Nordenham
Encyclopedia
Nordenham is a town in the Wesermarsch
district, in Lower Saxony
, Germany
. It is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen
peninsula
on the coast of the North Sea
. The seaport city of Bremerhaven
is located on the other side (east bank) of the river. The Midgard-seaport in Nordenham is the largest private-owned harbor in Germany.
in the late 19th century. Some of the oldest parts of the modern town area are the old villages or Wurtendörfer (roughly translated as 'terp
villages') Blexen, Einswarden and Atens. Bishop Willehad, the Northumbria
n-born missionary of the Frisians, died in Blexen in the year 789, which is also commonly accepted to be the villages year of foundation. In 1407, the Vredeborch or Friedeburg (to be translated as "peace castle") was erected by the Hanseatic city of Bremen, a castle (although it was probably more a kind of large fortified house) to protect interests against the rebellious inhabitants, the Rüstringer Frisians
. The stronghold was destroyed in 1425 and it is possible that the site was later used by a monastery.
Nordenham's town founder Wilhelm Müller later built his farm house and a restaurant on the same site. In 1959 those were demolished and the still existing community hall was built there. The town hall was built in 1953 and moved into by the local authority in January 1954.
Between 1499-1514 the area was conquered by the Grand-Duchy of Oldenburg and in 1813 by the French emperor Napoleon, whose army shot ten local inhabitants at the church in Blexen.
On May 1, 1908 Nordenham was granted 2nd class town rights and since 1955 Nordenham is an independent town in the Wesermarsch district.
Due to government industrialisation programs in the 1960s and 1970s, various industries opened plants in Nordenham. Among others, the main industries are a nuclear power plant near Esenshamm, which politically belongs to the neighbouring borough of Stadland, airplane construction (Premium AEROTEC
) and chemical industry. On the Butjadingen peninsula outside Nordenham people do dairy farming or work in the tourism industry.
include:
and according to the following town's page,
at Blexen, though it has suffered from steady declines in passenger numbers ever since the Weser tunnel
some 10 km south of Nordenham opened.
The town is connected to the regional road network by Bundesstraße 212 which intersects with Bundesstraße 437 near the Weser tunnel, offering connections to the A 27
and A 28
motorways.
Nordenham can be reached by RegionalExpress
trains; Nordenham railway station
sees hourly trains to Bremen. It is expected that Nordenham will be integrated into the Bremen S-Bahn
network, which is currently believed to go operational by 2010.
", who grew up in Blexen but soon left town after school and supposedly never returned for a visit after his remarkable breakthrough as a magician. In the IMAX
movie "Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box" (1999) his youth in Blexen was shortly mentioned, but the shown landscape there does not bear any resemblance to the real landscape.
Wesermarsch
Wesermarsch is a Kreis in the northwestern part of Lower Saxony, Germany. Neighboring are the districts of Cuxhaven and Osterholz, the city of Bremen in the state of Bremen, the urban district of Delmenhorst, the district of Oldenburg and the urban district of Oldenburg, and the districts of ...
district, in Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony is a German state situated in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the sixteen states of Germany...
, 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 is located at the mouth (on the west bank) of the Weser river on the Butjadingen
Butjadingen
Butjadingen is a peninsula and municipality in the Wesermarsch districts, in Lower Saxony, Germany.-Geography:Butjadingen is situated on the German North Sea coast. It is bordered on the west and southwest by the Jade River and on the east by the Weser River. It forms the northern part of the...
peninsula
Peninsula
A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....
on the coast of the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. The seaport city of Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
is located on the other side (east bank) of the river. The Midgard-seaport in Nordenham is the largest private-owned harbor in Germany.
History
Nordenham developed after the efforts by a merchant called Wilhelm Müller who traded cattle and sheep to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the late 19th century. Some of the oldest parts of the modern town area are the old villages or Wurtendörfer (roughly translated as 'terp
Artificial dwelling hill
An artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....
villages') Blexen, Einswarden and Atens. Bishop Willehad, the Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
n-born missionary of the Frisians, died in Blexen in the year 789, which is also commonly accepted to be the villages year of foundation. In 1407, the Vredeborch or Friedeburg (to be translated as "peace castle") was erected by the Hanseatic city of Bremen, a castle (although it was probably more a kind of large fortified house) to protect interests against the rebellious inhabitants, the Rüstringer Frisians
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal parts of the Netherlands and Germany. They are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, East Frisia and North Frisia, that was a part of Denmark until 1864. They inhabit an area known as Frisia...
. The stronghold was destroyed in 1425 and it is possible that the site was later used by a monastery.
