Gladenbach Uplands

The Gladenbach Uplands, named after their central town of Gladenbach, is a range of hills up to 609 m high in the Rhine Massif in Germany, on the junction of the Rothaar Mountains, Westerwald, Hintertaunus and West Hesse Highlands in the east.
It lies in Central Hesse within the districts of Marburg-Biedenkopf, Lahn-Dill and Gießen within the so-called Lahn-Dill- loop. Small parts of the Upper Lahn Valley in the northwest belong, together with the town of Bad Laasphe, also to the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The Gladenbach Uplands are geographical unit 320 which is part of the natural region 32, the Westerwald, in Germany's system of natural regions. The Gladenbach Highlands is largely coextensive with the Lahn-Dill Uplands Nature Park which extends further west, however, but is somewhat less extensive in the southeast and whose boundaries tend to line up with those of the sponsoring municipalities. In addition, significant areas belong to the historical Hessian Hinterland, which is why the two named articles refer to one another, as far as regional associations, culture and history are concerned. Geology and mining will be largely covered in the article on the Lahn-Dill Region

Location and boundaries

On the rivers Lahn and Dill the following towns - clockwise from the north - border the Gladenbach Uplands:

The northwest transitions to the Rothaar Mountains are comparatively fluid. Here the watershed between the Lahn tributaries of the Banfe and Perf define the boundary.

Rivers and streams

The natural regions mentioned above are generally divided between the catchment areas of the der Lahn and Dill tributaries and the landscapes separated by these rivers.
The most important watercourses, in addition to the boundary rivers of the Lahn, Dill and Dietzhölze – are the Aar, the Salzböde, the Perf and Allna.
The following rivers and streams are sorted in clockwise order i.e. down the Lahn and up the Dill, beginning with the upper reaches of the Lahn in the north and cover a catchment area of over 20 km²:

→ to full list

Name	Parent river	Length	Catchment- area	Drains into	Mouth elevation	Natural regions	Roads	DGKZ
Diete	Perf	8,8	24,64		310	Breidenbach Bottom	B 253	25814-6
Gansbach	Perf	11,1	23,17		349	Bottenhorn Plateaux, Breidenbach Bottom	L 3042	25814-2
Perf	Lahn	20,0	113,13	1776	285	Bottenhorn Plateaux, Breidenbach Bottom	L 3049, B 253	258-14
Dautphe	Lahn	8,8	41,81	533	245	Bottenhorn Plateaux, Upper Lahn Valley	B 453	258-16
Elnhauser Wasser	Ohe	5,9	24,25	171	195	Elnhausen-Michelbach Basin		258326-6
Ohe	Allna	11,5	44,28	337	195	Damshäuser Kuppen, Elnhausen-Michelbach Basin	L 3387	25832-6
Allna	Lahn	19,1	92,02	665	172	Damshäuser Kuppen, Elnhausen-Michelbach Basin	L 3387	258-32
Wenkbach	Lahn	7,2	20,77	107	168	Salzböde Valley, Marburger Lahn Valley Basin		258-332
Salzböde	Lahn	27,6	137,85	1322	164	Zollbuche, Salzböde Valley, Krofdorf-Königsberg Forest, Marburger Lahn Valley Basin	L 3050, B 255, L 3048	258-34
Vers	Salzböde	8,4	42,55		188	Salzböde Valley	L 3061	25834-8
Bieber	Lahn	13,5	34,68	217	155	Krofdorf-Königsberg Forest, Gießen Lahn Valley Basin	L 3474, L 3286	258-394
Lemp	Dill	11,7	34,97	274	170	Krofdorf-Königsberg Forest, Krofdorf-Königsberger/Hörre	L 3052	2584-92
Aar	Dill	20,6	148,76	1602	210	Niederweidbach Basin, Hörre/Schelde Forest, Lower Dill Valley	B 255	2584-6
Siegbach	Aar	12,2	28,67		260	Bottenhorn Plateaux, Zollbuche	- / L 3050, - / L 3049	25846-6
Schelde	Dill	12,0	35,03	426	221	Schelde Forest	L 3042	2584-56
Dietzhölze	Dill	23,7	88,44	1431	233	Rothaar Mountains, Upper Dill Valley	B 253	2584-4

The outer boundary of the Gladenbach Uplands is formed by the Lahn and Dill accompanied in the north by the B 62, in the east by the B 3 Marburg-Gießen, in the east, south of the B 49 Gießen-Wetzlar and in the southwest by the A 45. The Bundesstraße 253 Dillenburg-Biedenkopf roughly closes the remaining gap.

