Roman Well Kaichen

History

The Roman well is located on a hill southwest of the village of Kaichen. Surrounded by a few benches, it stands picturesquely alone in the open countryside. It is one of the few relics from Roman times, when this area of the Wetterau was part of the great empire, or more precisely, the province of Germania superior. Today’s Karben-Heldenberg road was once a Roman road, the fields around it a Roman settlement area, which was protected from invasions by the “barbarians” by the nearby Limes.

Columns in the Well

In this very area, the foundation walls of a Roman estate were excavated in 1902 in the middle of the fields. The well belonged to this villa rustica. Tuscan stone columns had been found in the well shaft, probably from the portico of that villa. The finds had been placed on the walled well, connected to each other by a crossbeam and a small roof, and the newly created ensemble had been provided with an inscription on the edge of the well: “WELLS AND COLUMNS OF A ROMAN HOUSE RECORDED HERE IN 1902”.

Former Manor House Supplied Forts

The draw well must therefore be imagined as somewhat simpler than it is today. However, the shaft of the well is original and was almost twice as deep as it is today. The squat columns with the simple capitals originally adorned the entrance to the Roman estate, where often well-to-do former Roman legionaries acted as lords of the manor. Agricultural supplies for the settlement in Heldenbergen, the troops of the Limes and the Friedberg fort were provided from here. The town of Nida (Heddernheim), among others, will also have been supplied with food from here. Numerous such estates are documented for the Wetterau, the “granary” of the Romans.

Other traces of the Romans under the care of the State Castles and Gardens of Hesse are the former Limes forts Kapersburg and Kleiner Feldberg.