Lüftelberger roof tiles
Lüftelberger roof tiles ("Berjer Panne") is the name for the clay roof tiles that were fired for several centuries in Lüftelberg (today part of Meckenheim / Rhineland) .
Beginnings of roof tile production
The near-surface and therefore relatively easily degradable clay deposits of suitable quality as raw material and the wood from the nearby Kottenforst for the burning process have always been the basis of clay processing in Lüftelberg. Most of the clay pits were at the southern exit of the village in the corridor Ober dem Rosenacker , about 400 to 600 m from the center. The clay was used early on for the manufacture of household ceramics. In the age of industrial mass production, the previously hand-operated production of such products no longer paid off.
The first currently known written references to roof tile production in Lüftelberg come from the year 1730. At that time, Johann Chrysanth Rheinbach, Vogt of the County of Neuenahr, left his newly acquired estate in the Ringener Wald (between Holzweiler and Marienthal), the so-called Hambachshof, which no longer exists today , repair. He also bought “3000 breakdowns from Loftelberg”.
In fact, the roof tile production in Lüftelberg began at least 100 years earlier, as can be read in the citizens' statutes of 1640. With the aim of avoiding devastating conflagrations, the sovereign order was issued for the subordinate Meckenheim to cover roofs either with slate or with roof tiles and no longer with straw as before: "... with Leien or earthed baked breakdowns" ... (Lei = slate) . At that time, clay-fired roof tiles were already widespread and had proven themselves as an alternative to the hitherto customary straw roofing of houses, barns and stables, especially with regard to fires that often destroyed entire villages. A similar ordinance was issued for the neighboring county in 1757. For the family businesses that mainly come from traditional pottery, such requirements offered additional income opportunities.
It is also plausible to date the beginning of roof tile production in Lüftelberg to around 1600, because the existence of a brick kiln at the Lüftelberg moated castle is mentioned as early as 1552. Here, cuboid masonry bricks were certainly initially burned using simple wooden molds. With only minor changes to the shape, the plain tile roof tiles could also be produced, as the forerunner of the later models with a hollow (for the controlled drainage of rainwater).
Production methods and models
First of all, the hollow brick known as "Schottelpännche" was manufactured using simple wooden molds using the hand-painting method. With the start of mechanized production, this model was replaced by the double troughed interlocking tile, which was followed by the Rhineland tile in the 1940s . The last two models mentioned were made in the colors red-brown (i.e. natural), black engobed and silver-gray muted. The matching ridge tiles were also offered.
After many small, today little known by name and manual operations such as B. Faßbender, Gemein, Kentenich, Nuremberg, Reintgen, Virnich and Wild, the medium-sized company Bertram was founded in 1830 on a 1.5 to 2 hectare site on today's Südstrasse. A first highly official reference to this company can be found in the description of the Royal Prussian Rhine Province from 1830. According to this description, Lüftelberg is the only place in the wide area that had a brick kiln of any size. With up to 50 employees, this was the largest company in Lüftelberg. From around 1880 the Bertram company concentrated on the manufacture of terracotta and majolica products and thus achieved world fame, such as awards such as: For example, on the occasion of the world exhibitions in Chicago in 1893 and 1933/34. The roof tile production was only resumed by the later owner Johann Braun at the beginning of the 1950s.
Economical meaning
A decisive influence on the structure of roof tile production came from the connection of Lüftelberg to the electricity network in 1880, which accelerated the conversion of production from manual to machine production. However, many of the small family-run businesses could not afford to purchase the necessary machines. Some, with family members who were mostly poorly paid, still temporarily continued production, many companies stopped production at short notice, some avoided competition by switching production to other products made of clay such as garden gnomes, flower pots or other ceramic products. Between 1880 and the end of the 1940s, the number of clay processing companies in Lüftelberg fell - not only due to the war - from around 30 to six to eight, although this did not lead to a reduction in overall production. On the contrary: In the period 1880/90 it was the general industrialization process, in the years after the two world wars it was the necessary reconstruction of the destroyed residential and commercial buildings that made the demand for roof tiles noticeably rise. In today's Südstrasse, businesses such as Klais, Bertram (later Johann Braun), Dick and Henseler were lined up. The Bitten, Geschw. Braun and Hötgen companies were also in the immediate vicinity.
