StandortLengefelder Straße
Feldhühnerchenkump
In the year 1367 earl Heinrich der Eiserne (Iron Heinrich) authorized the citizens of Korbach to build a water pipe of three kilometers that provided the "Kümpe" (the town´s wells) with water from the ´Lindenborn` close to Lengefeld and the rivers Marbeck and Schleiderbeck.
The water from these wells served for firefighting, as watering troughs, washing water and sometimes as drinking water. In the past mothers used to tell their children a tale to protect them against coming too close to a ´Kump`. close to a Kump. They said that an evil man with a hook lived inside the well. This man would pull them down. Thus they tried to prevent the children from falling into the water and drown.
The Feldhühnerchenkump refers to an episode in the history of Korbach which explains how the people of Korbach received their nickname "Feldhühnchen":
When the City of Korbach had a dispute with the earl of Waldeck in 1624, they lost their right to hunt partridges. The privilege of eating this delicacy was reserved for the aristocracy. However, they bore this with humor. They used to stand demonstratively in front of their doors jocosely picking their teeth, as if they had just eaten a delicious partridge instead of potatoes.
The Feldhühnchenkump in the Lengefelder Straße still reminds of this tale. In 1956 a sculpture in the form of a group of three partridges on a column was placed next to the well. Since 1978 the Feldhühner- chenfest (partridge celebration) has been celebrated there. In the 19th century the wooden railings of the Kumps were replaced with stone. Apart from the Feldhühnerchen- kump other Kumps there are others in front of the city hall, on the street Stechbahn and at the Altstädter Marktplatz (old town market place).
© Elina Schönhardt/ M. Möller
Literatur:
Ein Rundgang durch die alte Stadt, bearb. von Ursula Wolkers, hrsg. vom Wilhelm Bing Verlag und Magistrat der Stadt Korbach mit Förderung der Sparkassenstiftung Waldeck-Frankenberg, Korbach 1999.
Wilhelm Hellwig (Hrsg.): Sagen und Geschichten aus Korbach und Umgebung, 4. Aufl., Korbach 1999.