Why Kelle, Teufelskanzel stands out
The reserve is best known for its steep Middle Bunter sandstone cliffs crowned by the Teufelskanzel viewpoint, which looks out over a dramatic horseshoe bend of the Werra, and for its richly structured deciduous woodlands shaped by centuries of coppice (Niederwald) management. Together with the neighboring Hessian Harthberg reserve, it forms a core section of the Grünes Band along the former Inner German Border.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel history and protected-area timeline
The forests of the Höheberg have a long history shaped by human use. From the early nineteenth century and especially from the 1830s onwards, the woodlands around Lindewerra were managed as coppice. Shoots of oak were cut roughly every ten to twenty years, stripped of their bark for tanning leather in nearby Eschwege in Hesse, and the resulting stems were further processed into walking sticks. Lindewerra became nationally known as the 'Stick-Maker Village of Germany', where almost every family was at least partly involved in the trade.
Because of this long history as coppice, the vegetation developed in a particular direction. When traditional use faded in the twentieth century, the coppice stands were left to develop, and they have matured into the present-day mix of oak-hornbeam forests, beech woodlands, and rock scree forests that give the reserve much of its character.
A second historical layer was added by the political geography of the twentieth century. Following the Wanfried Agreement in 1945, the state border between the Soviet and American occupation zones ran directly along the steep western face of the Höheberg. This border later became the Inner German Border. From the 1960s onwards, the border was progressively fortified, producing a 100 to 200 meter wide cleared strip with fence, patrol road, and observation towers. After reunification, the installations were removed and nature reclaimed the slope. The former border strip is still visible today in the differing vegetation patterns, and only viewpoints such as the Lindewerrablick have been deliberately kept open.
The reserve itself was first secured on an interim basis from 1990 to 1995, and on 12 April 1996 the Thüringer Landesverwaltungsamt formally declared the Kelle – Teufelskanzel area a Naturschutzgebiet. In 2008 it became a Flora-Fauna-Habitat site within the Natura 2000 network under the EU Habitats Directive, and it is also wholly covered by the EU Birds Directive SPA 'Werrabergland südwestlich Uder'. The surrounding landscape protection area 'Obereichsfeld', formed in 2009, adds a wider landscape-scale framework, and in 2018 the Thuringian parliament declared the larger Grünes Band project in the Eichsfeld-Werratal area a Nationales Naturmonument, in which Kelle – Teufelskanzel serves as a core area.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel landscape and geographic character
The reserve is shaped by very strong relief compressed into a small area. The Höheberg ridge rises to roughly 505 meters at the Junkerkuppe and falls in less than two kilometers to about 140 meters along the Werra loop, producing slope angles between roughly 18° and 36° on the western face. Two small valleys cut deeply into this slope: the Kelletal and the adjacent, smaller Lindewerratal. The Kelletal begins as a narrow V-shaped valley and turns into a Kerbsohlental with seasonal flow, before its main stream deepens into a gorge up to about eight meters deep in the lower section. The upper part of the Kelle is notable for springs that emerge from the platy sandstones and cascade down the steep slope in successive steps.
The western edge of the Höheberg is dominated by Middle Bunter sandstone cliffs, of which the Teufelskanzel and surrounding rocks form the most prominent group. The Teufelskanzel stands at roughly 452 meters in elevation, comprising freestanding erosional remnants, or 'Härtlinge', that rise about 25 meters above the slope. The cliffs drop almost vertically into the Werra valley, and from their top one looks directly into the horseshoe-shaped Werra loop with the villages of Lindewerra and Oberrieden and the hilly Hessian landscape beyond. Felsklippen (rock outcrops) and erosion ridges line the upper edges of the slope, while fragmented dells and gullies structure the steep flanks.
Hydrologically, the reserve belongs to the Werra catchment. Temporary streams flow down the Kelletal and the Lindewerratal toward the Werra; the Werratal cycle path and the Werra-Burgen-Steig long-distance trail both run along or above this valley floor and frame the western boundary of the reserve.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel ecosystems, habitats, and plant life
The vegetation mosaic of Kelle – Teufelskanzel reflects the interplay of steep topography, sandstone geology, long-standing coppice use, and the open conditions that followed the collapse of the Inner German Border. Four main forest types dominate the area.
On those parts most strongly shaped by former coppice management, the woodlands have developed into Labkraut oak-hornbeam forests (Galio-Carpinetum), characterized by sessile oak, pedunculate oak, and hornbeam, with woodruff-type herbs in the ground layer. On less historically disturbed sites, the canopy shifts to beech-dominated Hainsimsen-Buchenwald with European beech, which today holds the largest area in the reserve. On steep rocky slopes with coarse talus, Norway maple and small-leaved lime form a scree-slope forest adapted to unstable substrate, while along the Kelle and other small streams, alder brook woodland with Stellaria-like ground flora occupies the moist valley floors.
Beyond the closed woodland, the reserve contains open sandstone rocks and associated Silikat-Schutthalden (silicate scree slopes), dry heath patches, and traditional orchards along the western edge. Botanical surveys from the early 1990s recorded more than 200 plant species, including the stately orchid, poisonous lettuce, and spear-leaved waterwort. Of particular conservation interest is the Prächtiger Dünnfarn, a delicate filmy fern once thought extinct in Germany that survives here as gametophyte colonies forming green, cotton-like mats in narrow crevices of sandstone rock.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel wildlife and species highlights
The reserve's richness of old trees, deadwood, and structurally varied forest creates habitat for a wide range of demanding forest-dwelling animals. The European wildcat is described as a resident species here, and the area is also visited by a suite of rare birds associated with mature broadleaf and mixed forests.
