Wilchingen

Wilchingen

State :	Switzerland Switzerland
Canton :	Canton of Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (SH)
District :	Unterlettgau
BFS no. :	2974i1 f3 f4
Postal code :	8217 Wilchingen 8218 Osterfingen
Coordinates :	677 216 / 280064 coordinates: 47 ° 40 '0 " N , 8 ° 28' 0" O ; CH1903: 677 216 / 28006447.666661 8.466667 419
Height :	419 m above sea level M.
Height range :	389–642 m above sea level M.
Area :	21.10 km²
Residents:	1737 (December 31, 2018)
Population density :	82 inhabitants per km²
Website:	www.wilchingen.ch
Location of the municipality
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Wilchingen is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen . It consists of the villages Wilchingen and Osterfingen. These formed their own communities until 2005 and were merged after a referendum.

geography

The community is located in the Klettgau , in the hills of the southern edge . The climate is extremely mild with an above-average number of sunny days for this northern latitude and a low amount of precipitation due to the protected location in side valleys of the southern edge. A special feature is the south-facing Wangental , which is under nature protection and provides a habitat for many orchids . The medieval ruin Radegg towers high above the Wangental on a rocky promontory of the Rossberg .

The border between Germany and Switzerland runs to the south . The waters in the municipality are Seltenbach and Ernstel.

Historic aerial photo by Walter Mittelholzer from 1919

history

The old coat of arms of Osterfingen

Border guards in Wilchingen, Company III / 64, 1914–1918

Main street in the village center

Various prehistoric traces can be found in the municipality of Wilchingen, in the valley floor a Roman road led to Tenedo ( Bad Zurzach ) and the remains of protective walls against the Teutons were found. As possession of the monastery Rheinau was Wilechinga 1049 first mentioned, the settlement was, however, earlier by a Alemanni founded called Willico with his family. In 1371/1373 the Wilchinger Vogteirechte passed to the Spital in Schaffhausen , which administered like a monastery, lands and manors in the Klettgauer Land. In 1515, after years of quarreling among those who went to church in Wilching, who had previously had to go to church in the neighboring Habsburg town of Erzingen , their own parish was set up. The church of St. Othmar was also built in 1515 on a vineyard slope above the village and had to be expanded in 1588. Ore mining and viticulture made the community quite prosperous and the population grew steadily. The first school building was set up in 1816 and expanded in 1845. In 1863 the Baden Railway was inaugurated, which was supposed to connect the community to the regional transport network. In 2006 the municipality of Osterfingen was merged with Wilchingen.

coat of arms

Blazon

In red upright white ploughshare covered with a red paw cross.

The coat of arms can be found for the first time on a coat of arms disk in 1569. It depicts a knight on foot with a flag and shield with a white cross. Presumably it is Saint George or Mauritius . In the latter case, it could be confused with Hallau. In any case, there must be an error with this coat of arms. A second coat of arms from this period refers to the connection with the Heiliggeistspital in Schaffhausen. It depicts a white cross in black, i.e. the hospital coat of arms in wrong colors. The oldest reference to today's coat of arms is on a coat of arms disk from 1575. It shows the upright, silver ploughshare, covered by a red cross on a red background. 1610 The first Wilchingen seal can be found with that symbol. To this day there is no other coat of arms than this plowshare with the cross. The only changes are decorations (e.g. laurels or vines). During the adjustment in 1950, the choice of the coat of arms with the colors of 1575 was not a topic of discussion.

economy

Agriculture

Both villages have an old wine-growing tradition and produce wines of considerable quality. Various presses and wine cellars are located in the villages and invite you to traditional wine festivals every autumn. Probably the most famous wine cellar is Bad Osterfingen on the road to Jestetten and also houses a well-known dining restaurant. Agriculture and forestry are also carried out in the surrounding forests.

traffic

The Wilchingen-Hallau train station of the DB in Switzerland.

Together with the neighboring municipality of Hallau, Wilchingen owns a regional train station of the Deutsche Bahn on the Schaffhausen – Waldshut line , which is around 3 km outside the village center near the Untereuhaus hamlet. From here trains run every half hour in both directions. These trains are operated alternately by Deutsche Bahn and SBB. Osterfingen and the neighboring village of Halau are connected by the Schaffhausen bus company "SchaffhausenBus".

Despite the connection to public transport, the community is considered to be remote from a traffic point of view because the train station is outside the center. The important connection road to Jestetten (Germany), which is the direct route to Bülach and Zurich , is still not accessible by public transport.