In earlier times, only a fraction of today's yields could be achieved through agriculture. Therefore, all fertile land, including the mountain slopes, was used as arable land. Plowing the steep mountain slopes caused the soil to slide further and further down to the edge of the field. The result was a continuous flattening of the arable land. These arable areas are called arable terraces. The soil was collected at the field boundary, which was usually overgrown with a hedge. This gave rise to the so-called stepped borders, which marked a property or usage boundary and could be up to several meters high. Occasionally, terraced fields were also deliberately created on the slopes to make the terrain easier to work. The terraced edges typical of terraced fields can be found both in the deep spruce forest and in the grassland on many mountain slopes around Brilon.
Can you recognize the terraced edges on this Weide?
Old topographical maps show that this area was used as arable land until the 1960s. The edges of the terrain are therefore most likely the stepped edges of an old terraced field. The time of origin of the terraced field cannot be precisely dated, but many terraced fields were already created in the Middle Ages.