“Heljborn” of Schoenborn, Germany

 

(Holy Well of Schoenborn/Pfalz)

 

This holy well formerly served the small north Palatinate parish of Ransweiler-Schoenborn-Stahlberg.  In the local dialect Heiligenborn, or Heiligenbrunnen, became “Heljeborn”. The spring is located on the slope north of the village of Schoenborn, itself perched on a steep hillside, and above the village of Ransweiler. It is the source of the Wehrbach (fighting creek), which flows through Ransweiler and joins the Moschelbach at neighboring Doerrmoschel.   The brook ran the mill below Ransweiler in which the mercury ore from the Stahlberg Hill was pulverized.  The spring is within the community boundaries of Schoenborn and elderly residents say it was much prized for its abundance flow, never drying up, and its healthful qualities.

            The clear spring water was formerly considered an excellent medicine for eye troubles and other illnesses.  The water could be collected and taken to the villages for sufferers to use as eyewash. It could also be drunk in the hope of a quick and effective cure for other illnesses.  It was well known throughout the local area for its healing properties.

            A story is told of a young girl who suffered from a sore throat. The local doctor could offer no hope.  The child’s mother took her to the holy well while, in the village above; a funeral procession was walking toward the cemetery.  As the church bells rang for the funeral, the mother washed her child’s throat and she was healed.

            Today the “Heljeborn” provides the water supply for the hamlet of Stahlberg.

 

Source: Die Nordpfalz Geschichte und Geschichten, Willi Schattauer, editor.  Kalkofen, 1998.  Mr.Schattauer’s source is the Pfaelzische Tagezeitung, July 12, 1938.

 

Ransweiler, Stahlberg, Schoenborn, and the farm, Sulzhof, form a small parish in the North Palatinate Hills northwest of Rockenhausen.  The mines of the Stahlberg have been used for centuries; perhaps by the Romans or earlier settlers.  The Dukes of Zweibruecken owned the mines and collected the profits for some years. A Roman road runs along the western slope of the Stahlberg, now a field road following the middle contour of the hill.  On the southwestern end of the hill stands the Langenstein, a prehistoric standing stone. About twenty feet high and formed of shaped sandstone, it is one of the best-preserved menhirs of the Palatinate.

 

The parish church, located at Ransweiler, forms part of a walled compound consisting of the church, the manse, and glebe buildings. While it was rebuilt after the Thirty Years War, the church is on an ancient site. Such walled church-glebe compounds are now extremely rare.  The view from the hillside above the church, looking across the bowl shaped valley to Schoenborn on the far hill, is lovely.  A dead straight church path runs from the church over the hill to the farm of the Sulzhof, probably a remnant of another hamlet of the parish. 

            One of our favorite volksmarsches or organized walks takes us over the hills from Finkenbach to Sulzhof and Neubau on the Stahlberg. A torch light walk over these hills on a cold winter night with the lights of the villages shining is a wonderful experience.

            More pictures will follow when I locate the Heljeborn. .