The Rinkenkopf is a mountain, 760 m high, on the territory of

Baiersbronn Baiersbronn is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality and a village in the district of Freudenstadt (district), Freudenstadt in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest on the Murg (Northern Black Forest), Mu ...

in the

Northern Black Forest The Northern Black Forest (german: Nordschwarzwald) refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. Geography The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north b ...

. The wooded mountain ridge is bounded in the south by the Murg valley and in the northeast by the valley of the Tonbach. To the northwest a roughly 50-metre-deep

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

(the ''Sattelei'') separates it from the foothills of the Grindenschwarzwald. On the mountain are the

Rinkenwall The Rinkenwall or Rinkenmauer is a circular rampart fortification at the southeastern tip of the Rinkenkopf mountain above the Murg valley near the village of Baiersbronn in the county of Freudenstadt in the south German state of Baden-Württe ...

(''Rinkenmauer''), Rinken Tower (''Rinkenturm'') and two

transmission tower A transmission tower, also known as an electricity pylon or simply a pylon in British English and as a hydro tower in Canadian English, is a tall structure, usually a steel lattice tower, used to support an overhead power line. In electrical gri ...

s. Several

hiking trail A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...

s lead there, including the Murgleiter and der Genießerpfad to the Sattelei Hut.

Rinkenwall

At the top of the mountain are the remains of a 115-metre-long and up to 40-metre-wide

circular rampart A circular rampart (German: ''Ringwall'') is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering. The ...

. The date it was built and its purpose are unknown. In the

gift register The gift register (german: Schenkungsbuch) of an abbey or monastery was a record of the properties forming its estate, the majority of which came from gifts (''Schenkungen''). The register served as proof of the legitimacy of these properties and t ...

(''Schenkungsbuch'') of Reichenbach Abbey is the first mention of the mountain around 1100: ''in monte qui Rincga vocatur''. The ring-shaped earthworks were probably already in existence at this time and gave the mountain its name.

Rinken Tower (King William Tower)

In 1914, the Württemberg

Black Forest Club The Schwarzwaldverein (Black Forest Club or Black Forest Association) was founded in Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) in 1864, making it the oldest German hiking and mountaineering club. The Schwarzwaldverein has almost 90,000 members in 241 loca ...

erected a 16-metre-high

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

at the southeastern end of the mountain ridge.Werner Siebler-Ferry: ''Aussichtstürme im Schwarzwald.'' Schillinger Verlag, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1998, , p. 50. Originally named the King William Tower (''König-Wilhelms-Turm'') after the

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

king, William II, it is now known as the Rinken Tower (''Rinkenturm''). Since the early 1980s the tower has been owned by the municipality of Baiersbronn. It has periodically also been used as a transmission tower.

References

External links

*{{Commonscat-inline, Rinkenkopf Mountains under 1000 metres Mountains and hills of Baden-Württemberg Mountains and hills of the Black Forest Freudenstadt (district)