Small fort at the castle

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Small fort at the castle
limes ORL Wp 4/79 ( RLK )
Route (RLK) Upper German Limes,
route 4
(Wetterau route)
Dating (occupancy) unknown
Type Small fort
size unknown
Construction Stone fort?
State of preservation Ground monument
place Nidda - Unter-Widdersheim
Geographical location 50 ° 25 '20.5 "  N , 8 ° 54' 31.3"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 25 '20.5 "  N , 8 ° 54' 31.3"  E
height 154  m above sea level NHN
Previous Small fort Massohl
(north-northeast)
Subsequently ORL 21: Haselheck small fort
(south)

The small fort Auf der Burg , also Wp 4/79 (guard post) according to the numbering of the Reichs-Limeskommission (RLK), was a Roman fortification on the Wetterau line of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes . It was located southwest of the village of Unter-Widdersheim , municipality of Nidda in the Wetterau district in Hesse .

location

A conical, plateau-like hill at the top forms the outermost projection of a ridge that strikes against the Horloff . It has been called the castle since ancient times . The view of the Limes foothills was restricted from here by the ridge called the beech forest . From the exposed location, however, one had a wide view of the Limes hinterland to the towers on the Gaulskopf and the Johannisberg near Bad Nauheim .

  • View of the striking elevation from the north

  • Situation on site in 2014 with display boards

Fort

KK “Auf der Burg” in the Limeswerk

The Friedberg rector Johann Philipp Dieffenbach first reported on the discovery of a coin of Faustina and recognized the castle as a Roman site. The track commissioner Friedrich Kofler had excavations carried out, which resulted in a building with the dimensions 29.5 × 12 m. A western annex of 18.5 × 4 m is divided into three rooms by partition walls, the main building into six rooms. Kofler looked in vain for a surrounding wall on the rocky ground; he suspected it was in the southeast of the plateau, where modern quarries cut deep. On the northern edge of a central depression, probably also a quarry, Kofler found fragments of Roman vessels, including decorated terra sigillata .

The existence of a fort is therefore fraught with uncertainties. From the location directly on the Limes, you won't see a villa rustica in the building. Either it was enclosed by an undiscovered wall or a fort was located east of the building on the plateau. In the first case, it should have been around 40 × 45 m in size. No plans were made by Kofler, so that even the location of the proven building is unclear today.

Limes course from the small fort on the castle to the small fort Haselheck

The Limes runs through the heavily agricultural area of ​​the eastern Wetterau and is not visible. In the area of ​​the small fort on the castle , a slightly receding angle of the Limes must be assumed. Watchtower locations were suspected and numbered by the RLK with Wp 4/80 to Wp 4/84, but not found. Sections of the Limeswall are only visible again in the area of ​​the Haselheck small fort near Echzell to the south .

Monument protection

The small fort Auf der Burg and the facilities mentioned have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage as a section of the Upper Germanic-Rhaetian Limes since 2005 . It is also a ground monument in the sense of the Hessian Monument Protection Act . Investigations and targeted collection of finds are subject to approval, and accidental finds are reported to the monument authorities.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Kleinkastell Auf der Burg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files