Treppenspeicher
Encyclopedia
A Treppenspeicher is the German term for a small barn or secondary farm building used for storage and typical of the Lüneburg Heath
area in northern Germany. The upper storey of the store was usually accessed via a flight of steps on the outside of the building, usually at one of the gable
ends, thus giving the building its name.
Treppenspeicher are only relatively small buildings. They are witness to the craftsmanship of carpenters in the farming community. Their solid, wooden construction ensured that the interior stayed dry and they were so tightly planked that the stored produce was protected from mice.
These stores used to be built within sight, but at a distance from the main farmhouse. This ensured that, if the farmhouse caught fire, the fire would not spread to the stores.
Treppenspeicher were typical of the Lüneburg Heath
. Here they remained in use until well into the 19th century. They increasingly disappeared however because they are no longer practical today. Nowadays the store rooms are normally part of the farmhouse itself.
In former times there was at least one, but usually several, stores on each heath farm, serving all sorts of purposes. They were used to store grain
, buckwheat
, flax
, cotton
, linen
, wool
, honey
, meat
, bacon
and clothes. They were often used as sleeping accommodation for the farmhands.
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
area in northern Germany. The upper storey of the store was usually accessed via a flight of steps on the outside of the building, usually at one of the gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
ends, thus giving the building its name.
Treppenspeicher are only relatively small buildings. They are witness to the craftsmanship of carpenters in the farming community. Their solid, wooden construction ensured that the interior stayed dry and they were so tightly planked that the stored produce was protected from mice.
These stores used to be built within sight, but at a distance from the main farmhouse. This ensured that, if the farmhouse caught fire, the fire would not spread to the stores.
Treppenspeicher were typical of the Lüneburg Heath
Lüneburg Heath
The Lüneburg Heath is a large area of heath, geest and woodland in northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover, and Bremen and is named after the town of Lüneburg. Most of the area is a nature reserve...
. Here they remained in use until well into the 19th century. They increasingly disappeared however because they are no longer practical today. Nowadays the store rooms are normally part of the farmhouse itself.
In former times there was at least one, but usually several, stores on each heath farm, serving all sorts of purposes. They were used to store grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
, buckwheat
Buckwheat
Buckwheat refers to a variety of plants in the dicot family Polygonaceae: the Eurasian genus Fagopyrum, the North American genus Eriogonum, and the Northern Hemisphere genus Fallopia. Either of the latter two may be referred to as "wild buckwheat"...
, flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
, cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, linen
Linen
Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
, wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
, honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
, bacon
Bacon
Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...
and clothes. They were often used as sleeping accommodation for the farmhands.