The Rinkenwall or Rinkenmauer is a

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 ...

fortification at the southeastern tip of the Rinkenkopf mountain above the Murg valley near the village 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 county of

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt ( Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to the eas ...

in the south German state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. The

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

could have been a fortification built to protect Reichenbach Abbey, which was built in the late 11th century and which is named as its owner.

History

The fortification is first recorded around 1100 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 ...

at Reichenbach Abbey. Here an estate is referred to as ''in monte qui Rincga vocatur''. The word ''Rincga'' means roughly "ring-shaped", probably referring to the circular rampart (''Ringwall''). The donation of holdings on the Rinkenberg clearly suggests that the fortification at that time had no longer any military or administrative function. There have been detailed descriptions since 1859. These offer various interpretations of the age of the fort and its use as a

refuge castle A refuge castleCreighton, Oliver (2015). ''Early European Castles''. Bloomsbury. or refuge fort (german: Fliehburg, also ''Fluchtburg'', ''Volksburg'', ''Bauernburg'' or ''Vryburg'') is a castle-like defensive location, usually surrounded by rampa ...

or to protect grazing cattle. To date there have been no comprehensive excavations or finds, that would enable

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

. Comparable fortifications emerged probably before A.D. 1000. In 2006, before the erection of a

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 ...

, an

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

dig took place on part of the site. This found traces of quarrying, presumably for stone for the construction of the wall. Traces of any permanent settlement were not uncovered.Guntram Gassmann, Folke Damminger: ''Archäologische Untersuchungen in der befestigten Höhensiedlung auf dem Rinkenkopf bei Baiersbronn, Kreis Freudenstadt.'' In: ''Archäologische Ausgrabungen in Baden-Württemberg 2006.'' Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 2007, , pp. 261–265.

Description

The 115-metre-long and 30- to 40-metre-wide circular rampart is located on the highest point of the mountain ridge. The front of the location, on its northwestern side, is 27 metres long and is interrupted by a narrow entrance. The remaining 240 metres or so of fortification runs along the rounded mountaintop and encloses an area of just under 0.4 ha. The wall consists of stone blocks that have been piled up, of which up to five layers have survived. On the outside they reach a height of up to 1.4 metres. The wall is between 1 and 1.5 metres thick; and up to 2 metres thick on the front wall. The stone blocks are of varying size and have no evidence of being worked. Parts of the wall have been destroyed through collapse or building work. About 50 metres in front of the entrance on the northwest side, through which a footpath passes today, is a

clearance cairn A clearance cairn is an irregular and unstructured collection of fieldstones which have been removed from arable land or pasture to allow for more effective agriculture and collected into a usually low mound or cairn. Commonly of Bronze Age origin ...

, the remains of an outwork. There is no

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

Literature

* Christoph Morrissey, Dieter Müller: ''Die Rinkenmauer bei Baiersbronn.'' In: ''Atlas archäologischer Geländedenkmäler in Baden-Württemberg.'' Vol. 2, Issue 19, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart, 2006, .

References

Heritage sites in Baden-Württemberg Freudenstadt (district)