Brücken - Diamond Grinders Trail (Circular route - 20.6 km)

Track types

Rest stops

Safety information

General information:

Especially in autumn, be aware that fallen leaves on the ground may conceal unevenness, roots, stones or holes in the path. After thunderstorms or heavy rain, trees may still fall or branches break off. In adverse weather conditions, natural paths can have muddy and slippery sections. Not all rocks or cliffs are secured with ropes or railings. Sure-footedness is sometimes necessary. You have to expect such path impairments when hiking. If you think certain sections of the path are impassable for you, you should detour around them.

NOTE:

We strive to announce all closures caused by forestry work or hunting groups on this platform. Nevertheless, there are situations where trails are closed and we were not informed. If you unexpectedly encounter a closure or detour, please follow the instructions for your own safety.

Tips and suggestions

In Brücken with anexed restaurant and the adjacent "Little Chapel" (space for cultural heritage – key available at the Diamond Grinders Museum).

Refreshment also possible at the managed Fritz-Claus-Hütte near Brücken.

www.vgsk.de

www.begehbaresgeschichtsbuch.de

www.ohmbachsee-glantal.de

(1) Diamond Grinders Museum (Brücken)

Isidor Triefus from Steinbach opened the first Palatinate diamond grinding workshop in 1888 at Neumühle between Brücken and Ohmbach. Skilled workers from Hanau trained the first local apprentices as diamond grinders at that time. Until the First World War, further diamond grinding workshops were established in Brücken and some neighboring villages. By the mid-1930s, the industry reached its peak with 2,500 grinders and polishers in the West Palatinate. After the Second World War, there was a short bloom again. With the emergence of new diamond grinding centers in Israel, Russia, and India, with very low wage levels, the steady decline began from 1957. Today there is only a single diamond grinding workshop left in Brücken.

The Diamond Grinders Museum, established in 1998, shows the historical, technical and economic development of the Palatinate diamond industry. On Sundays, visitors can look over the shoulders of the former grinders at the grinding wheel and immerse themselves in the fascination of the diamond.

(2) Old Church (Brücken)

In medieval times, there was a chapel in the center of town. It was destroyed during the Thirty Years War. In 1715, Catholics built a new chapel from the remains. The chapel’s bell dated from 1463. After the establishment of the Brücken parish in 1730, this small church served as the parish church. At the beginning of the 19th century, the church was too small and in poor condition. Therefore, the building council decided in 1829 to construct a larger parish church. From 1836 to 1838, following plans by civil building inspector August von Voit, a new church was built. By around 1900, the church was again too small. In 1915, a major remodeling was planned but was thwarted by World War I. The remodeling was never resumed as a new church was built elsewhere. After the construction of the new church (1953–55), the "Old Church" was used less and less, and was finally demolished in 1970.

(3) Laurentius Fountain (Brücken) 

In summer 2006, the new Laurentius Fountain was erected. It commemorates the historic Laurentius Fountain, which was in operation just a few meters away until 1934 and held special significance for Brücken. The fountain water was considered healing in earlier times. A description from 1772 says: "In the village springs the St. Laurenty Fountain, where the inhabitants fetch their drinking water, and where the sick are said to have been healed." The fountain was first mentioned in 1754 as "St. Lorenz Born." In 1785, a spa guest was documented who came there for the "cure drinking." In 1937, the fountain was covered by a milk house. After the building was demolished in March 1981, the old fountain chamber was backfilled. Through the free transfer of a parking lot area by the families Wolfgang Bauer, Michael Schön, and Charlotte Strobel, the new Laurentius Fountain could be built at the historic site. During construction, the old fountain chamber was uncovered. The new Laurentius Fountain is made of Palatinate sandstone as a flowing fountain with two troughs and is fed with water from the old fountain chamber. The figure of St. Laurentius was created by Franz Defland from Brücken.

(4) Catholic Parish Church St. Laurentius

The Catholic parish church was built between 1953 and 1955. It is the third church building since the foundation of the Catholic parish of Brücken in 1730.

