59 Schuh (roughly 18.5 m) and a breadth of 43 Schuh (roughly 13.5 m). In 1766, a new church building was built on the old square by the master builder of the Springiersbach church, Paul Staehling, for 2,400 Reichsthaler; in the same year a sacristy was built onto it for 140 Reichsthaler. Only nine years later, however, the church was falling into disrepair, and building director Johann Seiz was commissioned to examine the building. He suggested replacing the vaulting, which he found to be too flat and too weak, with a wooden ceiling and improvements to the roof frame. These things were done by the following year, and the churchtower was also built higher. The church that stands today is from 1766, as shown on the lintel above the lefthand entrance door. The church's dimensions are some 25 ×11 m. The three-sided quire faces the east. The original entrance with formerly purely Gothic jambs is now glazed to make room for a spiral stairway up to the gallery. Today, entry is through two side doors in the porch. 16th to 18th century In the 16th and 17th centuries, Pünderich townsmen were said to be among the wealthiest on the Moselle. According to the 1652 taxation roll, Pünderich had 56 winepressing centres, which said a good deal about the state of winegrowing in the municipality. In the Thirty Years' War, Pünderich had to fight Spaniards (1625) and Swedes (1632). In the 20th century, small finds from this time were unearthed. Pünderich did not suffer as badly from the Plague, which first appeared in the village in 1597, as some other places. The “Black Death” is estimated to have claimed 25 million lives, or roughly one third of Europe's population. It wiped out whole villages and great swathes of land and had a profound effect on mediaeval people's view of the world, and on economic life. The high point in the Plague's ravages in Briedel/Pünderich came between June/July 1635 and late August 1636. Pünderich lost only 5.3% of its population. The losses were far worse in some nearby places (Briedel 26%; Zell 27.3%; Kaimt 36.2%; Alf 36.6%; Bremm 55%; Ediger 44.2%). The Plague wrought particular havoc in the Cochemer Krampen, a 24-kilometre-long stretch of the Moselle made up of many winding bows beginning downstream of Pünderich at Bremm, and running downstream from there to just beyond Cochem. There was also another loss