Wallburg Sieben Gräben

The Wallburg Sieben Gräben is a vanished hillfort on the Schleipenberg ridge above the Lenne valley in Hohenlimburg. It once stood on the left bank of the river, looking down on the later Hohenlimburg castle built in 1230. Archaeologists date its main use from the late 12th to the 15th century, though no written record names it directly. A 13th-century text does mention an older fortification near the new castle, and later the Counts of Mark turned the site into a counter-fort against Hohenlimburg during their disputes with Limburg and Cologne. The fortification consists of three concentric ramparts and ditches enclosing a circular inner ward about 21 m across. A deep neck ditch guards the northern approach, and excavations in 1908 uncovered the remains of a ring wall and the foundations of a square tower. The earthworks were built without stone reinforcements, relying instead on packed clay and timber. The site was granted protected status in 1991 as part of the wider landscape conservation area around the Stoppelberg. Visitors today walk a short woodland path to the low, grassy ramparts that still trace the triple ring. From the crest there are wide views over the Lenne valley and across to the towers of Hohenlimburg castle. The quiet surroundings belong to the Stoppelberg nature reserve, so the only sounds are birdsong and the wind in the beech trees.