Our Village

Kell, part of Andernach

Our village Kell lies on the south easterly edge of the Brohl valley in the Eifel volcanic range.

Since the seventies we are part of the town of Andernach on the Rhine but geographically are part of the Brohl valley. It's said that the Brohl valley is the most beautiful part of the Eifel.

Now a little about Kell's history:

Kell is situated on a high plateau (at an approximate altitude of 260 metres) between the Brohl and Pönterbach valleys. The earliest evidence of a settlement here dates back to between the third and fifth centuries B.C. Roman times saw the beginning of the quarrying of the volcan stone known as "Tuffstein" in the Brohl valley. The water sources in the area became particularly popular because of their healing powers. A Franconian burial ground which was discovered to the south of Kell in 1993 is evidence of a settlement in the early middle ages.

Kell is first mentioned under the name of Chella at the beginning of the thirteenth century. The story of St. Antony's Carmelite convent is closely linked with Kell. According to legend, in 1388 some shepherds from Kell found an icon (Gnadenbild) in a burning bush. This prompted the building of a chapel on the spot where it was found. People then started coming on pilgrimages which led to the founding of a Carmelite convent in 1465 which remained in existence until secularisation at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The icon, along with some of the convent's furnishings, were placed in the cellar of the parish church in Kell. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Tönisstein became the favourite spa town of the Electors of Cologne and it began to expand. A castle was subsequently built and Elector Clemens August had a round chapel built, as well as a seven-sided pavillion for the pump house which still stands today. Nowadays, Bad Tönisstein is famous for its specialist clinic and everyone has heard of Tönisstein mineral water.