Braunshausen: Trails, Hedgerow Landscape and Local History

Braunshausen combines trails through woods and meadows with an ancient cultural landscape and local religious history. This offers several themes to focus on when planning your visit: nature, walking trails and the architectural history of St. Anthony’s Church. The playground on Kampstraße is also a named landmark in the village.

Hedgerow Landscape and Trails

The Braunshausen Hedgerow Landscape nature reserve protects an extensive complex of hedgerows and grassland. It also includes a juniper heath that developed through earlier extensive grazing and is regarded as a remnant of an ancient cultural landscape. Nature conservation and former land use come together here in a distinctive landscape.

You can take a walk or hike along trails around Braunshausen through woods and meadows. A separate access point to the Sauerland-Höhenflug begins in Braunshausen and crosses meadows and fields through the Medebach Bay. It therefore links a clearly identified starting point with a route through this landscape.

The Stations of the Cross consist of fourteen stations and also form a walking trail that ends at the chapel above Braunshausen. The Klippenweg, by contrast, connects the forest cemetery with Braunshausen’s sports field. The named destinations give the trails different emphases: one walking trail leads to the chapel, while the other connects two different places. You can take these distinctions into account when choosing an outing without assigning the trails an unspecified length or duration.

The historic Totenweg leads to the cemetery in Hallenberg. Today it is a farm track and a popular walking route for visitors and local residents. The Nuhne Bridge provides an additional pedestrian connection: it links Braunshausen and Rengershausen across the state border and offers a route into nearby Hesse.

Church and Local History

Construction of St. Anthony’s Church in Braunshausen began in 1898, and it was solemnly consecrated in 1903. Its interior is neo-Gothic. The furnishings include an organ made by the Gebrüder Stockmann workshop in Werl in 1908. The three bells were cast as early as 1900; only the smallest survived both world wars. The church also has a rare mechanical clock mechanism. Its construction history, furnishings and the eventful history of its bells are several distinct aspects of the church.

Braunshausen’s playground is centrally located on Kampstraße. Its facilities include slides, climbing equipment and a zip line. It is another local point of interest that you can include in your travel plans, independently of the themes of nature and church architecture.

Culture in the wider destination of Hallenberg

In the wider destination of Hallenberg, the historic town centre retains the characteristic ring-shaped street layout around the site of the castle. It includes numerous half-timbered houses, the parish church and the market square. These historic features belong to Hallenberg and form a distinct cultural focus alongside the attractions in Braunshausen.

At the KUMP Information and Communications Centre in Hallenberg, visitors can experience the Hallenberg Easter Night in a multimedia presentation. Hallenberg’s Eishäuschen houses a permanent exhibition of ice sculptures by local ice artist Joachim Knorra.

The Hallenberg Open-Air Theatre is also part of the cultural history of the wider destination: more than 100 productions have been staged there since 1946, along with a number of guest performances. The theatre also made a commitment to stage a Passion Play every ten years, telling the story of the life and death of Jesus Christ and the message of his resurrection.

Discover more destinations: Liesen, Hesborn.

See the overview of the wider destination: Hallenberg.