The Bechen Heerweg

The historic trade route from Cologne via Wipperfürth to Soest mostly leads along the ridges of the Bergisches Land in a south-west/north-east direction. Coming from Herweg (Hehrer Weg = Hoher Weg), it reaches the district of Schnappe shortly before Bechen. The path used to fork here; to the left it went via Bechen, Neschen to Altenberg. Further straight ahead, i.e. away from today's B506, the trade route went via Wipperfürth, Soest to Leipzig and on towards Krakow. Keeping these roads in a passable condition was expensive. In order to save their contribution to maintenance, supposedly clever carriers liked to avoid such a "redoubt", here a district of the same name about 1.5 km away (Fig. 1), where tolls had to be paid. At some point, however, you had to return to the more convenient route. However, you then stood in front of a barrier again and had to pay toll plus a fine. This is where you were "caught", hence the name of the district with the chapel. There was also an inn with a fountain there, where the freight drivers could rest and take a break after the horses had been fed.

In the lower part of today's Raiffeisenstraße, the old trade route crosses the historic path from the old Pohl manor past the cemetery to Bechen church. You can rest here on a bench at a wayside cross. The wayside cross from 1873 is dedicated to the patron saints of Bechen church, Antonius and Catharina. The founders were the owners of the "Pohl" farm further down the valley, which is now a listed building and a former knight's seat with an eventful history. This complex, originally designed as a moated castle, was first mentioned in 1433 and had been owned by the Herwegh family since around 1500. A few years ago, weather vanes were found on the farm showing the coats of arms of the Herweg zum Pohl-Overheide (1550) and Herwegh zum Herweg zum Pohl (1635) families. The watermill opposite belonged to the farm, which was in operation as a corn mill until 1927. Two of the former 5 mill ponds are still preserved today. They are fed by the Pohl stream and a small stream coming from Altensaal, which is considered to be the source of the Dürsch. Below Pohl, however, the stream is still referred to as Weyerbach (it feeds the Weyermühle) and below Dürscheid as Dürschbach.

However, if you continue along the old trade route, which Napoleon and his troops used to travel to Russia, you will cross the Pohler Bach stream shortly before the little wood, which today runs under the path and has been culverted. This measure drained the "Pohler Bruch" marshland to the left of the path and made it suitable for development. At the entrance to the grove, several parallel, deep lanes can be seen, which were created in the Middle Ages. If one lane was no longer passable, the carters would look for another, adjacent, new lane with the same destination. These medieval lanes can be found several times on the ridges along today's B506, but mostly only as rudiments. These tracks are very well preserved on Pohler Berg, and the map (Fig. 2) clearly shows the deep incisions with hatching. They have been placed under monument protection, a sign from the municipality of Kürten indicates the ground monument, excavations or waste disposal are strictly prohibited here. Shortly before reaching the sports field, there are further lanes to the left in a small wood below the heavily elevated B506.

Similar, less pronounced lanes can be found in the area of the B506 near Wolfsorth in the direction of Wipperfürth and in the direction of Paffrath on the Höhenweg between Altehufe and Voiswinkel.

One of the tracks on Pohler Berg is particularly deep. Iron ore was mined here from the Neptun XIII mine from 1858 to 1863. (Fig. 3) In 1857, the mining rights for the open-cast iron ore mine were transferred to Dr. Friedrich Hartkopf from Solingen by the Siegen Mining Authority. In 1863, the Ober-Bergamt in Deutz granted an unlimited operating period. The mining rights did not actually expire until after the Second World War under the British authorities.

Exploitation was not so productive that mining had to be stopped after 5 years. Fortunately for the people of Bechen today, our landscape would otherwise look very different.

Until around 1860, the trade route between the chapel in Schnappe and Neuensaaal was heavily frequented and the only route towards Wipperfürth. Presumably due to the continuing obstruction caused by the mining of the Neptun mine on Pohler Berg, it was decided to build a bypass. From Schnappe, the districts of Neuenhaus, Bechen /Dorf, Heiderjansfeld and Neuensaal were connected with each other, the current route of the B 506. The old trade route is between Schnappe and Neuensaal.

In the mid-1960s, plans were already well advanced to restore the old route and thus relieve Bechen of the main traffic flow. Among other things, a bridge over the valley was planned, which would have been 11 meters high at its lowest point (approximately above the crossroads). The project was not pursued further for cost reasons, among others.