Erdbach

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Erdbach
community Breitscheid
Coordinates: 50 ° 41 ′ 23 ″  N , 8 ° 13 ′ 7 ″  E
Height : 320 m above sea level NN
Area : 4.4 km²
Residents : 645  (March 2015)
Population density : 147 inhabitants / km²
Incorporation : January 1, 1977
Postal code : 35767
Area code : 02777
Erdbach
Erdbach

Erdbach is a district of the Breitscheid municipality in the Lahn-Dill district in Central Hesse , near the border with Rhineland-Palatinate .

geography

location

Erdbach is located in the geologically interesting eastern part of the Westerwald near its highest mountain, Fuchskaute ( 657.3  m above sea  level ).

geology

In this area there are interesting limestone deposits from different geological periods. The "Erdbacher Kalk" from the Lower Carboniferous gave a time stage the name "Erdbachium". The Erdbach disappears in a system of karst caves ( Erdbach cave system ) and reappears after 1½ kilometers at a quarry from the karst spring Erdbachauslauf . The municipality of Breitscheid has set up a “karst educational trail” here, which can also be used to access the new autumn labyrinth show cave .

Not far from the quarry that was Fossils - reserve "Homberg" established that some university departments of Jena to the Rhine serves as a field of research. The older limestone formation near Breitscheid comes from a subtropical coral reef from the Devonian period (mid- Paleozoic 400 million years ago).

history

In 1884 graves from the late Hallstatt period (around 550 BC) were unearthed in the “stone chambers” of the Rolsbach Valley . Archeology calls a special grave gift "Erdbacher Wendelhalsring ". Neanderthal people are believed to have lived in the vicinity , although they are still waiting to be discovered. As geotopes, the “stone chambers” are part of the Westerwald-Lahn-Taunus National Geopark .

Erdbach was first mentioned in a document in 1230 in a deed of donation from Count Heinrich von Nassau to the Teutonic Order . Breitscheid was also mentioned for the first time in the same document.

Territorial reform

As part of the regional reform in Hesse , the previously independent municipality of Erdbach was incorporated into the municipality of Breitscheid on January 1, 1977 through the law to reorganize the Dill district, the districts of Gießen and Wetzlar and the city of Gießen . For Erdbach, as for the other formerly independent municipalities, a local district with a local advisory board and local councilor was formed.

Traffic history

From 1906 to 1980 Erdbach was on the Westerwaldquerbahn , which had an operational peculiarity here: because of the incline to be overcome, the Erdbach station was also a hairpin . A spectacular accident occurred here on August 13, 1973: Due to the intervention of external personnel in Mademühlen station , 16 freight wagons were uncoupled from a train and began to roll downhill on a downward gradient. After 15 km and crossing 20 level crossings , they met the buffer stop at Erdbach train station, ran over it and hit a residential building 50 meters further, where a woman was killed.

Territorial history and administration

The following list gives an overview of the territories in which Erdbach was located and the administrative units to which it was subordinate:

population

Population development

Erdbach: Population from 1834 to 2015
year     Residents
1834
  
 200
1840
  
 206
1846
  
 207
1852
  
 228
1858
  
 204
1864
  
 226
1871
  
 207
1875
  
 229
1885
  
 251
1895
  
 249
1905
  
 280
1910
  
 376
1925
  
 432
1939
  
 470
1946
  
 598
1950
  
 597
1956
  
 548
1961
  
 526
1967
  
 597
1970
  
 594
1980
  
 ?
1990
  
 ?
2000
  
 ?
2010
  
 682
2015
  
 645
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Further sources :, after 1970: Breitscheid municipality ( see web archive; several values. )

Religious affiliation

 Source: Historical local dictionary

• 1885: 251 Protestant and no Catholic residents
• 1961: 465 Protestant, 53 Roman Catholic residents

Local advisory board

Erdbach has a five-person local advisory board with a local councilor . After the local elections in Hesse in 2016 , the mayor is Arnd Kureck.

Culture and sights

Natural spaces

The autumn labyrinth Advent cave system has been operated as a show cave since May 2009 . The autumn labyrinth is one of the largest caves in Germany. It was only discovered in 1993 and has since been researched by the Hesse Speleological Working Group.

The stream of the same name rises on the edge of Erdbach, disappears into the ground at the Kleingrubenloch and only emerges after 14–34 hours of flow at a distance of 1,200 m. This phenomenon, known as Erdbach shrinkage, attracted archaeologists to Erdbach early on, who first dug in the stone chambers in the Rolsbachtal, which are now freely accessible. It was not until 1965 that the actual Erdbach Cave was entered for the first time and explored over the next thirty years.

The Homberg fossil reserve is located at the outlet of the Erdbach. Many fossils found here prove that about 350 million years ago Erdbach was a Wadden Sea. Interesting facts about the history of the earth are provided on the karst nature trail, which has 15 stations and a. also takes you past the “Time Leaps” museum.

Cultural monuments

The listed Erdbacher Chapel dates from the second half of the 13th century.

Erdbacher Chapel Erdbacher Chapel, interior view

For the other cultural monuments of the place see the list of cultural monuments in Erdbach .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ “Figures, Data, Facts” on the Breitscheid municipality's website , accessed in September 2015.
  2. ↑ Law on the restructuring of the Dill district, the districts of Gießen and Wetzlar and the city of Gießen (GVBl. II 330–28) of May 13, 1974 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1974 No. 17 , p. 237 ff ., § 23 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 1,2 MB ]).
  3. ↑ Main statute § 6. (PDF; 44 kB) In: Website. Breitscheid municipality, accessed February 2019 .
  4. ↑ Hans-Joachim Ritzau, Jürgen Höstel: The catastrophe scenes of the present = railway accidents in Germany, Vol. 2. Pürgen 1983. ISBN 3-921304-50-4 , p. 159.
  5. ↑ a b c Erdbach, Lahn-Dill district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of March 23, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  6. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  7. ↑ Local councils of the Breitscheid community on the community's website, accessed in February 2017.
  8. ^ Erdbach-Schwinde In: Wanderatlas Germany
  9. ↑ Karst nature trail of the Breitscheid community ( memento from November 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Erdbach portrait In: Wanderatlas Germany