Hohenfels-Essingen

coat of arms	Germany map
	Coordinates: 50 ° 15 '  N , 6 ° 44'  E
Basic data
State :	Rhineland-Palatinate
County :	Vulkaneifel
Association municipality :	Gerolstein
Height :	456 m above sea level NHN
Area :	5.02 km 2
Residents:	301 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density :	60 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code :	54570
Area code :	06595
License plate :	DAU
Community key :	07 2 33 033
Association administration address:	Kyllweg 1 54568 Gerolstein
Website :	www.gerolstein.de
Local Mayor :	Josef Simons
Location of the local community Hohenfels-Essingen in the Vulkaneifel district

St. New Year's Eve (Essingen) from the southwest

Hohenfels-Essingen in the Vulkaneifel is a municipality in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate . It belongs to the Gerolstein community .

geography

Hohenfels-Essingen is located in the Hangelsbach valley, framed by the Feuerberg ( 588  m above sea  level ), Alten Voss ( 588  m above sea level , with liberation beech) and Mühlenberg ( 585  m above sea level , with millstone caves). The Grafenfelderhof and Römerhof residential areas belong to Hohenfels-Essingen .

history

Finds show that Hohenfels was already settled in Roman and Frankish times and was first mentioned in documents in 948. Essingen was first mentioned in 1193 as an estate belonging to the St. Thomas Monastery .

The Romans and Franks

At the end of the 2nd century, the Romans came to the West Eifel. The Roman troops encountered an arable indigenous population, which was so small in numbers that they only cultivated relatively small areas. With the planned development of the country through military roads and the associated opportunities for regional and even national trade, a brisk clearing activity soon began on the soils that are particularly suitable for arable farming. The land to the right and left of the roads was covered with a network of manors that were run by the state as well as privately. Some of the most important Roman roads ran over the northern heights of Hohenfels and through the Kylltal north of Trier .

In 1957 in the Im Keller district (Hohenfels) the remains of a portico villa were found during excavation work . In 1914, only about 200 meters away, two Roman graves were found in the Auf Grafenfeld district in Hohenfels and salvaged for the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier .

The great Germanic conquest between 400 and 600 AD destroyed the Roman culture and brought the area into the hands of the army kings . The previous population - Romanized Celts and Romans - fled or was subjugated. The Frankish kings distributed the formerly Roman goods to their warriors. In Hohenfels there is a Franconian foundation in the immediate vicinity of the Roman portico villa. In the corridor Auf Grafenfeld , a large cemetery from the Franconian period was discovered and researched in 1912: 125 Franconian graves from the 4th to 8th centuries.

15th to 17th centuries

Even before the Thirty Years' War , the Mühlenberg was criss-crossed with tunnels in which millstones were made. As a protection against the Swedish troops in particular, these tunnels and caves were expanded and used to house the cattle. Large bowls that held up to 300 liters of water were carved into lava blocks for the water supply. The water could be obtained from a spring outlet on the southern slope of the mountain.

After the Thirty Years War, the country was devastated and the population impoverished. There were also epidemics such as plague and cholera . Seven wayside crosses carved from lava basalt in the vicinity of Hohenfels date from this time . Every Sunday the whole village made a pilgrimage past the crosses, asking for the end of the plague. These crosses were set up by the community in the 1960s along the way to the grotto on the Mühlberg. The Palatinate War of Succession in 1688 caused further destruction , in which castles, churches and monasteries were destroyed.

18th and 19th centuries

As a result of the French Revolution , the French returned to the Eifel in 1794. At that time, Hohenfels was owned by Count von Metternich , who was expropriated in 1808. The Hohenfels mill, which also belonged to the count, was sold for 1200 francs (equivalent to 380  thalers ). All lands belonging to the Count were also auctioned individually.

Due to the resolutions at the Congress of Vienna , the Eifel was assigned to the state of Prussia in 1815 and belonged to the newly formed province of the Grand Duchy of Lower Rhine with its seat in Koblenz . In the 19th century, an average of 140 people lived in Hohenfels. The main source of income were small farms. In addition, curb stones and millstones as well as material for road construction were produced in family businesses. These products were transported and sold by horse and cart across the Eifel. Some of the millstones were transported to Belgium and from there exported all over the world. These family businesses were discontinued during the First World War.

In 1860 the largest lava deposit in the Eifel - the Hohenfelser Feuerberg - was leased by the community for lava extraction. The lava was used for road and railroad construction.

20th century until today

Basalt quarry

After the end of the First World War , American troops were in the area in November 1918, and later during the occupation of the Rhineland, French occupation troops.

In the 1920s, basalt mining began below the Mühlenberg. In the Hohenfels area, a Mayen company manufactured Kollersteine and sold them worldwide. In 1928, a gravel works was built above the “Wahlend” land that was in operation until 1974. Over 100 people had a job here at times.

In the course of the Rhineland-Palatinate functional and territorial reform, the two previously independent communities Hohenfels and Essingen were merged into one community on January 1, 1968 .

Population development

The development of the population of Hohenfels-Essingen in relation to today's municipality, the values ​​from 1871 to 1987 are based on censuses:

year Residents 1815 178 1835 250 1871 253 1905 263 1939 312 1950 366 1961 371

year Residents 1970 346 1987 316 1999 356 2005 360 2011 327 2017 304 2019 252

politics

Municipal council

The local council in Hohenfels-Essingen consists of eight council members, who were elected in a majority vote in the local elections on May 26, 2019 , and the honorary local mayor as chairman.

coat of arms

Blazon : "In silver a slanted, red sword, accompanied above by a blue urn, below by a green millstone."

Justification of the coat of arms: The red sword is the symbol for the medieval court of the Kurtrierischen Amt Daun between Hohenfels and Essingen on the old Roman road, 1683 marked with a gallows in the map of the Amt Daun. The blue urn indicates the large Franconian cemetery with 125 graves and the important grave finds. The green millstone symbolizes the Hohenfels millstone quarries, which were already widely known in the Middle Ages, as a trade, it also stands for the volcanic landscape in both districts and also indicates today's lava and basalt mining.

Attractions

• The grotto at Mühlenberg
• Millstone caves
• Basalt deposits
• Hiking trails

See also: List of cultural monuments in Hohenfels-Essingen

Web links

Commons : Hohenfels-Essingen  - Collection of images

• Local community Hohenfels-Essingen on the website of the Gerolstein community community
• To search for cultural goods belonging to the Hohenfels-Essingen community in the database of cultural goods in the Trier region .
• Hohenfels-Essingen - A portrait of the town ( memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) from SWR.de - Hierzuland Rheinland-Pfalz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate - population status 2019, districts, municipalities, association communities ( help on this ).
2. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Official directory of the municipalities and parts of the municipality. Status: January 2019 ^{[ Version 2020 is available. ]} . S. 114 (PDF; 3 MB).
3. ↑ Official municipality directory (= State Statistical Office of Rhineland-Palatinate [Hrsg.]: Statistical volumes . Volume 407 ). Bad Ems February 2016, p. 166 (PDF; 2.8 MB).
4. ↑ State Statistical Office Rhineland-Palatinate: My village, my city. Retrieved February 3, 2020 . 
5. ^ The Regional Returning Officer Rhineland-Palatinate: Local elections 2019, city and municipal council elections.