Birk (Lohmar)

Birk City of Lohmar Coordinates: 50 ° 50 ′ 7 ″  N , 7 ° 16 ′ 35 ″  E
Height :	approx. 200 m
Incorporation :	1st August 1969
Postal code :	53797
Area code :	02246
Location of Birk in North Rhine-Westphalia
Telecommunication tower Lohmar-Birk

Birk is a district of Lohmar in the Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia .

geography

Birk is located on the south-western slopes of the Bergisches Land and west of the Wahnbachtalsperre . From here you have a beautiful view of the Rhine - and the Siegtal . The Lohmar-Birk telecommunications tower can also be seen from a distance . The federal highway 56 leads past Birk .

history

Birk was first mentioned in a document on February 21, 1310 on the occasion of a court day there , on which a Lohmar parsonage was leased. Actum in judicio ville de Byrke coram dapifero, sculteto, scabinis ac majori per parochianorum in Lomere. - Anno domini MCCCX sabbato ante festum cathedre beati Petri apostoli.

Until 1555, every parish in the Duchy of Berg had a court without high judicial rights . After the merger of the judicial districts , Birk belonged to the Neunkirchen court in the Blankenberg district .

The parishes were divided into honors , the boundaries of which were fixed. Birk belonged to the Inger honor in the parish of Lohmar. Rights and obligations of the residents such as grazing rights or the duty to help neighbors were regulated and recorded as "neighbor right".

Until the 18th century, the church village of Birk was a small place with only a few houses near the church. There lived traders like innkeepers , merchants , blacksmiths and wheelwrighters who, like the small farmers , owned a few acres of land and kept a few cattle. There was also a house for the Offermann and, since 1678, a house for the vicar's representative. The place was surrounded by a hedge with trap gates called "falder".

In the wars of the 17th and 18th century, the population was by looting , plundering loaded and war taxes that were due to the poverty of the residents often do not apply. In order to get a fairer assessment for taxes , a survey of the land ownership and a new land measure book of the Honschaft Inger were created in 1711 .

A school run by the local church has been documented in Birk since the 18th century. The first known schoolmaster was Heinrich Knipp, the Offermann named in 1726. Other sexton-teachers followed him. After taking the teacher examination in 1808 Johann Scharrenbroich, the son of the sexton, was employed as a teacher.

During the French Revolution , Birk was again heavily burdened by troop marches in the years 1794–1797. In 1793/94 Birk belonged to the retreat area of ​​the Austrian troops from the Netherlands , for which manual and clamping services were to be performed. French revolutionary troops advanced from the Aggertal via Birk to Neunkirchen and had to withdraw again shortly afterwards. The advance of the French in 1796 ended with the Battle of Kircheib .

When the administrative districts in the Grand Duchy of Berg were reorganized under Napoléon in 1808, Lohmar became a Mairie in the canton of Siegburg , and the honors remained as municipalities .

In Prussian times the Mairie became the mayor's office in Lohmar (from 1927 Amt Lohmar ) in the district of Siegburg (from 1825 on Siegkreis ) in the administrative district of Cologne . The mayor's office consisted of special communities that had had their own budget since the introduction of the municipal code for the Rhine Province in 1845 .

1845/46 was a school building as a brick structure built for 3,831 Reichstaler and managed as two-class school for the 1874th Before 1846, lessons had taken place in the sexton's house or in a dance hall.

In 1895, 30 years after Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen founded the first loan association in 1864, the Birker savings and loan association was founded. In 1903 it was renamed the Agricultural Purchasing and Sales Cooperative . It made it possible for the farmers to sell their products, obtain cheap fertilizers and cheap loans. As a Raiffeisen bank , it remained independent until 1972.

Thanks to the private automobile connection established in 1909, later the Siegburg - Much bus connection via Zeithstraße , the residents of Birk were able to reach the city of Siegburg and the surrounding areas quickly and comfortably.

The planned connection to the power grid and the planned water pipeline were delayed by the First World War . It was not until 1921 that private households received electric light . Water was fetched from the well, the "Pützen". Some households had their own water pipe through a Kloppmännchen , also known as Klopphannes. Only in 1941 did Birk receive a water pipe.

The place was largely spared from war damage during World War II .

