Station: [102] The Church Tower

M: The church tower is Mögglingen's oldest structure. It was built as a defensive tower in around 1140. That was also when the village was first mentioned in the written record. 

F: More precisely, the tower dates to 1143. A document from the Benedictine Abbey of Anhausen mentions a small village called Mechelingen.

M: For centuries, the property situation in Mögglingen went something like this: some of the farmsteads were owned by Anhausen monastery. The rest, a rather larger number, were the property of the imperial city of Gmünd. That became especially important during the Reformation. Because the people of Gmünd remained Roman Catholics – and so did the majority of the villagers.

F: Over the centuries, the parish continued to grow. By 1841, the church was finally bursting at the seams, and a new building was required. Though in the event, the parish administrator Wenzelaus Mattes didn't think much of the new structure: 
 
M: "Whereas one must lament the complete absence of any architectural skill and beauty, one may console oneself with the fact that, even in purely technical terms, such blunders have been made that one may entertain the hope that this building, which resembles no church to be found far and wide, will not be in existence for too long.

F: In the end, it all came to pass just as the parish administrator had hoped. On the 19th of September 1956, the police stood guard as the old church was demolished. A new, larger church was to be built from designs by the architect Albert Hänle.

M: While the old church was still laid out from east to west as tradition demanded, the new one was to be built along a north-south axis. That involved demolishing a neighbouring farm. But the farmer took his time moving to his new farm, and construction came to a standstill. At which point a few resourceful young lads came up with an idea: they climbed onto the farmer's roof on St. Walpurga's Eve (the night before the first of May, a time for pranks) and – quietly and secretly – stripped off all the roof tiles. Talk about helping with the move!

F: The village priest at the time was called Eugen Häfele. When he preached the sermon on Sundays, his flock regularly had a chance to admire his latest bruises. That was because the priest was an enthusiastic cyclist. People would see him zooming through the village with his cassock blowing in the wind. But only until the cassock got trapped in the spokes – again.
 
Fotos: © Jürgen Bahnmayer