"On the old sichart!" the round "am sichartshof starts with a precious drop. The "sichartshof", a vanished village between fetzelhofen and mailach, is an idyllic place. The only remnant of the former settlement is an old fountain. In order to preserve it for posterity, some citizens from fetzelhofen, mailach and lonnerstadt have spent a lot of time and effort. Equipped with a table and benches, a lovely place was created next to the fountain, inviting peace and tranquility. And to a good bread time, to which initiators and supporters had come together.
An entry in the dachsbacher urbar indicates that the happy round is not wrong: in 1450 a peter sighart becomes "sigartzhoffe" mentioned. "That was the sichart’s yard", gunter weinkauf explains the name. Hermann popp, hans feth and gunter weinkauf had the idea to save the fountain monument and took the restoration in hand.
A manor or a castle is said to have once stood north of the fountain. The servants included, have in 1824 according to the chronicle "23 souls" used there, the info board gives information. As "exist anno 1848" will be "a castle with two cattle and horse stables, cellar, ox and pig stables, barn, oven and farmyard room" called. To the west and east of the settlement were chains of ponds. The dams are still to be seen.
In 1852, the end of the sichartshof was sealed: "presumably due to a lack of water", says hermann popp. For 24300 gulden and 500 gulden loan purchase the sichartshof was sold to mailacher farmers, the building was torn down. "The loan purchase was a gift, a tip, so to speak, that was later drunk away", explains gunter weinkauf.
Almost 470 working hours and several "argerstunden the honorary friends of historical monuments have invested in the restoration of the fountain. Hermann popp, gunter weinkauf and hans feth took action when they heard that the owner wanted to fill in the old well. "For safety reasons", how it hit. "If someone had fallen in, he would have drowned", so weinkauf. Until then, the well, or rather its forecourt, had served as goose and duck water.
Only groundwater
Four years ago, the fountain was still full. The entire surface water had run into it. Today the fountain only carries groundwater. There is no spring. Due to the increasing drought, the ponds were also largely dry. The three friends of the local community cannot understand some of the requirements imposed by the authorities. "For 150 years ducks, geese and birds have shat in it. Now a plate had to be put on it", weinkauf is surprised.
The three men spared no effort in the restoration work. First of all, the well had to be cleaned up. The stones at the bottom were pulled up with the rope winch. After all, with a bottom depth of about ten meters. One of the trio had to go into the shaft: it was hermann popp. Whether he was very comfortable with it remains his secret. Wooden formwork with rings was inserted into the shaft in triplicate. Then the walls could be stabilized. The stones taken from the fountain were reused for the new edging. More old sandstones were procured from fatschenbrunn in the steigerwald forest.
Through the help and support of friends and entrepreneurs, the costs could be kept low. Only material costs of about 8000 euros were incurred. Originally the costs had been estimated about twice as high. The costs are supported by funds from the european agricultural fund (EAFRD). In the end, the three players hope that the project will be fairly cost-neutral for the community.