After the Second World War, the population grew through expellees and later through those willing to build, who bought building land at a reasonable price. Due to the population growth, the denominational composition of the local residents changed. A community center was built for Protestant Christians in 1968, but after a few years it turned out to be too small. In 1987/1988 a new, larger community center was built after the old one was demolished. In 1999 a bell tower with two bells followed.

After the establishment of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1946 until the municipal administrative reform on August 1, 1969, the place belonged to the previously independent municipality of Inger .

church

West side of the Church of St. Mary's Birth

The old church in Birk was a branch church of the Lohmar church. It had a Romanesque nave and a raised Gothic choir. In 1790 the central nave and the north aisle were in need of repair. The Landdinger of the office of Blankenberg von Proff and the Lohmar pastor von Lieser had other interests. Due to the war , the renovation of the nave did not begin until around 1800. A simple new building was built for 1,973 Reichstaler. The choir had to be shortened for this and was not optimally connected again. The former northern side choir was torn down, only the baroque bishop's statue of St. Nicholas remained . Two altars with canteen plates from the dissolved Heisterbach monastery were used for the new church design. In 1812 the French government also awarded the Anno Shrine and other treasures from Michaelsberg Abbey to the Birk Church . The discussion about a separate parish , which began in 1826, ended successfully on September 22nd, 1840. In 1844 the Neunkirchen-Seelscheid districts of Hochhausen, Pohlhausen , Wahn and Straßen were allocated . In 1887/88, a new three - aisled neo - Gothic hall church with a new indented west tower was built , including the early Gothic choir from the 13th century .

→ Main article : St. Mary's Birth (Birk)

school

A new school building was erected for the increased number of students and completed in 1967. The old school building from 1845/46 is now a listed building . During the school reform with the separation of elementary and secondary school in 1968, the pupils were assigned to the upper level of the secondary school in Lohmar. Birk kept an elementary school.

Today's Birk

Around the old town center, new residential areas emerged in all directions, which greatly changed the appearance of the town. The borders between Birk and the neighboring town of Inger have disappeared. Agriculture no longer plays a role in the village. There are still two Aussiedlerhöfe, the Birkhof and the Ingerhof . The working residents are predominantly commuters between their place of residence and their external workplace in the Cologne - Bonn area .

Everything for the needs of daily life can be found in the place. A doctor and a dentist have settled in Birk. There is also a pharmacy, a bakery, a supermarket, two banks, a post office , two restaurants and other businesses.

Birk has a denominational day-care center run by the Protestant community of Birk and a multi-level elementary school that is attended by the children from Birk and the surrounding areas.

The place is served by several bus lines of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS), which connect Birk to the regional transport network. Buses run every hour in the direction of Siegburg and in the direction of Neunkirchen / Much. Lohmar and other places in the city are also integrated into local public transport by regular buses, which are mainly used to transport school children. District road 13 and federal road 507 running through the Jabach valley run near Birk . The next junctions of the federal autobahn 3 (A3) are in Lohmar-Nord and Lohmar-Süd.

There is a lively club life in Birk. The male choir "Liederkranz" from 1908 existed under the name "Gesangvereinigung" as early as 1865 and the church choir "Cäcilia" was founded in 1882. The singing community Birk emerged from the church choir in 1964 and is entitled to use the title “Master Choir of the NRW Choir Association ”. Almost all clubs are united in the "Ortsring" founded in 1984. The community center, built in 1992, is used for many events of the associations that help shape life in the village. It is adjacent to the sports hall built in 1990, which is used by the departments of the gymnastics and sports club (TuS Birk 1910), for which there are also sports facilities for soccer and tennis.

Culturally interested citizens also take advantage of the cultural events offered in the city of Lohmar and the nearby cities. Organized bus trips lead to performances by the Bonn theater community with visits to operas and plays from the Bonn City Theater .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ City portrait, Lohmar in brief ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the homepage of the city of Lohmar 
2. ↑ Main State Archive Düsseldorf, today State Archive North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Department, inventory of Siegburg Abbey Certificate No. 161
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Heinrich Hennekeuser: Birk - To the history of our homeland, in Birker stories , anniversary book men's choir "Liederkranz" Birk 2008
4. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Lohmann: War images from the French period 1792-1800, mainly of the Siegkreis, 1915
5. ^ Law on the local reorganization of the Bonn area (Bonn Law) of July 1, 1969; § 13