Mouse path

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The (Grengeler) mouse path in Cologne-Wahnheide

As a former trade route, the Mauspfad is now one of the old streets . In addition to the old Cologne roads , it was part of the medieval network of roads on the right bank of the Rhine. The mouse path connected the Rheingau via Limburg an der Lahn , Altenkirchen , Siegburg , Cologne-Dünnwald , Opladen , Langenfeld and Hilden with Duisburg , where it reached the Hellweg . South of Limburg, the path is known as Hühnerweg , Hühnerstraße or Mainzer Straße , and north of Hilden it is called Butenweg. The name Mauspfad has only become established for the piece between the Sieg and Hilden. In Cologne on the right bank of the Rhine , the mouse path runs directly along the former bank of the glacial current of the Rhine and is named after the respective locations (examples: Dünnwalder Mauspfad, Dellbrücker Mauspfad).

A characteristic of this path is that it is accompanied by ( Celtic ) settlement and grave finds along the entire length between Sieg and Ruhr . Their dating to the Hallstatt and La Tène periods allows us to assume a comparable age for the mouse path . Because of the large number of burial grounds, the concept of a rural street of the dead or street of graves was coined. Since the Mauspfad has no finds from the Stone Age, with the exception of the Rosendahlsberg ( Neuburger Hof ) in Langenfeld, its existence can only be considered certain since the Iron Age .

Importance and Development

The mouse path should not be imagined as a road in today's sense, rather it was a path that was kept free through repeated walking and in part through maintenance measures, such as cutting the undergrowth . Tolls were levied at customs houses for such maintenance measures . Despite its narrow width, the path presumably played a major role in the Early Iron Age development of the heather terrace on the right bank of the Rhine; it may even have been the main route through which southern culture penetrated north. During the Hanseatic period , the mouse path formed the Rhenish part of the important traffic route between Cologne , Essen , Dortmund and Soest and on towards Hamburg , Bremen and Lübeck . The historical long-distance trade route from Genoa via the Little St. Bernhard , Basel , Mainz , Siegburg to the Netherlands also ran along some sections of this route . This road connection, the former Via Publica , later called Köln-Arnheimer Chaussee between Cologne and Arnheim , is roughly identical to today's B 8 . One reason for the upswing of the new trade route, combined with the simultaneous decline of the mouse path, was the battle of Worringen and the subsequent rise of Düsseldorf to later become a royal seat . This shifted traffic to the new connection via Düsseldorf.

Surname

The name of the path probably has nothing to do with mice , even if in the Middle Ages goods to circumvent taxes , customs and tolls around Cologne are said to have been smuggled “as if by mice”. The assumption that mouse could be derived from the word toll = road toll has more supporters. In this context, the Binger mouse tower is often cited, which was a toll tower in the Rhine. From the considerations on the connection with tolls , the opinion is partly derived that the mouse path is an old customs border line. Many people have therefore already interpreted the toll path as a border route of the Roman Empire and it was even suspected that the mouse path was the continuation of the Roman Limes .

However, these interpretations lose weight if a relationship between mouse = moss = bog is assumed. Philipp Wyrich has stated that there is a linguistic connection between moss , mud , morass and swamp (named examples from southern Germany: Erdinger Moos , Dachauer Moos , Schwenninger Moos ). The word Miselohe , the name of a Bergisches Amt ( Amt Miselohe ) on the Niederwupper, should also be included in the considerations. According to the Grimm 's dictionary , mise is derived from the Old High German mios , which in Central German became mies = moss and moor . In connection with Lohe = forest , the meaning of swamp forest results . And the long route through former wetlands would also speak for the mouse path as a path through a swamp forest .

In the High Middle Ages, the mouse path even gave the entire region its name. So it was said in 1289: "Musipad, dat is dat lant in dat velt ...". The name Langenfeld later developed from the name Dat Lange Velt . In many cities along the former mouse path, street and path names with the names mouse path or toll path can still be found today .

course

The route came from the Siegburger Land, went over the Wahner Heide to Brück , where it crossed the Brüderstraße , and on to Leverkusen - Opladen .

Langenfeld (Rhineland)
Coming from Opladen , the mouse path in Langenfeld ran over the aforementioned Rosendahlsberg at the Neuburger Hof , through Schnepprath and past Köttingen and Kämpe to Hausingen . From there it led over today's Opladener Straße through the localities Hagelkreuz and Galkhausen , then over the Hucklenbruch , through the Talstraße , and on over the Ganspohl and the Richrather Straße to Richrath , where there was a customs house shortly before the city limits to Hilden . Grave fields have so far been found on Rosendahlsberg and Hagelkreuz as well as near the customs house.
Hilden
Coming as Hildener Strasse from Langenfeld, the route continued on the municipality of Hilden as today's Richrather Strasse ( Landesstrasse 403 ). Near the center of Hilden he walked on Hagelkreuzstraße, the name of which suggests a Hagelkreuz , on Schulstraße. With Gerresheimer Straße, the mouse path ran again on what is now a main street (Landesstraße 403). At the junction Erkrath of the federal highway 46 , he left the urban area of ​​Hilden.
Around 15 Neolithic sites have been identified along Richrather and Gerresheimer Strasse in the immediate vicinity of the mouse path. More than 20 graves from the Hallstatt period with clay urns and accessory vessels were found. Two burial sites from the Roman Empire were also discovered.
Erkrath
In Erkrath , the mouse path continued on Rothenbergstrasse in Erkrath-Unterfeldhaus as state road 404 and then passed Haus Unterbach as Gerresheimer Landstrasse . From there it presumably took two trains to Hochscheidt and Rathelbeck in the direction of Haus Morp through an area that is now used for agriculture with individual forest plots. Northwest of the house Morp are at the forested area between the railway line Dusseldorf-Derendorf Dortmund-South and the Gerresheimer cemetery or several parallel hollow channels available.
In the Unterbach / Erkrath area, several devices were found near the mouse path, for example a Bronze Age rag ax and the Hallstatt bronze cast of a spout ax.
Dusseldorf
In the urban area of ​​Düsseldorf the course continued over the Gerresheimer heights near Düsseldorf-Gerresheim . In Gerresheim, both Neolithic hatchets and graves from the Hallstatt and Roman Empire were discovered near the mouse path.
The mouse path led further north via Ratingen , Lintorf and Angermund .
Duisburg
In the south of Duisburg, the mouse path followed roughly today's federal highway 8 , but occasionally deviated several kilometers from its route. Stations were Rahm , Großenbaum and Wedau .
In the further course it led to Duissern and reached Hellweg here.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephan Nuding: On the streets of our ancestors (=  Via historic highways in Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 2 ). M. Naumann Verlag, Nidderau 2005.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Rolf Müller: City history Langenfeld Rhineland . Publishing house Stadtarchiv Langenfeld, Langenfeld 1992.
  3. ↑ a b c Friedhelm Görgens: Langenfeld. Droste, Düsseldorf 1984.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Hermann Bannitza: Prehistoric sites in Haan (Rhineland). Haan 1986.
  5. ↑ Heinz Müller: place and field names. In: Home calendar of the Rhein-Wupper district . 1955, p. 41 ff.
  6. ↑ Herbert Nicke: Forgotten ways - the historical network of long-distance routes between the Rhine, Weser, Hellweg and Westerwald, its protective systems and junctions (=  land and history between mountain, Wildenburg and South Westphalia . Volume 9 ). Martina Galunder Verlag, Nümbrecht 2001, ISBN 978-3-931251-80-2 .

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