Ramsbeck, Bestwig, Hochsauerlandkreis, Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germanyi

Regional Level Types
Ramsbeck	Mining Area
Bestwig	Municipality
Hochsauerlandkreis	District
Arnsberg	Administrative District
North Rhine-Westphalia	State
Germany	Country

Ancient lead and zinc mining area worked since the 14th century, centered on the town of Ramsbeck in the municipality of Bestwig.

The first archaeological traces of mining near Ramsbeck date back to the 10th and 11th centuries. The historical sources only begin in the 16th century. However, it wasn't until the middle of the 19th century that the area experienced a huge upswing. Until then, Ramsbeck was a small hamlet made up of nine farms and a few cottages.

The first signs of an upswing in mining came from the Ramsbeck trade union. The plan to make Ramsbeck the largest industrial complex for metal extraction at the time led to the expansion of the operating facilities, mines and smelting works by the Stolberger Aktiengesellschaft for mining, lead and zinc production in 1854. While the number of employees in 1853 was already 453 men, the plan was to increase this to 1,800 men. Experienced miners were recruited in the Erzgebirge and the Kingdom of Saxony. The most important mines were located on the Dörnberg and Bastenberg, east and west of Ramsbeck respectively. The mining company built one of the first mining settlements in what is now North Rhine-Westphalia to accommodate the miners. In addition to new buildings in the main town, several colonies such as Andreasberg and Heinrichsdorf were created. In the first two years, 17 houses with a total of 70 apartments were built in Ramsbeck, 35 buildings with 140 apartments in Andreasberg, and 9 houses with 30 apartments in Heinrichsdorf. Apartments were also built in some villages in the area.

The standardized houses in Andreasberg were single-story group buildings with a floor area of ​​30.20 m × 8.56 m. They were initially half-timbered buildings with lightweight construction that were not able to withstand the weather and soon had to be renovated.

The crisis in the mining company and the failure of large-scale plans shortly after its founding led to the departure of numerous miners. This made apartments available. As a result, the living space was significantly increased by merging apartments. Stables were also added to keep goats and other livestock.

Even though the number of inhabitants fluctuated depending on the mining economy, Ramsbeck was for a long time one of the most densely populated parts of the Sauerland. The apartments remained in company ownership until 1952 and only then became the property of the previous tenants. In addition to the mining company's residential buildings, only a few private buildings had been built up to that point.

Mining stopped in 1975. Ramsbeck then developed from an industrial settlement into a resort.

The lead and zinc ores were included in a series of roughly parallel, NE-SW trending quartz-baryte veins, hosted by quartzites and Devonian schists. They often intersect with fault zones, displacing them by several meters.

In 1972, rich silver and antimony ores were recovered from one of these zones.

26 adits/mines existed along the 10-km extension of the vein system ("Bastenberg-Dörnberg-Gangzug").

The last mines were abandoned in 1976; one of them has been turned into a tourist mine.

Only the dumps of the Bastenberg and Alexander mines are still accessible.

Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramsbeck
Wikidata ID:	Q2130361

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References