Early history paths and castles in the southern Sauerland
Wall castles in the Sauerland are early fortifications from prehistory and early history as well as the early Middle Ages . An important reason for the construction of hill fortifications was the opening up of the mountainous region in South Westphalia to exploit the ores there as early as the centuries before Christ. This first attempt at settlement did not last and probably ended in the first century after Christ. It was not until the 7th century that settlement and with it the fortifications increased again.
Due to the lack of individual finds, it is difficult to date the castles and assign them to the Iron Age or the early medieval period. Various factors are typical for the Iron Age castles in the Sauerland and can thus be used for classification. Iron Age hill castles are mostly located on isolated hilltops. They are therefore very high-altitude castles . They are usually much further away from the main settlement areas than their counterparts from the early medieval period. Likewise, the difference in height between the castle and possible settlement is greater than later.
Regarding their shape, the Iron Age castles are round to oval and are adapted to the shape of the mountain. The construction of the gates is particularly typical. There are simple box gates and those with overlapping walls. This created a gate lane that could easily be closed if necessary. In contrast, in early medieval castles, the Wallende turn into the castle interior, they form chamber or pincer gates.
Iron Age (200 BC) and the Early Middle Ages (9th – 10th centuries AD)
On the Wilzenberg there are two ramparts (ring walls) from the Iron Age (200 BC) and the early Middle Ages (9th – 10th centuries AD). The older hill fort from the Iron Age is around 6 hectares in size. The younger castle complex from the early Middle Ages is mentioned a few times in connection with the monastery Grafschaft . As the location of a castle complex from the younger pre-Roman Iron Age, the Wilzenberg is of outstanding importance, into which a medieval castle was later built. The excavations with weapons finds and wall remains prove this.
The castle had two moats, which can still be seen today and are accessible via a circular hiking trail. The outer bering is 2.8 hectares and the inner one is 0.8 hectares. The inner castle has a length of around 120 meters in a north-south direction and a width of around 65 meters in a west-east direction.
On the mountain cone are the earth pouring of an Iron Age hill fort. Below the mountain peak, a terrace broken into the rock with a vertical rear wall runs around the western and southern flanks of the mountain.
The so-called Schiedlike Borg is located on the Küppel about 920 m northeast of Freienohl. It consists of terrace edges, some of which are staggered one behind the other, on the less steep mountain sides, while there were no artificial fortifications in the steep slope of the Ruhr. The size of the Schiedliken Borg is approx. 400 m in the north-south direction and approx. 200 m in the east-west direction (a total of about 7.7 hectares).
At a height of 629 m on the Borbergskirchhof there is an early medieval rampart with a 170 × 160 × 230 m (that's around 1.9 ha) core and an approximately rectangular wall ring.
The fortification includes the four large rocks. This created a protected area of around 0.6 ha in size. The area may also have served as a cult site.
The complex probably dates from the Carolingian or Ottonian times. It is a shield-shaped hill fort with a pointed moat. It is located west of Goddelsheim above the Aartal. The facility is freely accessible.
The origin of the Eresburg is unclear, it was possibly created at the time of the Chatten and taken over by the Saxons . It is said to have been the location of the Irminsul . It protects the border between the Saxon sub-tribe of the Engern and the Frankish domain. Fought over during the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne and conquered several times, it was later used as a castle.
The complex probably dates from the Carolingian or Ottonian times. The round inner castle made of ramparts and moats has a diameter of about 90 m. In the northeast it is leaned against a steep slope. The mortar-walled gate is in the northwest. The main castle is surrounded in a semicircle by a moat and an outer bailey. Their access is in the west. In the north-west there was another outer wall that can no longer be seen.
The round main castle was about 55 × 60 m in diameter. This part is enclosed by a strong wall and an external ditch. In the north there is a smaller outer bailey, which is also secured with a wall and moat.
The round 0.5 hectare facility had a diameter of about 80 m. Living spaces may have been found inside. The complex was probably the center of a large Carolingian manor.
