Halsenbach
Encyclopedia
Halsenbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen
, whose seat is in the like-named town
.
about 2 km north of Emmelshausen
and roughly 7 km west of the Rhine. The municipality’s area is 1 003 ha and its elevation is 410 m above sea level
.
(Ludwigshafen-Koblenz
), an Iron Age
burying ground was unearthed, and in 1971 a dig was conducted there. The burying ground itself is a group of 13 individual barrows
arranged along a trail leading across the Hunsrück and in places the heights along the Rhine, which was expanded in Roman
times. For some of the cremations, the barrow was raised right over the charred funeral pyre. Among the grave goods
that were worthiest of note were an open-worked belthook and an iron belt ring. The ceramics that were preserved, among them a thrown clay bottle, date the burying ground to the later Hunsrück-Eifel Culture (eras IIA to IIB), or the second fourth of the 5th century BC to the earlier half of the 3rd century BC.
In the Middle Ages
, the village belonged to the Gallenscheider Gericht (“Gallenscheid Court”) and thereby, beginning in the 14th century, to the Electorate of Trier. Beginning in 1794, Halsenbach lay under French
rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
at the Congress of Vienna
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
of Rhineland-Palatinate
.
Halsenbach lies almost on the Hunsrückbahn. When this railway was built about 1900, though, “Halsenbach Station” was built so far from the village that a new village quickly sprang up there. Since then, the amalgamation of the outlying centre of Ehr has put Halsenbach itself on the line, and it now has its own station.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Azure in base an inescutcheon gules charged with a fess argent, standing behind which a bishop proper vested and mitred Or holding in his dexter hand a book and in his sinister a bishop’s staff sable.
The rendition of the arms shown in this section was assembled from the black-and-white version shown at the head of the article with tincture
s as prescribed by the German blazon. However, this blazon does not prescribe tinctures for the bishop’s staff, book (presumably a Bible) or skin. The first two have been rendered sable (black) and the last “proper” (that is, in natural colour), as this is likely what was intended.
The bishop who stands as the main charge
in these arms is Saint Lambert, to whom the village church, built in 1712 and 1713, is consecrated. The inescutcheon with the fess goes back to a seal used by the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) until the late 18th century and thereby refers to Halsenbach’s history as the seat of the “Gallscheid Court”.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
, where the bypass road meets the old alignment of the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
’s orders), District Road K108 branches off to the northwest, leading to Halsenbach, Ney
and Dieler. In the village centre, District Road K110 coming from Ehr meets Hauptstraße (“Main Street”). To the south, through the Preisbach’s deep valley, cross-country paths lead to Liesenfeld and the Baunhöller Mühle (mill).
, several businesses are now housed.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
) in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Emmelshausen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Rhein-Hunsrück district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Its seat is in Emmelshausen....
, whose seat is in the like-named town
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the HunsrückHunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
about 2 km north of Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
and roughly 7 km west of the Rhine. The municipality’s area is 1 003 ha and its elevation is 410 m above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...
.
Constituent communities
Three outlying communities belong to Halsenbach named Ehr, Ehrerheide and Mermicherhof.History
During building work on the Autobahn A 61Bundesautobahn 61
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim. In 1965, this required a re-design of the Hockenheimring....
(Ludwigshafen-Koblenz
Koblenz
Koblenz is a German city situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck and its monument are situated.As Koblenz was one of the military posts established by Drusus about 8 BC, the...
), an Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
burying ground was unearthed, and in 1971 a dig was conducted there. The burying ground itself is a group of 13 individual barrows
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
arranged along a trail leading across the Hunsrück and in places the heights along the Rhine, which was expanded in Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times. For some of the cremations, the barrow was raised right over the charred funeral pyre. Among the grave goods
Grave goods
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body.They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit...
that were worthiest of note were an open-worked belthook and an iron belt ring. The ceramics that were preserved, among them a thrown clay bottle, date the burying ground to the later Hunsrück-Eifel Culture (eras IIA to IIB), or the second fourth of the 5th century BC to the earlier half of the 3rd century BC.
In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, the village belonged to the Gallenscheider Gericht (“Gallenscheid Court”) and thereby, beginning in the 14th century, to the Electorate of Trier. Beginning in 1794, Halsenbach lay under French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...
of Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
.