In the choir area is a monumental Christ the King mosaic. The 32 sqm large mosaic was created in October 1956 by the Munich artist Wilhelm Braun. It is composed of over 30,000 pieces of Italian marble and smalt glass. Some of the glass pieces were fused with real gold leaf. The motif shows Christ as King of Heaven and Earth seated on a stylized globe. The altar mosaic is the largest of its kind in the entire Palatinate region. The 40 colored glass windows in blue, green, yellow and red hues with figurative and symbolic representations are also of special artistic quality. The 29 m high bell tower houses 5 bells with a total weight of about 4.5 tons.

(5) Rödel Fountain

The Rödel Fountain had a central role in Brücken’s water supply. In 1818 the municipality built its first fountain pipeline. It ran from the source of the Rödel Fountain along 600 meters to today’s Glanstraße. The pipeline consisted of wooden tubes called "Deicheln" which were buried about 1.50 m deep. Before the construction of a central water supply network in 1934, numerous municipal and private wells supplied water. The Rödel Fountain was also the Brücken children’s fountain. According to tradition, Brücken’s origin lies here. Not the stork brought offspring to Brücken, but the Rödel Fountain. The "Ammebas" (wet nurse) delivered the children here.

As part of village renewal, the Rödel Fountain was redesigned in 1996 and the Rödelbach river renatured.

(6) Westwall Bunkers

Planning for the construction of the Westwall along the border with France began in 1935. With the involvement of the Reich Labour Service, about 6,000 bunkers and fortifications were built in the Palatinate area in 1938.

At that time, 350,000 men from the "Organisation Todt" (OT), 100,000 men of the Reich Labour Service (RAD) and the same number of fortress pioneers of the army were employed on the Westwall. Around Brücken, 12 bunkers were also constructed in this period. The most distinctive is on the 341 m high "Borsten", offering a wide panoramic view. In 1939, a small Wehrmacht troop was briefly stationed here. This bunker was blown up in 1947. Today, only the rubble mound remains as a reminder of this fortification.

Already two centuries earlier, the "Borsten" served as a military base. French Revolutionary troops used the hilltop repeatedly as a headquarters in 1793/94. On 26 July 1794, French General Renauld marched from here to Kusel and laid the town in ruins.

(7) The old Lichtenberg High Road

The old Lichtenberg High Road leading from Sand always runs along the ridge between the Ohmbach and Kohlbach valleys and continues in the direction of Frohnhofen, where it meets the "Lichtenberger Straße" at a right angle near the customs oak.

It shows several characteristics of an old high path: it avoids formerly swampy valley floors, bypasses villages and offers good long-distance views.

This road was already known in medieval times as the "old Lichtenberger Straße" and probably dates back to Roman times. In Sand it branches off from the old "Reichswälder main road" and runs over the Brücken Ziegelberg and Borsten hills, over Wartenstein and Schlossberg to the Frohnhofen Kaiserberg. In 1585 it was said of it: "here passes the country road from the Kaiserslautern and Kübelberg area towards Oberkirchen, St. Wendel and to the Easter."

It was used until the late 18th century and fell out of use only when the current St. Wendel road was built through the Kohlbach valley in the 1830s.

(8) Watchtower

The 7.5 m high replica of a medieval watchtower located on the Ohmbach district was built in 2005 below the 375 m high viewing hill "Wartenstein." According to tradition, an old stone watchtower is assumed on the prominent hilltop between the Ohmbach and Kohlbach valleys. Watchtowers served in the Middle Ages as guard and signal posts. From the high location at Wartenstein, there was a wide view. Approaching dangers could be reported in a timely manner. There was also visual contact to the nearby Imperial Castle in Kübelberg. Today the topographical advantages of the mountain summit are still used. Besides a water reservoir, a mobile phone transmitter has been located on Wartenstein for a few years.

(9) The legendary Rennweiler Hill

Many legends surround Rennweiler Hill. In the village, it was said that it was spooky there at night. One story tells of a ghostly procession with a priest and altar boys moving around Rennweiler. Another legend speaks of a sunken castle with immense treasures in dark vaults and a ghostly black dog guarding the riches. There is said to have been a monastery in Rennweiler, destroyed during the Thirty Years War. Since then, a monk is said to wander at dusk. Others tell of the "Tithe Barn" of the local lords, which was said to have stood here and to have had an underground passage leading down to the valley.