Between 1499-1514 the area was conquered by the Grand-Duchy of Oldenburg and in 1813 by the French emperor Napoleon, whose army shot ten local inhabitants at the church in Blexen.
On May 1, 1908 Nordenham was granted 2nd class town rights and since 1955 Nordenham is an independent town in the Wesermarsch district.
Due to government industrialisation programs in the 1960s and 1970s, various industries opened plants in Nordenham. Among others, the main industries are a nuclear power plant near Esenshamm, which politically belongs to the neighbouring borough of Stadland, airplane construction (Premium AEROTEC
Premium AEROTEC
Premium AEROTEC is an aerospace manufacturing business, headquartered in Augsburg in Germany. It is a subsidiary of EADS.-History:Premium AEROTEC started as a division of EADS; it was spun off as a wholly owned subsidiary in September 2008....
) and chemical industry. On the Butjadingen peninsula outside Nordenham people do dairy farming or work in the tourism industry.
Town twinning
Nordenham's twin citiesTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
include:
- PeterleePeterleePeterlee is a new town in County Durham, England. Founded in 1948, Peterlee town originally mostly housed coal miners and their families.Peterlee has strong economic and community ties with Sunderland and Hartlepool.-Peterlee:...
, County DurhamCounty DurhamCounty Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
(United Kingdom), since 1981 - ŚwinoujścieSwinoujscieŚwinoujście is a city and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, located in the extreme north-west of Poland. It is situated mainly on the islands of Uznam and Wolin, but also occupies smaller islands, of which the largest is Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by a Piast...
(Poland), since 1992
and according to the following town's page,
- Saint-Étienne-du-RouvraySaint-Étienne-du-Rouvray-Population:-Twin towns:Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray is twinned with Nordenham , Nova Kakhovka , and Gateshead, Tyne and Wear .-Places of interest:* The sixteenth century church of St.Étienne.* The church of St...
(France)
Transport
Due to the town's location, transport connections are below par. There is a ferry to BremerhavenBremerhaven
Bremerhaven is a city at the seaport of the free city-state of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms an enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham...
at Blexen, though it has suffered from steady declines in passenger numbers ever since the Weser tunnel
Weser tunnel
The Weser Tunnel crosses the river Weser in northwestern Germany between the villages of Rodenkirchen and Dedesdorf, offering a connection between the cities of Nordenham and Bremerhaven on a regional level....
some 10 km south of Nordenham opened.
The town is connected to the regional road network by Bundesstraße 212 which intersects with Bundesstraße 437 near the Weser tunnel, offering connections to the A 27
Bundesautobahn 27
branches off the A 7 at Autobahndreieck Walsrode to the northwest, crossing A 1 at the Bremer Kreuz and continuing eastwards of Bremen, toward Cuxhaven....
and A 28
Bundesautobahn 28
is an autobahn in northwestern Germany, connecting the cities of Leer and Oldenburg with via Bremen. Originally ending near the city of Delmenhorst, an extension connecting the A 28 to the A 1 has been finished in 2009.- Exit list :...
motorways.
Nordenham can be reached by RegionalExpress
RegionalExpress
The term Regional-Express denotes a type of regional train in Germany and Austria .It is best compared to a semi-fast train, as it calls at fewer stations than Regionalbahn or S-Bahn trains, but stops more often than InterCity services...
trains; Nordenham railway station
Nordenham railway station
Nordenham is the name of a railway station serving the town of Nordenham in the German state of Lower Saxony.The station is situated close to the Weser estuary, being the terminus for passenger traffic on the Nordenham to Bremen railway line....
sees hourly trains to Bremen. It is expected that Nordenham will be integrated into the Bremen S-Bahn
Bremen S-Bahn
The Bremen S-Bahn is an S-Bahn network in Germany, covering the Bremen/Oldenburg Metropolitan Region, from Bremerhaven in the north to Twistringen in the south and Bad Zwischenahn and Oldenburg in the west. It has been in operation since 2010...
network, which is currently believed to go operational by 2010.
Sons of the city
The city's most famous son is Roy Horn of "Siegfried & RoySiegfried & Roy
Siegfried & Roy are two German-American former entertainers who became known for their appearances with white lions and white tigers....
", who grew up in Blexen but soon left town after school and supposedly never returned for a visit after his remarkable breakthrough as a magician. In the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
movie "Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box" (1999) his youth in Blexen was shortly mentioned, but the shown landscape there does not bear any resemblance to the real landscape.
External links
- Official Website of the town
- Tourist Website of the town (with English translation of menus)