The Seulingswald (also called the Sillingswald) is a

hill range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

in the German

Central Uplands The Central UplandsDickinson (1964), p.18 ff. (N.B. In German die ''Mittelgebirge'' (plural) refers to the Central Uplands; das ''Mittelgebirge'' refers to a low mountain range or upland region (''Mittel'' = "medium" and ''-gebirge'' = "range").) ...

which reaches heights of up to . It is part of the Fulda-Werra Uplands in the

East Hesse Highlands The East Hesse Highlands () describes a heavily wooded range of hills lying mainly in the German state of Hesse, but also extending a little way into Lower Saxony to the north, Thuringia to the east and Bavaria to the southeast. The region is sandwi ...

within the Hessian county of Hersfeld-Rotenburg; small ridges extend into the

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

n county of

Wartburgkreis Wartburgkreis is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the west of Thuringia, Germany. Neighboring districts are (from the north clockwise) the districts Unstrut-Hainich-Kreis, Gotha, Schmalkalden-Meiningen, and the districts Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg and ...

. It is a

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

range and one of the largest contiguous woodland areas in Hesse.

Geography

Location

The Seulingswald is located between the settlements of Ronshausen to the north and Wildeck to the northeast (both in Hesse), Großensee and Dankmarshausen to the east-northeast (both in Thuringia),

Heringen Heringen (Werra) () is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in eastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia. Geography Location The nearest major towns and cities are Bad Hersfeld (28 km to the west), Eisena ...

to the east, Friedewald to the south, Bad Hersfeld to the southwest, Ludwigsau to the west and

Bebra Bebra () is a small town in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Bebra lies some south of Kassel on the Fulda River, Fulda. The town is easy to find on most maps thanks to its prominent location on the ' ...

to the northwest (all in Hesse). To the north, on the other side of the Ulfe valley, are the

Richelsdorf Hills The Richelsdorf Hills () is the name given to a landscape in the German Central Uplands. The terrain is up to high and forms a landscape characterised by mining ( copper shale, cobalt, nickel) in the county of Hersfeld-Rotenburg in East Hesse. Des ...

. To the east the little hill range borders on the

Werra The Werra (), a river in central Germany, is the right-bank headwater of the Weser. "Weser" is a synonym in an old dialect of German. The Werra has its source near Eisfeld in southern Thuringia. After the Werra joins the river Fulda in the to ...

. Small-scale east-northeastern spurs descend on the far side of Hessian Kleinensee to the River

Suhl Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...

near Thuringian Großensee. In the south the nearest streams are the Fulda and Werra on the heights of Friedewald before their confluence. This delineates the southern boundary of the Seulingswald, which transitions here into the Kuppen Rhön. To the west, on the far side of the

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the city hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

, is the Knüll.

Natural regions

The Seulingswald forms an eponymous

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

(no. 357.20) within sub-unit Solztrotten and Seulingswald (357) which in turn is part of the major unit of the Fulda-Werra Uplands (no. 35), which is part of the major unit group of the

(no. 35). Its east-northeastern ridges fall within the major unit of the Salzungen Werra Upland (359), and the subunit of the Salzungen-Herleshausen Werra Valley (359.1) and the natural region of the Berka Basin (359.12).

Hills

The

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit, and is usually applied to peaks which are above elevation compared to the relative landmass, though not as prominent as Mountain, mountains. Hills ...

s of the Seulingswald include the following – sorted by height in

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

s (m) above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

(NHN):

Spoil tip A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. Spoil tips are not formed of slag, but in some areas, such as England and Wales, ...

: * Monte Kali (530 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg Hills and high points: * Toter Mann (480.3 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Gnishecke (470.8 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Stangenrück (465.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Schwalbenkopf (454.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Siebertsberg (449.1 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Hornungskuppe (444.1 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg/Wartburgkreis * Hermesberg (444.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg/Wartburgkreis * Kornberg (435.1 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Roteberg (434.4 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Plessenberg (402 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Wackenbühl (419.0 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Kimmenberg (416.4 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Kirchenkopf (398.6 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Waltersberg (388 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Schwarzenberg (381.8 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Großer Steinkopf (375.4 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Höneberg (354.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Heiligenberg (Seulingswald) (317.3 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg/Wartburgkreis * Hoher Berg (314.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Burbachsrück (340.5 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Gellenberg (340.4 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Wolfberg (334.7 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Hagelsberg (326.9 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Auf'm Berg (324.6 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Spießberg (300.5 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Obersberg (299.6 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg * Lerchenberg (Seulingswald) (287.5 m), Wartburgkreis * Schottenberg (271.1 m), Hersfeld-Rotenburg

Protected areas

In the central area and extended to the west-northwest of the Seulingswald is the

protected landscape IUCN protected area categories, or IUCN protected area management categories, are categories used to classify protected areas in a system developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The enlisting of such areas is part ...

of ''Seulingswald'' ( CDDA-No. 378688; designated in 1979; 30,2656

km² The square kilometre (square kilometer in American spelling; symbol: km2) is a multiple of the square metre, the SI unit of area or surface area. In the SI unit of area (m2), 1 km2 is equal to 1M(m2). 1 km2 is equal to: * 1,000,000 squar ...

). In large parts of the forested areas is the ''Seulingswald''

Special Area of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

(FFH No. 378688; 23.2315 km²). Near the Ulfe is the natural woodland reserve of ''Goldbachs- und Ziebachsrück'' which has an area of 31 ha.

History

On 27 September 1944 there was a major air battle over the Seulingswald between the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

and the

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

, known as the Kassel Mission, which saw extremely high losses.

Transport and hiking

The Seulingswald is crossed by the A4 motorway roughly in a northeast-southwest direction. At the junction of '' Bad Hersfeld'' it passes over the B27 federal highway which runs from the west of the region northwards towards Bebra. There the '' Landesstraße'' 3251 branches of the B 27 and passes north of the Seulingswald heading east through Ronshausen to Hönebach on the Thuringian state border. The E6 European long distance path runs between Hönebach and Friedewald, in places running parallel to the motorway.

Footnotes and references

Werner Röll: ''Geographische Landesaufnahme: Die naturräumlichen Einheiten auf Blatt 126 Fulda.'' Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Bad Godesberg, 1969. →&nbs
Online map
(pdf; 4.2 MB) The Toter Mann ( m) is the highest natural hill of the Seulingswald, but it is lower than the spoil tip of Monte Kali on the eastern edge of the region (c. m). List prepare using DVD ''Hessen 3D'' () and ''Thüringen 3D'' ({{ISBN, 978-3-935603-79-9) ''Steckbrief des Totalreservates Goldbachs- und Ziebachsrück''
at naturwaelder.de