Waterbodies

The most important reservoir in the Gladenbach Uplands is the Aartalsee in the Niederweidbach Basin, followed by the Perf Reservoir in the Breidenbach Bottom.

Hills

The hills of the Gladenbach Uplands, arranged by ridge or natural region, include the following:

Bottenhorn Plateaux - northwest of the centre
* Angelburg – west of the centre; occasionally counted as part of the Schelde Forest
** Schmittgrund – southern spur of the Angelburg, occasionally counted as part of the Schelde Forest
* Mattenberg – north west
* Kurzbeul – extreme west
* Würgeloh north Hartenrod / Bad Endbach
* Madche – northwest
* Daubhaus – extreme east, north of Rachelshausen
** Allberg – northeast of the Daubhaus
** Hünstein – north of the Allberg; not really an independent summit, but has an observation tower; gives its name to Holzhausen am Hünstein
* Bolzeberg – extreme northeast
* Steffenberg – extreme north, gives its name to the municipality of Steffenberg
Schelde Forest – west
* Eschenburg – north, above the Dietzhölze Valley
* Hohe Koppe – northeast
* Stockseite – east
Breidenbach Bottom – extreme north
* Hemmerichskopf – western boundary with the Rothaar Mountains
* Schwarzenberg – northeast; centre of a large contiguous forest area southwest of Biedenkopf and east of Breidenbach
** Hachenberg – northern subpeak
** Nimerich – southeastern subpeak; highest point in the municipality of Dautphetal
* Schadenberg – southwest of the centre
* Galgenberg – extreme southwest
* Entenberg – northwestern boundary to the Rothaar Mountains
Zollbuche – centre
* Hirschhohl – northwest boundary with the plateaux
* Schönscheid – west, northwest Günterod
* Bad Endbacher Platte – centre
* Hemmerich – east; forms with Koppe and Dreisberg the eastern trio of hills of the Gladenbach Uplands
** Koppe – with observation tower; near Gladenbach-Erdhausen
** Dreisberg
Damshäuser Kuppen – northeast
* Rimberg – east north; with observation tower
* Kappe – west north
* Schweinskopf – north west, near Dautphetal-Herzhausen
* Eichelhardt – northwest
* Dusenberg – extreme west, near Dautphetal-Herzhausen
* Hornberg – extreme northwest
* Hungert – extreme northeast; pyramidal Kuppe on the boundary with the Marburg Ridge
* Auersberg – east, between Elnhausen, Nesselbrunn and Dilschhausen
* Donnerberg – southeast, northeast of Gladenbach
Krofdorf-Königsberg Forest – south and southeast
* Dünsberg – east centre; volcanic singularity with Celtic excavation sites, TV transmission tower and observation tower
* Altenberg – northwest centre, observation tower
* Ramsberg – north; Hohensolms Castle
* Forst Krofdorf – east; large contiguous forest region that links the Dünsberg to the east with the Lahn Valley
* Königsstuhl – south; one of the southernmost hills of the Gladenbach Uplands
Hörre – southwest
* Alteburg – in the centre
* Roßberg – northeast, south of Bischoffen
* Koppe – south, west of Kölschhausen
Niederweidbach Basin – south of the centre
* Bergwald – east of the centre
Salzböde Valley – northeast, east and southeast of the centre
* Kirchberg – north, east of Gladenbach
* Lammerich – north, southwest of Gladenbach

Literature

Meynen, Emil : Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands. Selbstverlag der Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen, 1953-1962, ISBN B0000BJ19E
Meynen, Emil : Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands. Selbstverlag der Bundesanstalt für Landeskunde, Remagen, 1959-1962, ISBN B0000BJ19F