Cross mark (Lehrberg)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cross mark
Cross mark in February 2008

The cross sign , a pedunculate oak , is located northwest of Ansbach near Hürbel am Rangen on the Bocksberg , an elongated foothill of the Frankenhöhe at about 500 meters above sea level.

There are two attempts to explain the name. On the one hand, it stands at the crossroads of the old mountain trails from Hinterholz to Steinersdorf and from Neudorf to Lehrberg , and on the other hand, the unusual crown architecture looks like a cross.

In 2001 the oak had a circumference of 5.98 meters at the narrowest point of the trunk with a crown height of about 18 and a crown diameter of 20 meters. The chest height was 6.45 m in 2015.

The oak was at the height of its vigor and beauty around 1900. This is proven by a historical photo taken by the pioneer and tree photographer Friedrich Stützer in 1902. L. Hellmuth described the oak in detail in the book published by Stützer. At that time a branch about one meter thick extended 20 meters to the south. The branch on the opposite side, which was a bit narrower, extended 17 meters to the north. The trunk diameter was a good 1.5 meters. The crown diameter was 39.5 meters back then. In Germany today there is no old tree with a similar crown diameter.

The oak seems to grow very slowly. About 100 years ago, the circumference at a height of two meters was just over five meters. Measured at the same height, the circumference is 6.5 meters today. Taking this growth ratio into account, the oak is around 500 years old. It is also reported, however, that the oak was one of the remains of a small monastery that was built in honor of St. Burkhard around 1430. Accordingly, the cross mark could be almost 600 years old. The age-grooved trunk with its board-like bark ridges that reach up to the crown indicates a high age of 600 to 800 years.

There are also legends like this around the solitaire : Hans Roi , a restless carter, rides every night with his head under his arm on a black horse, starting at the cross mark, around the Bocksberg and back to the oak . He is supposed to rush his six-horse wagon beside him.

literature

  • Bernd Ullrich, Stefan Kühn, Uwe Kühn: Our 500 oldest trees: Exclusively from the German Tree Archives . BLV Buchverlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-8354-0376-5 , p. 298 .
  • Stefan Kühn, Bernd Ullrich, Uwe Kühn: Germany's old trees. BLV Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Munich Vienna Zurich, Munich 2002, pages 124–125, ISBN 3-405-16107-X .
  • Hans Joachim Fröhlich : Old lovable trees in Germany. Cornelia Ahlering Verlag, Buchholz 2000, pages 290-291, ISBN 3-926600-05-5 .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry in the directory of monumental oaks . Retrieved January 10, 2017
  2. ↑ L. Hellmuth: Cross oak near Ansbach . In: Friedrich Stützer (ed.): The largest, oldest or otherwise strange trees in Bavaria in words and pictures . tape 3 . Piloty & Loehle, Munich 1902, p. 114–115 with collotype board ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de - photo by Friedrich Stützer).

Coordinates: 49 ° 19 ′ 48 ″  N , 10 ° 29 ′ 0.2 ″  E