Below the saddle, the mountain peak of the Kahle is already sealed off with a rampart up to 2 m high with a recognizable ditch, beginning at a length of about 180 m in front of the Siepen, which flows down to the Wolbecke, over the saddle in a south-westerly direction to the western steep slope Meggen. To the north, the wall was destroyed by a farm road that leads down to the Meggen bird bar. The second wall terrace, about 1.50 m high and at a distance between 45 and 26 m from the first, secures the wall castle over a length of 230 m from the northern steep slope towards Halberbracht to the southwestern steep slope towards Meggen.
A breakthrough through the wall in the course of a farm road in 1983 showed that the 2 m high and 8 to 10 meter wide wall was held on the outside by a well-crafted stone wall as an outer shell. On the inside there was a 1.2 to 1.4 meter wide packing wall, which partly consisted of gravel stored in larger mortar patties.
A sharp rock ridge crosses the hilltop in a south-west-north-east direction, which is surrounded by two concentric, parallel lines of fortification, which can be seen in the terrain as wall terraces. They are about 15–30 m apart. A third wall terrace or edge of the terrain is located in front of the farm road in the direction of Elspetal. This leads to the source of the "Vordersten Siepen". The interior of the facility has a length of 225 m and a width of 75 m.
There is a small, elongated oval rampart consisting of a rampart and an outer ditch at the Hofkühl district. The inner dimensions of the oval are 80 by 60 meters. The walls of different thicknesses are 3 to 4 meters high, the ditch in front is about 3 to 4 meters wide and today still about one meter deep.
The castle complex consists of three ramparts, staggered one behind the other, still recognizable today. The wall is almost two kilometers long and encloses an area around 500 meters long and 300 meters wide.
About 1700 m east of Kallenhardt, the south-western foothills of the Öhningsberg becomes a rampart that initially runs from north-west to south-east and then from north-east to south-west. To the east there are a few smaller pieces of rampart in front of it. The castle area itself is located on a triangular mountain nose with steep slopes. Some finds from the pre-Roman Iron Age have been made there.
The castle is about 50 m above the river Ennepe. The plant forms an oval ring. In the south there is a strong earth wall with a pointed ditch hewn into the rock. In the north there is a terrace with an upstream ditch. Part of the wall was destroyed by a quarry in the north. The only access is in the southwest.
The ramparts enclose an area of around 7 hectares. Inside there is a square stone castle measuring 35 by 50 meters. The walls were about 2.5 m wide and probably about 3 m high.
Two ring walls and two straight walls on an area of 18 hectares. In the 13th century expanded to a stone castle, later fell into disrepair. From 1886 ground monument, and partly fell victim to a quarry in the middle of the 20th century.
The facility is located on the castle hill at an altitude of 350 m. The Wallburg is located on the flat hilltop. Wall and moat systems exist in the south, west and east. In the steep north these were not necessary. The core of the castle is 140 × 80 m, protected by a more than 5 m high wall.
Atlas of prehistoric fortifications in Westphalia. Published on behalf of the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia by F. Biermann and JH Schmedding. 1920
August Stieren: Carolingian ramparts of Westphalia after recent excavations. In: Westfälische Zeitschrift 108, 1958, pp. 405-408.
Philipp R. Hömberg : Investigations on early historical flashes of Westphalia. Dissertation University of Münster 1972 [1980].
Philipp R. Hömberg: Prehistoric and early historical ramparts in the Arnsberg area. In: Pre- and early history in the Arnsberg area . Arnsberg 1975, pp. 20-50
Torsten Capelle : Wall castles in Westphalia-Lippe. Published by the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia, Münster 2010, ISSN 0939-4745 , p. 21, no. FBW5 ( Early Castles in Westphalia special volume 1 )
^ Albert K. Hömberg, Wolfgang Leesch: To the historical becoming of the state part of Westphalia. In: Handbook of the historical sites of Germany. Vol. 3: North Rhine-Westphalia. Stuttgart 1970 LXXXIV
^ Philipp R. Hömberg: Prehistoric and early historical ramparts in the Arnsberg area. In: Pre- and early history in the Arnsberg area. Arnsberg 1975, p. 23f.
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