In fact, Rennweiler is historically significant land. In 1826, an excavation uncovered Roman wall remains. Further archaeological surveys in 1961 and 1968 brought up findings from Roman times.

(10) Protestant Church Ohmbach

As early as 977, a chapel is documented in Ohmbach. By 1108, there was already a parish. The tower of today’s church dates from the 12th century. It is one of the oldest remains of sacred architecture in the Kusel district. The nave was built in 1870-85. The tower originally stood on the north side of a choir room adjoining to the south. The greater wall thickness on the lowest tower floor still indicates this. The organ on the gallery dates from the late 18th century and came from Oppau to Ohmbach in 1920.

A Roman relief stone was embedded in the churchyard wall. Since 1911, the stone has been in the Historical Museum in Speyer. Even into the 20th century, stories were told in Ohmbach about secret passages beneath the church. Indeed, two underground tunnels were uncovered below the church in the 1890s. This suggests that the church served as a fortified church in the Middle Ages.

(11) Lime Mine Ohmbach

Near the Kellerwieserheck forest area at the municipal border between Ohmbach and Krottelbach, lime was mined. As early as 1824, a note about a lime quarry in the municipality of Ohmbach appears but without location details. After the Ohmbach lime mine was in operation only for a few years at first, Karl Müller from Ohmbach resumed mining in 1875. He restored the old dilapidated mine and built lime kilns to produce quicklime. Müller operated the mine until 1896.

On the Krottelbach side, a lime quarry near the Reismühle is mentioned in 1846. The "lime house" built in 1857 directly on the road to Herschweiler still recalls the operation. In 1906, there was a serious accident in the lime mine when an Ohmbach resident fell into the 20-meter-deep shaft and died. Until the Second World War, lime was mined underground here and burnt in lime kilns. The lime from the Ohmbach and Krottelbach quarries was used as quicklime in construction and for fertilizing agriculture.

(12) Sandstone Quarry

In the Ohmbach sandstone quarry first mentioned in 1824, so-called "Leien" - sandstone slabs for floor tiles - were mined. The natural layering of the rock was particularly suitable for extracting large sandstone slabs. The Ohmbach sandstone slabs were highly valued in the region as flooring material. Even in the Ohmbach church and the old Catholic parish church of Brücken built in 1836-38, sandstone slabs from the Ohmbach "Leienbruch" were initially laid. Apparently, sandstone for grinding stones was also quarried here, as indicated by a description from 1836/37. Quarrying of the solid gray-yellow stone was already abandoned before World War I. Toward the end of World War II, the Ohmbach population sought shelter from air raids in the "Leienkaut". Decades of quarrying had created a large underground hall. A so-called "water sieve" was built in the tunnel for water management. Groundwater collected here, forming a small lake.

(13) Hühnerwiese Recreation Area

The Marbach stream flowing immediately nearby was in the Middle Ages a boundary brook between the Palatinate-Zweibrücken Oberohmbach and the Ley domain Steinbach. Near its lower course, just before flowing into the Ohmbach, the territory of Electoral Palatinate Niederohmbach also extended there. Thus, three authorities met in the meadows of the Ohmbach Valley. Because of the exact border, there were occasional disputes in this area. The surrounding fields were therefore called "In den Streitwiesen" (In the Dispute Meadows). This name is documented in records as early as 1587. Later a border stone with the coats of arms of the three territorial lords was erected. It marked the three-country corner until shortly after World War II.

(14) The Golden Cradle

There is an old legend about the origins of the two villages Brücken and Steinbach. In the valley near the road from Brücken to Steinbach, numerous hewn stones once lay scattered. They are said to be the remains of a castle that once stood there and protected the village of Steinbrück lying nearby. When the castle was besieged and the lord saw no rescue for his family, he sank the golden cradle, which had rocked his entire family, into the castle well. The valuable family heirloom should not fall into enemy hands. The few inhabitants who survived the destruction of their village in the nearby forests divided and founded new settlements north and south of the old location, which they named Brücken and Steinbach, derived from the old village name Steinbrück. Sunday children can sometimes see the golden cradle rising from the well at certain times. Surely this legend originated from the fact that nearby the old path running between Brücken and Steinbach, farmers repeatedly found remains of walls while plowing. Several field names recall these finds. For example, on Steinbach territory, there are areas called "In der Mauer" (In the Wall), "In der untersten Mauer" (In the Lowest Wall), or "Auf den Burgwiesen" (On the Castle Meadows).

