The Hochspeyerbach is a long
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in the
Palatinate forest in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
and a left tributary of the
Speyerbach
The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...
.
Course
The Hochspeyerbach rises in the municipality
Hochspeyer
Hochspeyer is a municipality in the Kaiserslautern (district), district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest (Pfälzer Wald), approx. 10 km east of Kaiserslautern.
Hochspeyer was the se ...
in the immediate vicinity of the swimming pool. In earlier times the river was dammed about from the source, and this
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...
was the swimming pool. The water of the newly reconstructed
habitat
In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
spring pond is fed into a pipe system by an overflow drain. About east of the pond, the river flows freely again, to the east, parallel to the
Palatine Ludwig Railway
A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times. through the village of Hochspeyer. After crossing the railway loop connecting the Ludwig Railway to the
Alsenztalbahn
The Alsenz Valley Railway (german: Alsenztalbahn) is a line that runs from Hochspeyer via Winnweiler and Alsenz to Bad Munster am Stein in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The line closely follows the Alsenz river from the Enkenbach ...
, it takes up the river Fischbach from the left. A few kilometers further, it flows through the former
Franzosenwoog
Franzosenwoog is a former reservoir in Pfälzerwald, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was created around 1828 to facilitate timber rafting
Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, wh ...
reservoir. At the entrance to
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
, it takes up the
Glasbach from the left, coming from the
Diemerstein Valley. In the village of Frankenstein makes a noticeable change of direction and starts flowing southeast parallel to the federal road B39, which begins in Frankenstein, in the direction of
Neustadt an der Weinstrasse Neustadt (German for ''new town'' or ''new city'') may refer to:
Places
* Neustadt (urban district)
Czech Republic
*Neustadt an der Mettau, Nové Město nad Metují
*Neustadt an der Tafelfichte, Nové Město pod Smrkem
*Nové Město na Mora ...
. A kilometer outside Frankenstein, the Hochspeyerbach takes up the
Leinbach. It then flows through the municipalities of
Weidenthal
Weidenthal is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the mi ...
and
Neidenfels
Neidenfels is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality, a papermaki ...
. On the municipal boundary between
Frankeneck
Frankeneck is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Geography
Location
The municipality lies in the P ...
and
Lambrecht, it flows into the
Speyerbach
The Speyerbach is a left tributary of the Rhine in the Palatinate part of Rhineland-Palatinate. In Speyer, the river split into ''Gießhübelbach'' and ''Woogbach''. The Woogbach changes its name to ''Nonnenbach'', then flows into Gießhübe ...
from the left.
River bed
The Hochspeyerbach has a man-made stream bed over its entire length. The first {{convert, 600, m of its bed are a half-open pipe. In the urban area of Hochspeyer, it is canalized. In other places, it is partly canalized, partly encased. After the confluence with Fischbach, it was straightened, to enable
timber rafting
Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest mean ...
, and the banks were consolidated. Before the 19th century, wickerwork was used to consolidate the embankments; during the 19th century, stone was used. The stream bottom was fixed using stones. Although no mortar was used, most of these stones are still in place.
Name
The Hochspeyerbach's medieval name of ''Hospira'' Hochspeyer was documented as early as the 10th century.
It was possibly derived from ''Spira'' or ''Spiraha'', the name of the Speyerbach
[Wilhelm Ludt: ''Hochspeyer – Die Geschichte eines Dorfes'', p. 18 ff]
Another theory posits that the word ''Spiraha'' may be derived from the
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
''spiwan'' ("spew"). The
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
form ''spiren'' suggests that an alternative Old High German form might have been ''spiran'', although there are no references for this form. This could have been combined with an old name suffix ''-aha'' ("streaming"), which is probably related to the la, aqua ("water"). So ''Spiraha'' may have meant "spewing out water", in which case the spring would have given its name to the stream.
[Martin Grund, Dr. Heinz Schimpf: ''Die besondere Geschichte des Speyerbaches''](_blank)
/ref>
See also
*List of rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate
A list of rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany:
A
* Aar
* Adenauer Bach
*Ahr
* Alf
* Alfbach
*Appelbach
*Asdorf
* Aubach
B
* Birzenbach
*Blattbach
* Breitenbach
* Brexbach
* Brohlbach, tributary of the Moselle
* Brohlbach, tributary of the R ...
References
External links
Speyerbach.info
Rivers of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rivers and lakes of the Palatinate Forest
Rivers of Germany