Liedberger sandstone

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Liedberger sandstone
Liedberger sandstone
Main features
group Sedimentite
Subgroup Quartz sandstone
Occurrence Liedberg near Korschenbroich
colour white-gray
use Stone, sculptures

Trade names Liedberger quartzite
Dismantling situation dormant degradation
Division into hard and soft stone Soft rock
Age Miocene
Reference example Liedberg Castle, St. Andreas (Korschenbroich)
Special marks Storage of unconsolidated rock

The Liedberg sandstone is a Miocene quartzitic sandstone that has been used as natural stone on the Lower Rhine since Roman times . The sandstone was quarried from the Liedberg quartzite dome, a 30 meter high mountain ridge isolated by erosion in Liedberg , now part of Korschenbroich in the Lower Rhine Bay .

geology

The Liedberg from the southwest

The starting material for the formation of the Liedberg sandstones was unconsolidated quartz-rich sand, which was deposited in the Miocene in the coastal area of ​​a shallow sea off the mainland south of it in today's Lower Rhine Bay . The tropical climatic conditions at the end of the Tertiary caused a near-surface solution of quartz from the Miocene sands due to the penetration of rainwater . The silicic acid-containing solutions were then precipitated again in deeper soil layers and led to partial silicification of the sand deposits in layers. Such formations are known as tertiary quartzites and are found locally in areas where older sand deposits are found. The sandstones are covered by three to twelve meters thick Kieseloolite deposits of the highest Miocene. Due to the higher resistance to weathering , the silicified pieces of rock withstood erosion in the course of the earth's history and formed hardeners.

Today, the 700 meter long and 300 to 400 meter wide Zeugenberg is under nature protection and, due to its geoscientific importance, is registered as a geologically protected object.

The uppermost, weakly bound sandstone layer is 2.5 to 3.5 meters thick and not suitable for building purposes and was therefore referred to in older literature as the false stone . This layer is underlain by the so-called house inlay , which is up to 6 m thick and was the subject of mining, which partly took place underground. The whitish-gray, more or less solidified sandstone is partially interspersed with light yellow layers of lower strength. In the horizontal part of the house insert there is a 1.5 meter thick, heavily silicified, greyish white sandstone ( clinker ), which was only used for road construction due to its brittleness. The underlying, non-gravel sparkled white quartz sands were in past centuries as Stubensandstein used.

History of mining

Liedberg mill tower

Archaeological finds at the foot of the Liedberg indicate tools from the early Paleolithic Age , with which fragments of quartzitic sandstone were worked. Hand axes and blades were also found that can be clearly dated to the later Paleolithic Age. These are devices used by the Neanderthal man , who lived more than 30,000 years ago.

A systematic mining of the quartzite took place under the Romans, who operated a stone legion camp in neighboring Neuss ( Latin Novaesium ) and needed material for the construction of secular and cult buildings. Because of the cheaper ship transport over the Rhine, however, mainly tuff stones and greywacke from the Middle Rhine and Moselle were used in Neuss . The Liedberg quartzite was increasingly used in the settlements and country houses ( villa rustica ) in the surrounding area, where the hard building material was needed for solid and durable foundation walls. The Germanic tribes of the Ubier who settled on the left Lower Rhine also adopted this Roman technique of building foundations in the course of Romanization . An old Roman road ran through Liedberg and ran from Neuss on the Rhine to Linne on the Maas in what is now the Netherlands . The building material was transported to the west and north-west via this connection and probably with small boats across the Niers .

Liedberg Castle (restoration 2014)

When mining the sandstone, the Romans used a special technique to extract individual sandstone blocks. First, groove-shaped indentations were driven into the stone at an acute angle. The sandstone block could then be cut out in the required size with wedges. Roman sandstones found in the region therefore sometimes have typical wedge pockets with which the period of their production can be determined.

The gemstones made of Liedberg sandstone found in buildings from the High Middle Ages (for example in Mönchengladbach Minster ) originally come from ancient Roman times and were re-used as so-called spolia or secondary raw materials. The first evidence of post-antique quarrying of the Liedberg quartzite in the late Middle Ages emerges from the construction of the Liedberg mill tower , which was built as a keep from sandstone blocks. Sandstone was the most important economic factor that drew craftsmen and tradespeople to the town and made Liedberg a focal point of commercial activity across the region.

Sand extraction in Liedberg became an important economic factor from 1400 onwards. The extremely pure and therefore valuable quartz sand was mined for glass production. From 1700, the Liedberger sand was extracted as room sand for the houses in the surrounding area. The Liedbergers "Sankbuurȩ" achieved considerable prosperity during this time. In 1861 the sand extraction is said to have fed 36 workers and 203 family members in Liedberg.

Over the centuries, mining took place both in quarries on the southern slope of the Liedberg and underground in shafts and tunnels that were driven into the mountain below the castle . The actual commercial sandstone mining was ended around the middle of the 19th century for reasons of profitability - the last leases were recorded during this time. However, sandstone mining continued into the 20th century. The Liedberg parish church of St. Georg was built from sandstone and was consecrated in 1915.

