Ruins celebrated and forgotten – The Hünenburg in Gellinghausen, Germany

Last December my wife bought a new camera and I got no chance to try it out since then. But this week I managed to get some pictures of some forgotten ruins. Or maybe some invisible ruins because you have to know that they are there to see them. Next to the hamlet Gellinghausen is a hill that looks like every other hill in the region. It's not huge, it's covered with trees and on one site the shale is visible because a road was build next to it. You won't see a difference without a sign at the foot of the hill. The sign tells you that the hill was populated at least twice in the history of mankind. A small fortress was placed at this location during the iron age and a large fortress was constructed during the medieval period.

It is very difficult to say something about the medieval fortress but it is nearly impossible to know anything about the one from the iron age. Who lived there and when? How did they vanished? Some arrowheads where found and historians believe that a fire destroyed the walls. With the help of radiocarbon dating they came to the solution that the destruction of the fortress took place in the middle of the 3th century B.C. But who attacked them and why? That's a question that can't be solved. The only thing we know for sure is how the wall was constructed. The main component were boxes full of soil that were sealed by wooden beams and covered with lime stone. (Stones like those in the next picture) Although the height is unclear it can be said that the wall was 2,3 m thick. A 5 m deep moat was placed in front of the wall. It is not clear how many gates there were but at least one was found by archaeologists. The whole area is about 0,86 hectare large which is small for a Westphalian fortress of that time.

One might think that the medieval fortress must be documented but this is not the case. We don't know anything about who constructed it and who inhabited it throughout the centuries. But we know everything about the wall itself. The main-fortress is triangular. To the west the wall of the main-fortress has a height of 5m but to the south-east only 0,6m. That is reasonable because the hillside to the south-east is very steep and therefore difficult to attack. Behind the west wall was a second wall that was also 5m high. The moat that supported the second wall was 5m deep. The area that was secured by the second wall was about 1,73 hectare while the main-fortress was about 0,9 hectare. There are 7 lowerings scattered across the area that are clearly remains of the basements some of the buildings had.

As I mentioned before the history of the Hünenburg is mostly unknown. The construction started in the 8th century. Some of the walls are clearly younger than that and it seems that they were extended all the way up to the 13th century. But when it vanished and why is not clear. It was first documented during the 14th century by the monastery Abdinghof in Paderborn which ministered as the liege lord. The second time it was mentioned at the end of the 16th century but it was already abandoned by that time.

Some ruins are celebrated, other ruins are reconstructed but most ruins are forgotten because there is nothing left to remember. Especially nothing left to remember the names of the inhabitants not even the most powerful. I find this fascinating and disturbing at the same time.

I hope you found some joy in looking at the pictures. :)
Ich habe gerade keine Zeit den Text auch auf Deutsch zu übersetzen, daher werde ich in den nächsten Wochen vielleicht einen separaten Deutschen Post veröffentlichen, aber eigentlich können die meisten Deutschen ja auch Englisch und es geht vorallem um die Fotos. :)