Halsenbach lies almost on the Hunsrückbahn. When this railway was built about 1900, though, “Halsenbach Station” was built so far from the village that a new village quickly sprang up there. Since then, the amalgamation of the outlying centre of Ehr has put Halsenbach itself on the line, and it now has its own station.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: Das Wappen zeigt in Blau einen golden bekleideten Bischof, wachsend hinter einem roten Schild, darin ein silberner Balken.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Azure in base an inescutcheon gules charged with a fess argent, standing behind which a bishop proper vested and mitred Or holding in his dexter hand a book and in his sinister a bishop’s staff sable.
The rendition of the arms shown in this section was assembled from the black-and-white version shown at the head of the article with tincture
Tincture (heraldry)
In heraldry, tinctures are the colours used to emblazon a coat of arms. These can be divided into several categories including light tinctures called metals, dark tinctures called colours, nonstandard colours called stains, furs, and "proper". A charge tinctured proper is coloured as it would be...
s as prescribed by the German blazon. However, this blazon does not prescribe tinctures for the bishop’s staff, book (presumably a Bible) or skin. The first two have been rendered sable (black) and the last “proper” (that is, in natural colour), as this is likely what was intended.
The bishop who stands as the main charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
in these arms is Saint Lambert, to whom the village church, built in 1712 and 1713, is consecrated. The inescutcheon with the fess goes back to a seal used by the Schöffen (roughly “lay jurists”) until the late 18th century and thereby refers to Halsenbach’s history as the seat of the “Gallscheid Court”.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
Halsenbach
- Saint Lambert’s Church (Kirche St. Lambertus), Hinter dem Rathaus 1 – aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
, 1758-1759, architect A. Seiz, expansion 1835-1838, north side nave chapelChapelA chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
1896, reconstruction 1923, expansion 1960–62, architect O. Vogel, earlier building’s tower and portal, marked 1713; at the quire a BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
crucifix; whole complex of buildings with rectory - Ehrer Straße – graveyard; basaltBasaltBasalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...
cross, Baroque Body of ChristBody of ChristIn Christian theology, the term Body of Christ has two separate connotations: it may refer to Jesus's statement about the Eucharist at the Last Supper that "This is my body" in , or the explicit usage of the term by the Apostle Paul in to refer to the Christian Church.Although in general usage the...
; basalt grave cross, 1750 - At Hinter dem Rathaus 2 – wrought-ironWrought ironthumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
cross, 18th century - Hunsrückbahn (monumental zone) – section of the railway line built in 1906-1908, one of the Prussian State Railway’s steepest lines.
- On Kreisstraße (District Road) 110, northeast of the village – Dörther Brücke; three-arch sandstoneSandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
-block bridge, 1908
Ehr
- Im Hof 3 – timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
house, partly solid, 19th century, addition 19th century
Mermicherhof
- Railway bridge, on Kreisstraße 112 going towards KratzenburgKratzenburgKratzenburg is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
– stone bridge on the Hunsrückbahn
Transport
A good kilometre northeast of EmmelshausenEmmelshausen
Emmelshausen is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde, to which it also belongs...
, where the bypass road meets the old alignment of the Hunsrückhöhenstraße (“Hunsrück Heights Road”, a scenic road across the Hunsrück built originally as a military road on Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
’s orders), District Road K108 branches off to the northwest, leading to Halsenbach, Ney
Ney, Germany
Ney is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
and Dieler. In the village centre, District Road K110 coming from Ehr meets Hauptstraße (“Main Street”). To the south, through the Preisbach’s deep valley, cross-country paths lead to Liesenfeld and the Baunhöller Mühle (mill).
Established businesses
There are many businesses in the village. In the former factory spaces that once housed the musical instrument manufacturer WersiWersi
Wersi is a German manufacturer of electronic organs, keyboards and pianos. They were used by organists such as Franz Lambert and the late Klaus Wunderlich....
, several businesses are now housed.
Further reading
- Hendrik Kelzenberg: Das eisenzeitliche Gräberfeld von Halsenbach, Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (Bonner Beiträge zur Vor- und Frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie Band 3, hrsg. Helmuth Roth u. Hans-Eckart Joachim), Bonn 2004.