Stamping point 182 / umbrella

The “umbrella” is a resting place in the Burgesroth-Bruchholz nature reserve between Ballenstedt and the Selke valley near Mägdesprung.

The 620 hectare nature reserve con­nects two for­est areas via the Amt­mann Val­ley, which begins in Bal­len­st­edt Cas­tle Park. It pro­tects a pre­dom­i­nant­ly wood­ed area with var­i­ous biotope types. Pri­mar­i­ly, there are near-nat­ur­al decid­u­ous for­est com­mu­ni­ties and for­mer mid­dle forests with a high pro­por­tion of old and dead wood, includ­ing bed­straw oak-horn­beam for­est, horn­beam for­est and alder for­est com­mu­ni­ties. Spring areas and near-nat­ur­al stream val­leys can be found in the for­est areas. 

It is no coin­ci­dence that many paths meet in a star shape at the umbrel­la, but in 1728 Prince Vic­tor Friedrich had a hunt­ing track laid out between Bal­len­st­edt and “Bre­mer Teich” HWN 196 for the then pop­u­lar par force hunt. At select­ed points, there were hunt­ing lodges or cov­ered hunt­ing seats, which were called “umbrel­las”.

From Bal­len­st­edt Cas­tle Park, a beau­ti­ful path leads across the Amt­mann Val­ley, past the Röhrte­ich pond and across wet mead­ows strung togeth­er like a string of pearls to the “Armer Hein­rich” atone­ment cross. After the atone­ment cross, the sign­post­ed path branch­es off to the right to the stamp­ing station. 

Folk­lore tells the fol­low­ing leg­end about “Poor Hen­ry”: Dur­ing his life­time, he is said to have been a beg­gar, usu­al­ly trav­el­ing between the mar­kets in Bal­len­st­edt and Harzgerode. One day he was found dead in this place. To his great sur­prise, many pieces of gold were sewn into the lin­ing of his jack­et. This made it pos­si­ble to erect a stone cross for “Poor Hen­ry”, who was buried on the spot.