Birds listed under Annex I of the EU Birds Directive as particularly worthy of protection, and recorded in or relevant to the reserve, include black woodpecker, middle spotted woodpecker, grey-headed woodpecker, red-breasted flycatcher, Tengmalm's owl, kingfisher, eagle owl, black stork, peregrine falcon, red-backed shrike, red kite, and honey buzzard. The reserve also hosts hobbies, Eurasian woodcock, and wryneck as migratory species protected under the directive's Article 4(2).
Within the broader EU SPA 'Werrabergland südwestlich Uder', the woodland mosaics and adjoining farmland are also important for black kite, European turtle dove, great grey shrike, quail, and the kingfisher and eagle owl, whose nesting riverside habitat is maintained through low-intensity landscape management.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel conservation status and protection priorities
Kelle – Teufelskanzel is protected at multiple overlapping levels, which together reflect the high ecological value of its relatively small area. It is a nationally designated Naturschutzgebiet (IUCN Category IV: Habitat/Species Management Area), an EU Flora-Fauna-Habitat site under the Habitats Directive with the same boundaries, and lies entirely within the EU Birds Directive site 'Werrabergland südwestlich Uder'. It is also part of the larger Landscape Protection Area 'Obereichsfeld', giving additional landscape-scale protection.
The conservation aims focus on preserving or restoring closed deciduous forest cover, particularly Hainsimsen-Buchenwald beech forests, silicate scree slopes, dry heaths, and the Middle Bunter sandstone cliffs with their colonies of Prächtiger Dünnfarn. The FFH legal framework was set by the Thüringer Natura 2000-Erhaltungsziele-Verordnung of 29 May 2008. The reserve is also a core element of the Biotopverbund Eichsfeld-Werratal along the Grünes Band, and in 2018 the Thüringer Landtag declared this larger project a Nationales Naturmonument, an overarching framework that connects Kelle – Teufelskanzel with the Hessian Harthberg reserve and additional Thuringian FFH areas into one of Germany's most important continuity corridors for biodiversity.
Kelle, Teufelskanzel cultural meaning and human context
The reserve sits in a region of northern Thuringia and southern Lower Saxony long associated with folk tales and legends. In pre-Christian tradition, the sandstone cliffs were linked to Odin and his valkyries; later Christian-era folklore identified the rock with the Devil, who according to one tale set out to carry the entire boulder to the Meißner mountain in Hesse but abandoned it near Burg Hanstein after being caught resting by a witch returning from the Blocksberg. Ludwig Bechstein retold this legend in his Deutsches Sagenbuch of 1853. The writer Theodor Storm, who served as a judge in Heiligenstadt from 1856 to 1864, is said to have visited the Teufelskanzel and described the cliff and view in his 1867 novella 'Eine Malerarbeit'.
The reserve's landscape is also a product of cultural land use. The traditional coppice forests of the Höheberg supplied raw materials for tanning in Eschwege and for the walking-stick industry of Lindewerra, and the orchards along the lower edge of the slope carry on a centuries-old fruit-growing tradition. As a border landscape between 1945 and 1990, the hillside also bears the marks of the Inner German Border, whose cleared strip remains visible in the differing vegetation even several decades after reunification.
Top sights and standout views in Kelle, Teufelskanzel
The Teufelskanzel viewpoint, perched on a 25 meter high Middle Bunter sandstone cliff edge above a dramatic horseshoe bend of the Werra, is the single most iconic feature of the reserve and offers panoramic views across Lindewerra, Oberrieden, and the Hessian uplands. Equally important, though less visible, is the reserve's mosaic of forest types shaped by centuries of coppice use: oak-hornbeam forests derived from former Niederwald, large areas of beech forest on less disturbed slopes, maple-lime scree forests on the steepest rock faces, and alder brook woodland along the Kelle stream. The presence of the Prächtiger Dünnfarn fern, once thought extinct in Germany, and a rich deadwood-dependent fauna including wildcat, black stork, eagle owl, and multiple rare woodpeckers, together with the reserve's role as a core area in the Grünes Band along the former Inner German Border, give the site a conservation weight well beyond its modest 200 hectare footprint.
Best time to visit Kelle, Teufelskanzel
Spring and early summer are particularly rewarding for visiting the reserve, when the deciduous forests of the Höheberg are in fresh leaf, woodland birds such as woodpeckers, red kite, and honey buzzard are most active, and orchard meadows along the lower slopes come into blossom. Late spring and early summer also favor viewing flowering plants along forest edges and light gaps.
In summer, the deep Kelletal valley and the damp alder brook woodland along the Kelle stream remain noticeably cooler and greener than the exposed sandstone cliffs and dry heaths, which reach their warmest and driest character in mid-summer.
Autumn brings strong color contrast across the reserve, from the rust and gold of the beech and oak forests to the red of the orchard meadows, and is a good period for observing fungi and late-season forest wildlife. The Teufelskanzel viewpoint itself is accessible year-round via marked trails; in winter, after frost or light snow, the bare deciduous canopy opens wide views from the cliff edge across the Werra valley, although visitors should expect short, steep, slippery sections on the lower paths after freezing nights.
