Swelmies

Swelmies
Schwelmequelle in the Martfeld forest
Data
Water code	DE : 27364
location	North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany
River system	Rhine
Drain over	Wupper  → Rhine  → North Sea
source	On the Winterberg in Schwelm 51 ° 16 ′ 34 ″  N , 7 ° 18 ′ 55 ″  E
Source height	313  m above sea level NN
muzzle	At Wuppertal-Oberbarmen in the Wupper coordinates: 51 ° 16 ′ 28 ″  N , 7 ° 13 ′ 30 ″  E 51 ° 16 ′ 28 ″  N , 7 ° 13 ′ 30 ″  E
Mouth height	160  m above sea level NN
Height difference	153 m
Bottom slope	18 ‰
length	8.4 km
Catchment area	18.783 km²
Big cities	Wuppertal
Medium-sized cities	Schwelm

The Schwelme is a creek about nine kilometers long that rises in the southern area of ​​the town of Schwelm in western Westphalia and flows into the Wupper as a right tributary near Wuppertal-Oberbarmen . The water quality is II – IV. This makes the Schwelme one of the most polluted bodies of water in the area of ​​the Wupper Association .

The name Schwelme goes back to "Swelma also Swelmna". But the name was changed before, because it was originally called "Swelmenaha". The ending "aha" is old Germanic and means "flowing water". The word part "Swelm" indicates the old settlement and the Fronhof . (The flowing water of those at Schwelm) According to another interpretation, the Germanic “Svelan” could have been the godfather, which can be translated both as “to swell more” and as “to make waves”. Accordingly, the stream name would have meant “flowing, swelling water”. But this is only a hypothesis and has not been confirmed. After 1449 the village was still written as Swelhem, its master now from Schwelhem and the manor already to Schwelm. The family name Schwelm , the more than 500 year old town Schwelm in Westphalia and the brook all go back to the names Swelhem, Swelm, and Swelmna.

Around 1900 the water of the Schwelme filled the gondola ponds of the snuff mill , the largest restaurant in the region on today's valley road in Schwelm. From the middle of the 19th century until the 1970s, the water of the Schwelme was used by the Schwelm open-air swimming pool, located just north of the source.

topography

The source pond is located in the southern urban area of ​​Schwelm in the forest at an altitude of 315 meters above sea level. In the upper reaches, the stream bed is still largely natural, at the latest in the eastern or northern urban area of ​​Schwelm or Wuppertal-Langerfeld , the Schwelme runs either underground or above ground in a canalized and straightened bed. The middle course is almost completely piped over a length of 1.5 km. Shortly before the Wuppertal-Oberbarmen train station , the stream flows into the Wupper after a good nine kilometers.

swell

1. ^ German basic map 1: 5000
2. ↑ Topographic map 1: 25,000
3. ↑ ^{a b} Topographical Information Management, Cologne District Government, Department GEObasis NRW ( Notes )
4. ↑ State Institute for Ecology, Land Management and Forests of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: Schwelm. City ecological specialist article. Recklinghausen, 2005. (Accessed on October 28, 2007)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Swelmena: Mulhouse and the mills. Retrieved July 4, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Leithaeuser, Julius: Bergische place names . Baedeker, Elberfeld 1901, p. 139 .
7. ↑ Johann-Diederich of stones :: Westphälische story . Ed .: Volume 4 pages 1344-1350.
8. ^ Gerd Helbeck: "In oppido Swelme". Formation and structure of the medieval town of Schwelm between the 10th century and 1496. In: . Ed .: Contributions to the local history of the city of Schwelm and its surroundings. No. 23, 1973, pp. 5-23.
9. ↑ Fenner, Wolfgang / Gallmeister, Petra: From "the first settlement" to the "French occupation." In: Stadt Schwelm (ed.): Schwelm. Wuppertal: Born, 1996. - Chapter 1, 11–54.
10. ↑ NRW environmental data on site