Cuckum

Cuckum City of Erkelenz Coordinates: 51 ° 4 ′ 59 ″ N , 6 ° 23 ′ 27 ″ E
Height :	78 m
Residents :	268 (Jun 30, 2020)
Postal code :	41812
Area code :	02164
	Location of Kuckum in the Rhenish lignite district

Entrance signs to Kuckum

Kuckum is a rural town in the North Rhine-Westphalian district of Heinsberg and has been part of the city of Erkelenz since 1972 . The village is located in the future mining area of the Garzweiler II open- cast lignite mine and has been relocated since 2017. Under the motto "Human rights before mining rights", residents of the Erkelenz villages Keyenberg, Kuckum, Berverath and Ober- and Unterwestrich have announced legal resistance to their expropriation by RWE.

geography

The Niers just behind their source

The headwaters of the Niers are located near Kuckum . The place is on the northern edge of the Niers valley at a height of 76-78 m above sea level , the terrain slopes slightly in the south to the Niers, in the north it rises up to 84 m above sea level.

location

Kuckum is east of Erkelenz. In the northeast lies Wanlo (city of Mönchengladbach ), in the east Keyenberg , in the south Oberwestrich and Unterwestrich , in the west Kaulhausen , in the northwest Venrath .

Waters (the Niers and its source)

“The Niers rises in a goat barn in Kuckum near Wanlo.” This is how the children learned it in school in the 30s and 50s. In fact, the zero point of the Niers is in Kuckum.

In various books one can find references to other sources and tributaries of the Niers. This is what Norbert Banritzer writes in the documentation Kulturlandschaft Erkelenzer Börde published by the city of Erkelenz . Designed home : “The Niers had numerous springs in the ponds of the Zourshof and in the valley ditch between Unterweststrich and Kuckum. The best known was the 'Klocken Sprung' ... In addition to the springs, u. a. also the Köhm die Niers with water. "

The oldest written document that the Niers mentioned for the first time comes from Roman times. It is a votive stone for the matrons Nersihenae . This first documented mention of the Niers becomes NERSE, later NIERS, in 855 AD. Today the stone belongs to the fund of the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn.

Type of settlement

Kuckum developed as a street village in the north, parallel to the nearby Niers.

history

Mairie de Kuckum, 1806

In 1385 Kuckum belonged to Dingstuhl Wanlo in the office of Kaster of the Duchy of Jülich . This affiliation lasted until 1794.

On April 23, 1758, a fire destroyed almost the entire place.

Under French rule from 1794 to 1814, the Mairie Kuckum was built in the canton of Erkelenz. It consisted of the places Berverath, Borschemich , Kaulhausen, Keyenberg , Kuckum, Venrath and Westrich.

Kuckum came to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815 . The former Mairie Kuckum has been repealed. The previous locations of this Mairie were incorporated into the newly formed mayor's office in Keyenberg in the district of Erkelenz - but without cuckoo. The village came to the Wanlo mayor's office in the Grevenbroich district . In 1934 Kuckum and Wanlo were incorporated into the Wickrath community .

On February 27, 1945, American soldiers of the 175th Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division took the village during Operation Grenade .

On January 1, 1972, Kuckum was separated from the Wickrath community and incorporated into the city of Erkelenz.

The place name

There are different spellings of the place name. 1300 Kucheym , 1398 Kocheim , 1456 Kuckhem , 1470 Koukkum , 1474 Kockem , 1535 Kuckum , 1557 Cocheim Sgrothens Atlas of the Duchy of Geldern from 1557 . The place name consists of the word Kuch- or Kuck and the basic word -heim. The epithet is derived from the Old High German personal name Gug or Gugo . The -heim place names come from the oldest Franconian conquest time. Places from this period were founded in the 6th century. Kuckum means home of the Gugo .

