St. Pirminsborn (St. Pirmin’s Well)

Ritterstein Nr. 182 About 50m west of the road between Spirkelbach and Lug.

Sign beside the Road to Well. Printing still visible inside casing.

The Pirmin well or spring was mentioned in old charters as one of the border points of the old Pirmasens region. Originally the entire region belonged to the frankish noble, Wernher of the Bliesgau.

According to the stories, the waters of the St. Pirminsbrunnen never froze. During a very hard winter, the holy Pirmin could not baptize any converts (He is known as the Apostle of the Wasgau) because all the springs and brooks in the entire region were frozen. When he heard of an ever flowing spring, and the heathens wanted to be baptized before Christmas, he went there with his converts. According to the legend, St. Pirmin baptized 3000 in the source of the Spirkelbach (St. Pirmins Spring).

Ritterstein im Pfaelzerwald; Walter Eitelman, Graeber, 1986

A little weeding was needed first. A nicely preserved well casing.

To find St. Pirmin’s Well:

Go south from Spirkelbach. Turn right on field road at end of meadow just at the edge of the village. The lane crosses a stone bridge and continues about 50 meters to the west. The stone-lined well is just before a bench along the lane. The outflow of the well has been artificially channeled to run along the lane instead of down into the meadow. At the bridge is a small sandstone "aqueduct" over the brook. It may have been used to channel water into the meadow to flood it in order to encourage an early growth of grass. This would provide early pasturage in the days when these villages were mostly pasturage based.

The view north from St. Pirmin’s Well is lovely. Beyond the village are the steep, wooded hills of the "Dahner Felsenland" or Dahn Cliff Country. This is borderland; the French border is about 10 km south. The cliffs are spectacular sandstone "chimney rocks", very popular with climbers.

The spring is indeed a strong flowing source. A few meters north is the village water reservoir, which may have tapped into the same source of water as St. Pirmin’s Well. Possibly it ran even faster and stronger a thousand years ago.

Back to Janet Taylor's Home Page