The roof tiles from Lüftelberg were particularly widespread in the southern part of North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate, especially in the Ahr / Eifel region. Lüftelberg developed into the center of roof tile production in the second half of the 19th century. The sales advertisements and job advertisements placed in the daily newspaper show that the level of awareness of the Lüftelberger roof tiles went far beyond the place of production. In economic and social terms - especially in terms of job opportunities - the roofing tile trade had surpassed the importance of agriculture. The share of those employed in agriculture in Lüftelberg was only 10 to 12% around 1880, while the comparable values in the neighboring communities were 20 to 22%. The number of those employed in the roofing tile trade in Lüftelberg was mostly over 100 - a considerable figure in view of the only 400 inhabitants around 1900.
Structural changes and decline
The competitive pressure, which increased significantly from around 1950, mainly from roof tile manufacturers from the Lower Rhine region, on the one hand, and the supply of well-paid, clean jobs in the administration of the then federal capital Bonn, which was under construction, on the other, led to the cessation of roof tile production in Lüftelberg from 1958 onwards. Two companies continued processing clay into flower pots or drainage pipes and cable covers until the beginning of the 1970s. If you take the year 1600 as the beginning of roof tile production in Lüftelberg, then a three-and-a-half-century era came to an end, of which today, in addition to the fragments of some former production facilities, a larger number of houses covered with Berjer breakdowns testify.
literature
- v. Hehl, Ulrich and Schäfer, Manfred: Meckenheim - as it was. Published by the City of Meckenheim, Meckenheim 1985.
- Heusgen, Paul: VIII. Lüftelberg, in: The parishes of the deaneries Meckenheim and Rheinbach , Cologne 1926.
- v. Jordans, Ferdinand: Lüftelberg in the past and present . In: General-Anzeiger from January 19, 1940.
- Prothmann, Ottmar: Chronicle of Altendorf and Ersdorf. 2005.
- Prothmann, Ottmar: Of brick fields and brick buildings in the county. In: 2002 homeland yearbook of the Ahrweiler district .
- v. Restorff, Friedrich: Topographical-statistical description of the Royal Prussian Rhine Province . Berlin, Stettin 1830, p. 283.
- Schneider, Madeleine: The Wasserburgendorf Lüftelberg - A settlement and economic geographic study . Cologne 1972.
- Stüwer, Wilhelm: From the past of Meckenheim. In: The city of Meckenheim - its Rhenish history and its German fate, 1100 years of the village and city of Meckenheim . Festschrift for the anniversary celebration, published by the City of Meckenheim 1954.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ v. Hehl, Ulrich and Schäfer, Manfred: Meckenheim - as it was . Ed .: City of Meckenheim. Meckenheim 1985, p. 197 .
- ^ Municipal archive Grafschaft: cover book of Johann Chrysanth Rheinbach 1724-1732 . 1753, p. 83 .
- ↑ Unterherrschaft Meckenheim: File No. 20 a (addendum) . Ed .: Main State Archive Düsseldorf.
- ^ Prothmann, Ottmar: From brick fields and brick buildings in the county . In: Ahrweiler district (ed.): 2002 homeland yearbook of the Ahrweiler district . S. 104 ff .
- ↑ v. Restorff, Friedrich: Topographical-statistical description of the Royal Prussian Rhine Province . Berlin and Stettin 1830, p. 283 .
- ↑ Schneider, Madeleine: The Wasserburgendorf Lüftelberg - A settlement and economic geographic study . Cologne 1972, p. 76 ff .
- ^ Prothmann, Ottmar: Chronicle of Altendorf and Ersdorf . 2005, p. 222 .
- ↑ v. Jordans, Ferdinand: Lüftelberg in the past and present . In: General-Anzeiger . January 19, 1940.