The Kuckum windmill

The windmill was at the intersection of Kuckum-Venrath Lützerath-Venrath. It was built at the beginning of the 19th century and demolished in 1901.

religion

Kuckum Church

The majority of the population is Catholic . Kuckum belonged to the parish Wanlo until 1923 . A chapel was first mentioned in 1535 . The location was a small square on Dorfstrasse at the confluence of Westricher Weg. In 1794, before the French revolutionary troops marched in, it was rebuilt.

To build a larger church, a chapel building association was founded in 1888. The chapel was demolished and a neo-Gothic church was built in the same place . The foundation stone was laid in 1890, the church was already in use in 1891 and consecrated on May 16, 1893. On July 10, 1921, Kuckum got its own parish rector. On March 7, 1923, Kuckum was raised to a chapel parish with its own asset management. Since January 1st, 2010 the chapel congregation has been merged with other parishes to form the parish of St. Maria and Elisabeth Erkelenz.

The church, like its predecessor, the chapel, is dedicated to the Holy Cross .

In 1925 a cemetery was inaugurated, until then the cemetery in Wanlo was in use.

The Protestant residents belong to the Wickrathberg parish .

Culture and sights

Attractions

Baroque wayside cross from 1725 at the former Kuckumer Mühle
The statues of St. Maria Magdalena and Christ at the Kuckumer Quelle were erected in 1966 as a private memorial.

Regular events

Schützen and Heimatfest
The Oktoberfest in the double festival tent has a legendary reputation.

societies

Citizens' initiative STOP - RHEINBRAUN eV
SV Niersquelle Kuckum 1927
St. Antonius Rifle Brotherhood Kuckum 1909
Angelfreunde Kuckum eV

Infrastructure

Kuckum fire fighting group of the Erkelenz volunteer fire brigade

Personalities

Egidius Post (born July 25, 1891 in Cologne, † March 20, 1965 in Wickrath) was a teacher at the one-class elementary school for over 40 years. He was the mayor of Kuckum and the first mayor after the Second World War . On December 18, 1957, he received the Federal Cross of Merit . A street in Kuckum is named after him.
Dr. med. Heinrich Heinrichs (born April 6, 1865 in Kuckum, † January 18, 1948 in Kuckum) settled in his place of birth as a country doctor in 1897. A street in Kuckum is named after him.
Wilhelm Ohlert (born August 30, 188x in Engelgau / Schleiden district ; † June 22, 1967 in Wickrath) was pastor in Kuckum from 1923 to 1963. A street in Kuckum is named after him.
In 2004, Helmut Clever was the second Kuckumer to receive the Federal Cross of Merit for his commitment and achievements in club life. Helmut Clever is honorary chairman of SV Niersquelle Kuckum. The Kuckum soccer field is called "Helmut Clever Stadium".

Trivia

In August 1998, Kuckum achieved national fame. The red-necked wallaby "Manni" managed to escape from his enclosure in the Bad Pyrmonter Tierpark . The marsupial managed to be seen in Bad Pyrmont, Chemnitz and Kuckum at the same time in the following days. Eventually Manni was caught by his pursuers in a field near Kuckum.

Individual evidence

↑ Update of the population on June 30, 2020 (PDF). (PDF) In: Website of the city of Erkelenz. Retrieved July 15, 2020 .
↑ Matthias Schwarzer: Demolition for mining: Immerath is not the last village to die , January 9, 2018 in the NW
↑ https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/erkelenz/garzweiler-anwohner-kuendigen-juristische- resistance-gegen-rwe-tagebau-an_aid- 46192017
^ 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, Stuttgart / Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 307 .

literature

Karl L. Mackes: Erkelenzer Börde and Niersquellgebiet . Series of publications by the city of Erkelenz No. 6, Mönchengladbach 1985.
Josef Schophoven: Doctor, teacher, pastor. Three personalities shaped Kuckum for many decades . In: From the history of the Erkelenzer Land, Erkelenz 1992.

Web links

Commons : Kuckum - collection of images, videos and audio files