Roman long wall
Herforst
During Roman rule, the so-called latifundian agriculture (meaning farming of a "vast land") was formed around the time 350 AD. At that time, among others, parts of today's communal districts of Orenhofen, Speicher, Herforst, and Spangdahlem, i.e., the western part of the municipality of Speicher, combined into such a Latifundium. A wall, the so-called "long wall", covered an area of approximately 220 km2. It covered both sides of the lower Kyll of Trier all the way up to Kyllburgweiler. In the community forest of Herforst, the so-called "Arenberg Forest", there are still remains of this wall as a 1 m-high stone wall with original foundations. According to what we know today, the total length of this late ancient Roman monument was nearly 72 km long, it was 2-3 m high, 70-80 cm wide, with semicircular stones and covered half rollers. Local sandstone was used as construction material. A reproduced portion of this wall can be visited at the site entrance of Herforst. The design, location and direction all match the original. Included in the reproduction are also replicas of the PEDATURA-stones, unearthed during excavations, on which late Roman inscriptions can be read.
In a LEADER-funded project, the information and guidance system ARGO was developed at the Department of Classical Archaeology, which enables users to resurrect ancient and medieval buildings with the help of an app. This is made possible by the technology of augmented reality. By means of the APP ARGO a reconstruction of the long wall can be viewed.
You can find more stations in the route planner: ar-route.de/
Further Roman stations in the vacation region Bitburger Land:
- Roman villa Otrang in Fließem
- Roman villa in Oberweis
- Roman vicus on the archaeological trail in Bitburg
- long wall in Herforst