Flax Sea

Flax Sea Westoverledingen municipality Coordinates: 53 ° 7 ′ 5 " N , 7 ° 27 ′ 43" E
Height :	4 m above sea level NN
Area :	11.53 km²
Incorporation :	1st January 1973
Postal code :	26810
Primaries :	04955, 04961
	Map of Westoverledingen

The place Flachsmeer is a district of the municipality Westoverledingen in East Friesland .

history

Flachsmeer Baptist Chapel (now demolished)

The formerly wide moor areas in the area of today's village were settled relatively late in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Fehnsiedlung Flachsmeer was founded around 1770. In the early years the village grew slowly at first. As in many of the bog colonies established at that time, many colonists in Flachsmeer sank into poverty. Increased settlement activity did not begin until the 19th century. As a result, the place almost quadrupled its population from 1821 to 1905. Drainage and infrastructural development were the main problems until the 20th century.

Many colonists moved from predominantly Catholic areas, so that in 1860 a separate parish was founded and the St. Bernhard church was built in the neo-Romanesque style. The Lutheran congregation in Flachsmeer originally belonged to Steenfelde . It was not until 1962/63 that a cemetery chapel was built directly on the site of the cemetery, which had existed since the turn of the century, in which services and devotions were regularly celebrated soon after completion. Since 1966 the Ev.-luth. Independent parish of Flachsmeer. A small Baptist chapel was located at Birkenstrasse 44. It was built in 1908 and was a branch of the Westoverledingen-Ihr Baptist congregation . It no longer exists. It was demolished after being sold in 2018. In their place there is now a residential building.

On January 1, 1973, Flachsmeer was incorporated into the new municipality of Westoverledingen.

Development of the place name

The current spelling of the place is first handed down from the year 1818. The name of the place probably goes back to the formerly abundant moor lakes that were used for the cultivation of flax.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Working group of the local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape : Flachsmeer, community Westoverledingen, district of Leer ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2015 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. (PDF; 844 kB), accessed on October 24, 2011. @1@ 2

↑ Michael Heinze: Flachsmeer , accessed on October 24, 2011.

^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 263 .

[ortschr-1] Working group of the local chronicles of the East Frisian landscape : Flachsmeer, community Westoverledingen, district of Leer ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2015 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. (PDF; 844 kB), accessed on October 24, 2011. @1@ 2

[2] Michael Heinze: Flachsmeer , accessed on October 24, 2011.

[3] Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 263 .