Heierstrasse, Viersen - row of Victorian houses (1)

Heierstrasse, Viersen - row of Victorian houses (1), originally uploaded by viersener1.

The Heierstrasse is one of Viersen's most ancient streets, going back at least to Roman times. It led from the Roman villa - a "villa rustica" few hundred metres up the hill to the west - down to the meadows below, running alongside a stream which is now underground.

There were numerous Roman villas in what is now Viersen city, and they comprised the basis of a Carolingian Imperial estate. According to an ancient tradition, the Empress Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine) donated her estate here to St Gereon's in Cologne in the middle of the third century. Whether or not this donation is historically accurate, it is certainly probable that Viersen formed an Imperial estate in Carolingian times (see K. Mackes' publications for more detail on this).

In the early 15th century, a convent, St Paul's, was founded on two farming estates which lay on the south side of the Heierstrasse.

The row of Victorian houses pictured here was built on the site adjoining an estate first recorded in the thirteenth century (tho Ryth Hof). This, in turn, compirsed part of the "Kirchland" - land transferred from the castle holdings to the church and the convent probably during the 12th century. The castle holdings, in turn, derived from the imperial estate of Carolingian times. Imperial estates of Franksih times often derived from Roman villas.