(15) Westwall Bunker on the Krämel

On the Krämel, there were seven bunkers located in immediate vicinity. They were positioned in line of sight of the bunker on the "Borsten". They formed the northern end of the Westwall in the Kusel district. The bunkers were intended to monitor the important roads Brücken - Kusel and Brücken - Glan-Münchweiler. Near this bunker, the so-called Flak Hall for housing an anti-aircraft gun was erected in 1938. The hall burned down in 1959.

The bunker built in 1938 on the Krämel is today the best-preserved Westwall bunker in Brücken. At that time, the bunkers were built according to standard designs. The bunkers were designed as combat positions for individual troops with machine gun (MG) and anti-tank gun (PAK) armament. Usually, the bunkers had one or two readiness rooms for the crew and an attached combat room. In the combat room, one or two machine gun positions could be set up.

(16) Lutheran Chapel

In the 18th century, a small Lutheran community developed in Brücken. A chapel was built in 1741/42, "with a small little tower on top." The chapel was served by the Steinwenden pastor. Services were held in the little church every three to four weeks. The chapel thus became the religious center of the Lutherans in the Kübelberg district. At the beginning of the 19th century, the little church increasingly fell into disrepair. The last wedding in the church took place in 1828. The chapel was demolished in 1836.

Only a stone’s throw from the former Lutheran church, the current Protestant Gustav Adolf Church rises. It was built between 1952 and 1954. For the inauguration of the church on May 30, 1954, the then Federal President Theodor Heuss donated a Bible. A society to raise funds for the construction of a Protestant church was already founded in 1905.

(17) Roman Villa Rustica

On the 385-meter-high home hill of Brücken, the "Brücker Kopf," there was a Roman villa rustica. A significant old road ran along the ridge between Brücken and Glan-Münchweiler. Along this ancient high route, there are also several Bronze Age burial mounds. The villa rustica on the Brücker Kopf had visual contact to another Roman villa near the Roman road leading from Brücken via Wahnwegen to Kusel.

The ditches in the area date back to stone quarrying. The very hard coarse-grained sedimentary rock with flint inclusions (conglomerate), resembling concrete blocks, was quarried for building material up to the 1960s.

(18) Boundary Stones from 1786

The boundary stone from 1786 is at the highest point of the Diamond Grinders Trail. For centuries, the border between Brücken and Steinbach was the state border between the Electoral Palatinate and the County of von der Leyen. In 1779, the Kübelberg district with Brücken was exchanged from the Electoral Palatinate to the Duchy of Palatinate-Zweibrücken. As part of this change, the border between Palatinate-Zweibrücken and von der Leyen was newly surveyed in 1786. At that time, 50 new boundary stones were set from Ohmbach to Gries. All were numbered. In the Brücken area, numbers 10 to 33 stood. About half of these stones are still preserved today. The boundary stones carry the Wittelsbach lozenge coat of arms and the initials PZ for Palatinate-Zweibrücken on one side. On the other side is the coat of arms of von der Leyen: a vertical bar in a round circle, with the letters GL.

(19) Fritz Claus Spring and Brücken Mine

In 1927, the local group of the Palatinate Forest Club captured the spring and dedicated it as Fritz Claus Spring. It commemorates the Palatinate priest and local poet Martin Jäger, alias Fritz Claus (1853-1923), who significantly shaped the idea of the Palatinate Forest Club.

