The house was built in 1589 by Johan Mertens sen., a Reidemeister and member of the Obermarsberg merchant guild, according to the original inscription, which is hidden by the cladding above the archway at the front of the house.... On this cladding the current inscription was added in 1781, by the then owner "FOBBE(N)", who used the house as a farmhouse. Thus, the Böttcher house is the oldest preserved house in the town of Marsberg. Only the brick masonry and the half-timbering above it on the ground and first floors are more recent - unusual, altered carpentry. It is probably the repair of damage from the 30-year war, when most of the Oberstadt was destroyed. More than twice as old as the house is the vaulted cellar with attached cistern, which, according to the Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, Olpe branch, dates back to the 12th century and is located across the house under the rear third of the house.
The above inscription reads:
A. 1589 I AM ERBAUET.DENEN FOBBEN.N.N.ANVERTRAUT
BY GOD'S HULF PRESERVED UNTIL 1781
GOD GRANT HIS GRACE FURTHERMORE AMEN
. GOD . ALONE . . THE . HONOR .
On the left above the column a Christ monogram is emblazoned: I H S, on the right the lettering: MARIA.
The house has been in the Böttcher family continuously since 1880, more than 135 years.
New stamp on the Way of St. James
In mid-July, a stamp station was erected at the Böttcher house. The new Way of St. James, which runs from Paderborn to Lennestadt-Elspe, passes directly by the house. The stamp is the coat of arms of the Metternich family. Two of the provosts of the Obermarsberg monastery (Stift) came from this family. Their coat of arms is emblazoned on the confessional in the right aisle of the Stiftskirche, which the pilgrim should not miss on his way through Obermarsberg.
Further information about this pilgrimage route is available from the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, as well as from the Freundeskreis der Jakobuspilger Paderborn.
Stamp site