The district on the Ellerbach - a little wallflower Little Venice in Bad Kreuznach
The unfamiliar walker stops in amazement on the footbridge on the way from the river Nahe to the medieval marketplace Eiermarkt. The footbridge crosses a small river: the Ellerbach. In the field of vision is the mouth of the Ellerbach into the Nahe. Here, after 27.2 km, the stream ends its journey that began at an altitude of over 500 metres in the Soonwald. Upstream, you look at a block of buildings that obscures the view. Here you find yourself in a place steeped in the history of the town. For the rows of houses whose picturesque backsides - mostly neatly renovated and colourfully laid out - lie along the stream, stand on both sides of the old town wall. The eastern side was the wall of the castle district. This extended from the Kauzenburg to the mouth of the Ellerbach. A small tower - later provided with a baroque bonnet still marks the point where the long walls of the castle peace met. On the western side lay the city wall, which enclosed the burghers of the craftsmen, merchants and farmers. Thus both districts benefited from the Ellerbach, which for a long time served primarily as a sewer, especially for the tanners. If the citizens wanted to enter the castle district, they had to go through the Schlagpforte. It was forbidden to build on the town wall, which was built around 1300. The reason that it was built anyway, and demolition orders were ignored, was that these inner-city walls were no longer needed for protection and the city suffered from a lack of space around 1500 due to the increase in population. Therefore, the bridge on which the building block mentioned at the beginning stands was also built on. Anyone walking through the pedestrian zone does not even notice that they are passing a bridge over the Ellerbach, lined on both sides by half-timbered buildings. Thanks to urban redevelopment, the quarter now presents itself as a pretty little wallflower. From the location on the bridge, you can also see the remains of the old fishermen's gate. From there, the fishermen went to their barges in the "Ellerbachhafen". The trade died out about 50 years ago.
