| Eckbach | |
|---|---|
 Eckbach betweenDirmstein andLaumersheim | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | Germany |
| State | Rhineland-Palatinate |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | nearCarlsberg-Hertlingshausen, |
| • coordinates | 49°29′46.67″N8°0′52.02″E / 49.4962972°N 8.0144500°E /49.4962972; 8.0144500 |
| • elevation | 313 m (1,027 ft) |
| Mouth | |
• location | Confluence with Rhine atWorms, |
• coordinates | 49°36′30.45″N8°24′6.68″E / 49.6084583°N 8.4018556°E /49.6084583; 8.4018556 |
• elevation | 90 m (300 ft) |
| Length | 39.27 km (24.40 mi) |
| Basin size | 217.847 km2 (84.111 sq mi) |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Rhine→North Sea |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Rothbach,Floßbach |
| • right | Höninger Bach, Schrakelbach |
TheEckbach (locally known as theEck and in the lower reaches also asNeugraben orLeiniger Graben[1]) is a small river in the northeasternPalatinate and the southeasternRhenish Hesse. It is slightly over 39 kilometres (24 mi) long.
Linguistic Research into the old name ofdie Eck shows that it is related to theUpper German wordAche, which means "river" or "creek" and is derived from theOld High Germanaha.
In theMiddle Ages, the river was known asLeinbach. This name refers to theLeinbaum, that is, the Lime tree (Tilia × europaeaL., not related to theCitrus aurantifolia, the tree that produces thelime (fruit)). In those days, both theNorway Maple (Acer platanoides) and theLarge-leaved Linden (Tilia platyphyllos) were calledLeinbaum in German. Both species were common on the banks of the Eckbach. One difference between the species is the shape of the leaves: maple leaves are five lobed, lime leaves are undivided. The coat of arms of theHouse of Leiningen shows a stylized tree with five-lobed leaves and five-pointed flowers clearly point to a maple. The House of Leiningen originated in the area around the upper Eckbach. It is entirely possible that they named their ancestral castle after the river. The family was later named after their castle and the area around the upper Eckbach is now calledLeininger Land.
In the early 19th century, the local name of the river wasEck, as it is today. TheKingdom of Bavaria acquired thePalatinate in 1816. When Bavariancartographers mapped the area, they were unaware of the meaning of the wordEck and wanted to make it clear that the "Eck" is a brook, so they recorded the name asEckbach. Linguistically speaking, this name means "brook brook".
The Eckbach rises nearCarlsberg in northernPalatinate forest. The spring is framed insandstone and is southeast ofA6 (Saarbrücken-Mannheim) at an elevation of 313 metres (1,027 ft) above sea level in theKleinfrankreich ("Little France") section of the Hertlingshausen district of Carlsberg. The spring is marked by a so-calledRitterstein.
The area surrounding the upper Eckbach is known as theLeininger Land orLeiningerland, after the aristocratic Leiningen family who ruled the area in the High Middle Ages. The Eckbach is the central watercourse in this area. This part of the river is managed by theGewässer-ZweckverbandIsenach-Eckbach, a division of the county ofBad Dürkheim. The river initially flows in an easterly direction through Hertlingshausen, then northeast throughAltleiningen, where it receives water from the artificial20-Pipe Well (20-Röhren-Brunnen). In the northeastern outskirts of Altleiningen, the Eckbach takes up the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) longRothbach from the left, then the 5-kilometre (3 mi) longHöninger Bach from the right.
After flowing through theEckbachweiher reservoir at Neuleiningen-Tal, the Eckbach breaks through the eastern edge of thePalatinate Forest, theHaardt, between the village ofBattenberg on the south bank andNeuleiningen on the north bank. It reaches thevineyard-covered hills around theGerman Wine Route atKleinkarlbach. InKirchheim an der Weinstrasse, the Eckbach, now flowing eastward, passes under the north-south runningB271 highway, before flowing throughBissersheim. From there, the Eckbach flows in a northeasterly direction toGroßkarlbach, where it crosses the A6 motorway before flowing throughLaumersheim.
InDirmstein, the Eckbach collects the 8-kilometre (5 mi) longFloßbach, locally known as theLandgraben, which is the Eckbach's largest tributary. To the left, that is, to the north of the Eckbach, the structure of the hills is clearly defined. There is a long, low ridge with three summits marking the divide between theEisbach and the Eckbach: theWörschberg, elevation 163 metres (535 ft), north of the road connectingObersülzen and Dirmstein, theSchneckenberg, elevation 143 metres (469 ft), between Dirmstein andOffstein and theStahlberg, elevation 134 metres (440 ft), between Dirmstein and the Heppenheim district ofWorms.
The area south and to the right or the Eckbach is flatter and the Großkarlbach-Laumersheim-Dirmstein-Gerolsheim area used to be a boggy lowland, which was used as pasture land. Further south lies the divide between the Eckbach and its southern neighbour, theFuchsbach. This was a left tributary of theIsenach until the second half of the 20th century, when most of its water was diverted into Schrakelbach. The area between Laumersheim, Dirmstein, Gerolsheim andHeuchelheim contains a number of irrigation canals:Weihergraben, Altbach, Kühweidegraben, Altgraben, Bittinggraben and Lerchengraben. These ditches begin as distributaries of the Eckbach and return to the Eckbach 4 to 8 kilometres (2.5 to 5.0 mi) downstream, some of them directly into Eckbach, some flow into Schrakelbach. East of Heuchelheim and to the north of the Frankenthal Interchange, theA61 crosses the Eckbach.
