Main ferry Nordheim am Main

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The ferry in Nordheim am Main

The Main ferry Nordheim am Main (colloquially also Mainkuh ) is a cable-guided passenger, cyclist and car ferry on the Main , which runs all year round between the municipality of Nordheim am Main and the Volkach district of Escherndorf in the Lower Franconian district of Kitzingen.

history

The history of the ferry is closely linked to that of Nordheim. As with the founding of the village, the first ferry service is in the dark. It can be assumed that there was already a ferry at the current location in the Middle Ages , which ensured the crossing of the Main on the important trade route Würzburg - Prosselsheim - Volkach. The village master of Nordheim, the Münsterschwarzach Abbey , was responsible for maintaining the ferry.

The ferry was first mentioned in 1473, however. A dispute between the Bader and the ferryman had to be settled: From then on the ferryman was obliged to cross the Bader , but was allowed to swim for free. Again the ferry is mentioned in 1575. The Münsterschwarzach abbot Johannes IV. Burckhardt drafted comprehensive ferry regulations that year regulating travel times and tariffs.

However, the contract had already disappeared in 1603, so that there were again disputes about the use of the ferry. On November 16, 1603, Abbot Johannes V. Krug issued a new order, the so-called ferry letter. Again the rights and duties of the ferryman and the rest of the population were listed. The people from Nordheim have to help the ferryman to get his boat to safety when the Main floods . The ferry rights were auctioned off by the municipality to the so-called Fahrbestestand for one, later two years.

After the secularization and the dissolution of the Münsterschwarzach Abbey, ferry rights remained with the, henceforth Bavarian, community of Nordheim am Main. The drastic change was accompanied by a rapid increase in the lease price, the ferry lease cost 36 guilders in 1771 and rose to 126 guilders per year in 1803. A short time later, the municipality decided to grant the ferryman a longer lease and has now granted the ferry rights for ten years.

After the Nordheim ferry had consisted for centuries of a simple oak shell that was only shod with iron, a change came in 1919. The old cross-chain ferry was an obstacle to shipping and the Bavarian state demanded a switch to a high- wire ferry . The first, new ferry is a boat built in 1907 by the Noell company from Würzburg.

This ship was already replaced on November 13, 1925 by an iron construction that had been carried out by the Bavarian shipbuilding company in Erlenbach. After the Second World War, the ferryman Otto Konrad planned to replace the ferry with a free-moving boat, but the plans failed because of the planned canal construction between Volkach and Gerlachshausen . The project would reduce the water depth at the crossing point so much that safe operation would no longer be guaranteed.

In 1955, the water management office discovered serious defects on the ferry, so that the municipality had a new high-wire system built in 1965. From then on, the ferry was also powered by a small auxiliary engine. 1983 ended the leasing of the ferry to Beständer. The municipality of Nordheim am Main now hired employees who took over the ferry operation. In 2016 the ferry underwent extensive renovation.

technology

The double high rope system of the Nordheim ferry is a special feature. The two steel high ropes only exist at this point because the river is no longer used by commercial shipping. Previously, a cross chain laid at the bottom of the Main had guaranteed the ferry crossing. However, when the Main chain was laid between Bamberg and Kitzingen , this system had to give way.

See also

literature

  • Gerhard Egert: The Nordheim driving regulations from 1603 . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop 1993-2007 . Volkach 2008. pp. 1-4.
  • Stefan Meusert: The ferry system in Nordheim . In: Ute Feuerbach (Ed.): Our Main Loop 1993-2007 . Volkach 2008. pp. 126-134.

Web links

Commons : Main ferry Nordheim am Main  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Meusert, Stefan: The Fährwesen in Nordheim . P. 126.
  2. ^ Egert, Gerhard: The Nordheimer Fahrordnung from 1603 . P. 1.
  3. ↑ Meusert, Stefan: The Fährwesen in Nordheim . P. 127.
  4. ↑ Meusert, Stefan: The Fährwesen in Nordheim . P. 131.
  5. ^ Nordheim am Main: History of the ferry , accessed on February 3, 2016.

Coordinates: 49 ° 51 '34.6 "  N , 10 ° 10' 42.2"  E