The tube well

The tube well ca. 1935 (detail from a postcard)

Image source: G. Krämer

The Harxheim tube well used to have the function of the village well. It served as a watering place for cattle and also people could get water here before the construction of the central water supply in 1905, if they did not have access to another well. Accordingly, the tube well played an important role in the life of the community.

If you follow the ascending path (lower part of theAlte Rindsteig) from here out to the village, you will pass the Brunnenstube at the first fork to the left. Here, water is collected from various springs in the area of the castle hill, collected and led through a pipe (hence the name tube well) to the tube well.

Its water has been flowing sparsely for several years. However, this is not due to a water shortage, but rather to a fault in the supply system that occurred during construction work.

A water basin fed by the overflow of the tube well under the well trough is still used today by the local fire department as an additional reservoir of fire-fighting water, but also by farmers during phases of vineyard spraying.

Older Harxheimers fondly remember fetching water from the well with watering cans on particularly harsh winter evenings when they were young. With this, they iced the then much longer Rindssteig leading straight out of the village. This resulted in extremely fast sledding the next day, but also accidents and falls.

By the way, tube wells (also called tube wells or running wells) for the purpose of water supply for people and livestock existed already with the ancient Romans. They can still be found in many towns and villages today and now serve as ornamental fountains.

References:

Conversations with contemporary witnesses

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