However, working in the tunnels was also associated with dangers - in the 19th century, 28 people died from collapses. On June 22, 1930, three young scouts from a group of 16 from Düsseldorf were buried in a disused but open tunnel below the castle by falling rocks. A corpse could be recovered by the called fire brigade. The recovery of the bodies of the other two people buried was not possible because of the danger to life for the rescuers. The accident met with great sympathy among the population and throughout the Rhineland. Today the entrance to the rock cellar is locked and a cross with the names of the three boy scouts reminds of the unlucky day.

  • Wall base at the Nikolauskloster

  • Gate entrance to Nikolauskloster

  • Castle wall Liedberg

  • Dry stone wall in Liedberg

  • "Dörpel" to the front door

  • Parts of a gully made of sandstone

use

The Liedberg sandstone was used in the Paleolithic to make tools and weapons, such as hand axes, blades, scrapers, as well as axes and arrowheads.

After their settlement on the left bank of the Rhine, the Romans were the first to systematically mine the Liedberg quartzite from the 1st century AD and needed it for the foundations of their settlements and country houses. Around 400 Roman villae rusticae can be found in the area around Liedberg , which, with the arable land, served in particular to supply the military camp in Neuss. The Romans also used the material for the production of cult objects, such as the Jupiter statue at Schloss Dyck and the Jupiter column in Odenkirchen . A Roman sarcophagus in Bedburdyck is also well preserved.

In the Middle Ages, a number of buildings were built with Liedberg sandstone. These include, for example, the Mönchengladbach Minster , St. Andreas in Korschenbroich, the Liedberg Mill Tower and Liedberg Castle .

Over the centuries, the natural material was not only used in the construction of buildings and churches, but also for crossroads, stations of the cross, footfalls and gravestones. A number of useful devices and utensils were made from the sandstone, which can still be seen today in the area around Liedberg and which are cared for by enthusiasts.

literature

  • Klaus Grewe: Built on sand. The history of the Liedberg stone and sand mining . In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn: Rheinische Ausgrabungen '76 . Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1977.
  • Harald Frater: Geological Forays - Düsseldorf and the Neuss and Mettmann districts. Bachem, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7616-1642-2 .
  • Ralf Frommen, Detlef Lingen, Lorenz Meyer: Liedberg - A hill writes history . Korschenbroich 2005, ISBN 3-00-017713-2 .
  • Dieter Hupka: On the use of Liedberg quartzite and quartzitic sandstone as building material in Roman and medieval times . In: Yearbook for the Neuss district . Kreisheimatbund Neuss, Dormagen 2014, pp. 11–19.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Geological State Office: Geologie am Niederrhein , 4th edition, Krefeld 1988, ISBN 978-3-86029-909-8 , p. 34.
  2. ^ "Quarzitkuppe Liedberg" nature reserve in the specialist information system of the State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection in North Rhine-Westphalia , accessed on February 26, 2017.
  3. ↑ Harald Frater: Geological forays - Düsseldorf and the districts of Neuss and Mettmann. Bachem, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-7616-1642-2 , pp. 139f.
  4. ↑ Jakob Noeggerath: The mountains in Rhineland-Westphalia according to mineralogical and chemical references , Volume 4, Bonn 1824, p. 374ff.
  5. ^ Hans Georg Kirchhoff: Office Korschenbroich: History of the communities Korschenbroich and Pesch . Verlag B. Kühlen, Mönchengladbach 1974, p. 11.
  6. ↑ a b c Dieter Hupka: On the use of Liedberg quartzite and quartzite sandstone as building material in Roman and medieval times . In: Yearbook for the Neuss district . Kreisheimatbund Neuss, Dormagen 2014, pp. 8-10.
  7. ↑ a b Dieter Hupka: On the use of Liedberg quartzite and quartzitic sandstone as building material in Roman and medieval times . In: Yearbook for the Neuss district . Kreisheimatbund Neuss, Dormagen 2014, p. 13.
  8. ↑ Dieter Hupka: On the use of Liedberg quartzite and quartzitic sandstone as building material in Roman and medieval times . In: Yearbook for the Neuss district . Kreisheimatbund Neuss, Dormagen 2014, p. 15.
  9. ↑ Jakob Bremer: Liedberg up to the parish elevation . Article around 1959, p. 8.
  10. ↑ a b Klaus Grewe: Built on sand. The history of the Liedberg stone and sand mining . In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn: 'Rheinische Ausgrabungen' 76 '. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1977, p. 156.
  11. ↑ Note: Sankbuurȩ (Ripuarian) means sand farmers .
  12. ↑ a b Klaus Grewe: Built on sand. The history of the Liedberg stone and sand mining . In: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn: 'Rheinische Ausgrabungen' 76 '. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1977, p. 158.
  13. ↑ a b Ralf Frommen, Detlef Lingen, Lorenz Meyer: Liedberg - A hill writes history . Korschenbroich 2005, ISBN 3-00-017713-2 , p. 72.
  14. ↑ Ralf Frommen, Detlef Lingen, Lorenz Meyer: Liedberg - A hill writes history . Korschenbroich 2005, ISBN 3-00-017713-2 , p. 73.