Westwich
Westwich is a desolate place in the Schmallenberg area in the Hochsauerlandkreis ( North Rhine-Westphalia ). The exact location is not known.
In a document from 1452 the place is referred to as beneden der Schmallenborg . The former Westwigß alley led a ravine down near the town hall to the west in the Lennetal. Presumably the place was in the area of the Sunthelle.
The place was remarkably extensive, it comprised parts of the Titten- and Huckelberg mountains and reached as far as the Gellentrop desert area . The northern border was formed by the villages of Obringhausen and Wormbach . According to tradition, the desert was a small hamlet with three to four farms. It probably fell in desolation from 1297 after, according to a document, the nobleman Johann von Bilstein and the citizens Dithmar, Johannes and Richard von Latorp from Schmallenberg, for the free-chair properties in Durenbeliken and Dreve left to the Grafschaft monastery , got a hoof in Westwich. In a document from 1301 the conmarkenses de Westwich (market comrades to Westwig) are mentioned. They participated in the income of the Godefried in Niederfleckenberg , which he received for parts of the Lenninghof returned to the monastery. The nobleman Johann von Bilstein gave the monastery a field mill near Schmallenberg in 1361. The people who ran free estates in Westwich were also counted among the mills. So the place had already fallen desolate by this time.
According to an income register of the monastery Grafschaft from 1515, the rolla antiqua , the monastery received 11 shillings from two farms in Westwich. In 1338 Johann von Grafschaft sold tithes for Westrich to the monastery for 220 marks . The Westwicher Mark was divided between Schmallenberg and Fleckenberg in 1587 .
Like many other places, the place fell victim to the great desolation process in the late Middle Ages . It must have been a creeping, slow process. This began around 1300. It is possible that this process lasted until the middle of the 15th century. The downfall of this urban settlement is probably connected with the development of the urban center of Schmallenberg. Another reason was plague epidemics and the need of the residents to seek refuge in the city.
literature
- Günther Becker: Settlement history of the city of Schmallenberg 1244 - 1969 , published by the city of Schmallenberg 1969