The Eckbach then flows pastBeindersheim. Just north of Beindersheim, it accepts from the right the Schrakelbach, which contains water from the Fuchsbach and from some of the irrigation canals mentioned earlier. The Eckbach the flows through the western part of theUpper Rhine Plain, flowing north-northeast past the villagesGroßniedesheim andKleinniedesheim. It continues northeast through Bobenheim, which is the northern part ofBobenheim-Roxheim. The next section is calledNeugraben ("New Ditch") and flows due north. Southeast of Worms Airport, the Eckbach swings east.
The river then flows into theWormser Ried nature reserve. It crosses the municipal border into Worms, where it is known asLeininger Graben. The last bridge across the Eckbach carries theB9. It flows past the recreational areaBürgerweide on the southern side, then into theUpper Rhine at an elevation of 90 metres (300 ft).
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The old name of the river, theEck is thought bylinguistic experts to be derived from the wordAche, commonly used in theUpper German dialects ofSouth Germany to mean "river" or "stream", which in turn came from theOld High German wordaha.
In theMiddle Ages the Eckbach bore the nameLeinbach, which is where its association with the lime tree arose.Leinbaum is the local word for both thelarge-leaved lime and theNorway maple; two species of tree that used to be very common on the banks of theEckbach. They differ, however, especially in terms of the leaf shape: maple leaves have five lobes; lime leaves are undivided. The Leiningen family coat of arms of displays a stylised tree, whose leaves - and its five-petalled flowers – are clearly those of a lime. Thenoble family of Leiningen who came from the region of the upper Eckbach were permitted to name their family castle after the old name for the stream; from which in turn the subsequent name of the family was derived.
The fact that the stream, originally called theEck, now bears the nameEckbach goes back to theKingdom of Bavaria, which was granted that part of the Palatinate west of the Rhine in 1816. When Bavarian officials surveyed the Palatinecartographically they changed the name, in ignorance of the name's origin, in order to make clear that theEck was a river (otherwise the wordEck orEcke in German means "corner"). The result is that the present name ofEckbach linguistically means "stream stream".[2]
Increasing abandonment of agricultural land in the area around the Eckbach and measuresland restoration measures have enabled the return or colonisation of rare plant and animal species. In the early winter of 2012great egrets were seen on the Eckbach near Dirmstein, a bird whose native habitat is actually further south and east.[3]
On the heights of the Palatine Forest andHaardt mountains above the Eckbach valley lies the castles ofAltleiningen,Neuleiningen andBattenberg. Since 1980, stage productions by the Altleiningen Castle Players (Burgspiele Altleiningen) have taken place during the summer months.
The so-calledBlitzröhren ("lightning pipes") on one of the roads leading toBattenberg are a natural monument. People used to think they were caused by lightning strikes, but they are now thought to be a result of geochemical action.
A section of theLeiningen Valley Railway used to run along the Eckbach for about 6 kilometres (4 mi) between Kleinkarlbach and Altleiningen carrying both passengers and goods.
In 1997 theEckbach Mill Path was established alongside the Eckbach. Initially it only ran through seven villages that were part of theGrünstadt-Land collective municipality. Subsequently it has been extended as far as the source of the Eckbach near Hertlingshausen (Hettenleidelheim) giving it a total length of 23 kilometres (14 mi).
Today the Eckbach receives most of its water from the20-Pipe Well in Altleiningen. The well is fed by water from anadit that was driven deep into the rock around 1600 in order to supply the castle above. The actual source of the Eckbach is 5 kilometres (3 mi) upstream, but this no longer delivers water all year round due to the lowering of thegroundwater level.
The Eckbach is impounded in the area of Neuleiningen-Tal to form theEckbachweiher. In the past the section from here to Dirmstein had 35water mills, of which 23 have more or less survived; and some of which have been restored.
In 2007 the Leiningerland Mill Museum was opened in theGroßkarlbacher village mill, a building that dates to theMiddle Ages. Other mills worth visiting are theFelsenmühle, operated as a hotel-restaurant in Neuleiningen-Tal and theSpormühle in Dirmstein, today a country hotel with anart gallery. The oldNiedermühle mill in Dirmstein was converted in the 19th century into amanor farm.
St Lawrence's Church in Dirmstein is a small jewel ofbaroque architecture that was built from 1742 to 1746 to plans by church architect,Balthasar Neumann, and local builder,Franz Rothermel. The Eckbach, which used to flow just 50 metres (160 ft) south of the church, was re-routed in the 1920s to the southern edge of the village.
Since 2007 theSalian Cycleway, which links buildings and structures of theSalian dynastic period, has crossed the Eckbach Mill Path in Dirmstein.
The general appearance of most of the villages, especially inNeuleiningen,Großkarlbach andDirmstein, is characterized by their renovated centres, some of which still date to the Middle Ages, but most of which date to the baroque period.
