Wallburg Großenritte

The Wallburg Großenritte stands on the Burgberg, a wooded extinct volcano rising to 439.6 metres on the eastern edge of the Langenberge range. It lies west of Großenritte, a western district of Baunatal in northern Hesse. The hilltop once held a small prehistoric settlement that used the natural cliffs on three sides for defence.

Excavations show traces of the Michelsberger culture from the New Stone Age, though permanent occupation then is unlikely. Finds from the Hallstatt period, roughly 800 to 400 BC, point to longer habitation and early fortification. Today only remnants of the partial ringwall on the gentler western slope remain visible.

Visitors reach the summit via a short path through beech and oak woodland. The wide plateau offers wide views over the Kassel basin and the Habichtswald hills. Information boards explain the site’s Iron Age defences and the volcanic origins of the hill.