Below the PWV hut was an entrance to the Brücken mine. In 1776, hard coal mining began at the Brücker Kopf. In the 19th century, the annual yield of the two Brücken mines ranged from 500 to 1,000 tons. In 1872, the merger of the Brücken and Steinbach mines was completed. The Brücken mine closed in 1911. In 1928, mining restarted through a working group. During the Nazi era, further expansion of the mine was planned as part of work creation. With the outbreak of World War II, the Brücken coal mine closed permanently.

The PWV hut stands at the edge of Schleifsteingraben. Stones for grinding stones were quarried in the gorge. Schleifsteingraben was first shown in an old mining map from 1776.

(20) Brücken Hard Coal Mine

In 1775, Bernhard Scheuer opened the first hard coal mine in Brücken. For more than a century, coal was mined at the Brücker Kopf. The mine closed in 1911 because the coal seam along the main tunnel was largely exhausted.

In 1928, a working group built a new tunnel here and resumed coal mining. The incline ran at an angle of 30° downward and after about 80 m reached the nearly 30 cm thick coal seam. Between 1932 and 1934, a weighing house and a large mining building with office and rooms for the workforce were built. The entrance was lined with masonry in 1936. At that time, 30 miners worked in the mine. Despite state aid, the small mine struggled continually with financial and technical problems. On July 1, 1939, the operation was finally closed due to unprofitability. The average annual yield of the mine was around 2,200 tons of coal. Between 1928 and 1939, more than 3 km of tunnels were driven. Together with the old mining area abandoned in 1911, the entire tunnel system on Brücken territory comprised more than 12 km.

(21) Stone Ford

At this point, an old ford crossed the Ohmbach stream. In 1600, the "Steinfurth" was mentioned in documents for the first time. In the 18th century, it was called the "Steinerne Fahrt." The riverbed was specially laid with stones to make crossing easier for wagons at a shallow bank. The current bridge was built in 1934 during straightening of the Ohmbach. The earlier course of the Ohmbach can still be quite well traced with some expertise by the different plant growth in the flood meadows.

Above the district road Brücken-Börsborn lies the Ritterwald forest. There was a limestone quarry here in the 19th century. The last lease contract for lime extraction was concluded in 1923.

It was once told in the village that there was a secret passage near the Stone Ford in the lower Heidchen leading to a castle in Ritterwald.

(22) At the Chapel

In the area of the former church path, which led from Brücken over the Kirchenberg to Kübelberg, a chapel was mentioned several times in the 18th century. For example, in 1754 it is named "at the chapel next to the road" or in 1790 "behind the road towards the chapel." The "road" refers to the asphalt road currently running here, which follows the route of an ancient Roman road. Nothing more is known about a chapel in this immediate area. It is possible that a small field chapel was built here, perhaps as a station for the annual procession from Brücken to Kübelberg during Holy Week in the 18th century.

(23) Villa Rustica Schmidtsgrund

There was an old tradition in Brücken that a castle once stood in the area of the fields on the Kirchenberg above the Kohlbach valley. Farmers kept finding hewn stones while working the land. In the summer of 1921, geometric lines appeared in a clover field due to the long dry period.

Between 1928 and 1930, the foundations of a Roman villa rustica were uncovered above the Kohlbach valley. The Roman estate covered an area of 31.60 m by 13.50 m. During the excavation, pottery shards, hand-forged nails, a column piece and remains of heating pipes were found. The complex dated from the 3rd century and was located very close to the old Roman road that ran from Sand towards Frohnhofen. No heated rooms or bathing facilities were discovered. However, the presence of heating pipes suggests there was a heating system, i.e., a hypocaust.

Directions

BAB 6 exit Bruchmühlbach-Miesau or Waldmohr, direction Schönenberg-Kübelberg, then Brücken.

BAB 62 exit Konken, direction Konken, then direction Brücken.

BAB 62 exit Glan-Münchweiler, direction Glan-Münchweiler, then direction Brücken.

Parking

Directly at the Diamond Grinders Museum

Hauptstraße 47, 66904 Brücken.

Coordinates: Longitude 7° 21' 35" / Latitude 49° 25' 55"

Parking at the Sparkasse bank

Glanstraße 2, 66904 Brücken.

Coordinates: Longitude 7° 21' 38" / Latitude 49° 25' 56"

Coordinates

Book recommendation by the author

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