch” from Hahn as a completely free-standing system on a slope and was designed for continuous operation with a daily output of 30 tons. It has a square floor plan and has two workrooms for skimming off the quicklime and a total of four draw holes. It is the only lime kiln with an arrangement of the draw holes across the corner and at the same time the only funnel shaft kiln in which the separation of the draw-off area of the two stacked draw holes by a draw-off plate has been retained. At the rear of the system, a ramp was built to fill the furnace, via which the limestone was delivered from the "Katzenstein" quarry about 100 m away. The Gilles company took over the business from 1935 until it was closed in the 1950s.
From 1987 both the building construction department of the city of Aachen and the “Geschichtsverein Hahn und Friesenrath e. V. “took the necessary restoration and security measures and placed it under monument protection.
Kornelimünster
Lime kiln at the Bilstermühle
The octagonal and quarry stone masonry kiln at the Bilstermühle in today's Klauserwäldchen / Frankenwäldchen nature reserve is the oldest of the kilns still in existence and was built in 1870 next to the “Münsterkull” quarry. The owner of the quarry and the lime kiln plant was the imperial abbey Kornelimünster , later the parish and the Propsteigemeinde Kornelimünster. After its completion, the quarry and the lime kiln were leased to the Lambert Hoven company, who operated both until they were closed.
Between 1920 and 1930, Hoven had the originally 6.90 m high kiln increased to 8.60 m, thereby increasing the hopper content to 45 m³ and a daily production of 10 to 15 t quicklime. After a few interruptions in World War II, the plant ran successfully for almost 20 years before it was finally shut down in 1966.
In 1970 the quarry was filled and the furnace funnel filled in. Together with the “Heimat- und Eifelverein Kornelimünster”, it was subsequently restored and placed under monument protection by the RWTH Geological Institute.
Lime kiln Bilstermühler Strasse
The Bilstermühler Strasse lime kiln south of the town of Krauthausen was built around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as a free-standing funnel-shaped furnace made of quarry stone masonry on a square ground. He had two work rooms for drawing off the lime and a total of four draw holes. The furnace was designed for continuous daily operation and achieved a daily output of around 30 tons.
In the 1950s the facility was shut down and in 1987 the restoration was also carried out by the Geological Institute RWTH. Then he was placed under monument protection.
Schmithof lime kiln
The Schmithofer Kalkofen is located on the northern edge of the Schmithof limestone quarry in the north of the village of the same name. There are no noteworthy records of the operating conditions on the quarry site or the history of the lime kiln itself, except that they have been shut down for decades. While the area around the quarry has meanwhile been declared a water and nature reserve Schmithof , which the BUND takes care of, the associated lime kiln is gradually growing over and is exposed to weathering. This furnace and a correspondingly long access ramp protrudes 15 m above the site. From above the viewer looks into a 6–7 m deep and half-filled cylindrical combustion chamber with a diameter of 4 m.
The lime kiln was connected to a branch of the former Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft , whose line S, from 1909 line 25, coming from Raeren and Eynatten via Sief and Schmithof to Walheim - from 1916 only between Sief and Walheim - led and increasingly for the transport of goods could be used. The tram embankment and the loading ramp can still be seen clearly.
The Schmithof lime kiln was not included in the renovation program for the Aachen lime kilns and has not been placed under monument protection.
Lime Kiln Sief
The Sief lime kiln is located in the former quarry of the Raeren stonemason family Laschet and on the site of today's stonemasons in Schwartzenberg between Raerener Strasse and Wilbankstrasse in the Sief district and was also connected to the tram network of the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft with a branch. Today it is located on a closed company site, is completely overgrown and cannot be seen from the outside. Although there are no public data about him and he was also not included in the renovation program, according to the list of monuments of the city of Aachen, he has been placed under monument protection.
literature
- Werner Kasig: The use of geological conditions by humans in the area of the city of Aachen , magazine of the Aachener Geschichtsverein , volume 102, Aachen 1999/2000
- Hartmut Ochsmann: On the trail of the lime industry in the Walheimer area , excursion guide, history association Hahn and Friesenrath, 1991; it contains a detailed selection of literature
- Hartmut Ochsmann: Development of the lime industry in Walheim , in: Preservation of monuments in the Rhineland 1990
- Werner Kasig and Eva Prokop: The lime kiln at the Bilstermühle in Kornelimünster, an important technical monument . An exhibition in the Stadtsparkasse Aachen, Kornelimünster office. May 31 - May 14 June 1985. With 28 illustrations.
Web links
- Photo gallery of the lime kilns on the northern edge of the Eifel and in South Limburg
- Lime kilns in the Walheim, Hahn and Friesenrath area, the Hahn und Friesenrath history association. V., Hahn / Friesenrath 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kalkofenweg Aachen-Walheim ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Information according to geologist Rainer Oelzen [1] ; Werner Kasig assumes a 2000 m thick layer package: [2]
- ↑ Hartmut Ochsmann: The lime kilns of the Walheimer Kalkwerkes in: Denkmalpflege im Rheinland 1990
- ↑ Freizeit- und Erholungsverein Walheim (operator of the facility)
- ↑ Hahner Mühle lime kiln on panoramio.com
- ^ Railway in Stolberg
- ↑ Rainer Oelzem: The limestone quarry Schmithof near Aachen , excerpt from the technical work of Timm Reisinger, Aachen, March 2007
- ↑ Hartmut Ochsmann: The development of the lime industry in Walheim (short version) , in: Denkmalpflege im Rheinland, 1990
