Wachenheim, Alzey-Worms
Encyclopedia
Wachenheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms
district in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
.
, a 42.7 km-long left-bank tributary to the Rhine. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Monsheim
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
. Wachenheim is nestled in the Zellertal valley region and to the west borders right on the Palatinate at neighbouring Niefernheim, an outlying centre of the municipality of Zellertal
. Running the length of the like-named valley is Bundesstraße
47.
Wachenheim is the eastern entrance to the Zellertal, and 1.5 km of the heavily used Bundesstraße 47 lies within the municipality’s limits. In 2006 the Ortsgemeinde and the Verbandsgemeinde strengthened their efforts to do something about the high traffic by working with higher authorities. After a traffic count in 2005, the number of vehicles passing on the B 47 in the Wachenheim area had been found to be roughly 7,000 in 24 hours on average.
finds in the Pfrimm valley show that the climatically favourable countryside was settled even in prehistory
.
Johannes Würth’s self-publication Heimatbuch für Wachenheim an der Pfrimm unter Berücksichtigung seiner Umgebung (1930) yields some information:
From the time about 2000 BC, some little pots together with a ring of baked clay of the crudest kind were found in a grave during clearing work on Sülzer Weg in 1896. Würth furthermore reports that finds from the New Stone Age (5000 to 2000 BC) in the western part of the Wormsgau were quite numerous.
Around the municipal areas of Wachenheim, Mölsheim and Monsheim, evidence of settlement from several prehistoric periods was found, including Hinkelstein
, Flomborn
, Hallstatt
and La Tène
.
villa
were thereby unearthed. The digs were documented with drawings and photographs. Unfortunately, the site was thereafter levelled and then used once again as a cropfield. Beginning in 1972, the land was built up. Only a street running parallel to Harxheimer Straße recalls the villa in its name – Römerstraße, or “Romans’ Street”.
In the summer of 1992, in a building excavation in this same area (Diehlgartenstraße), a millstone was brought to light along with some Roman potsherd
s. The State Office for Care of Monuments in Mainz describes the find as follows:
“The stone is made of a hard sandstone
and has a diameter of 82 cm, is 33 cm thick and weighs 355 kg. It belonged with a second stone, which has not been preserved, to a Roman gristmill
, which, owing to the stone’s size and weight was run by either a draught animal or waterpower.
“The lower millstone sat fast, the upper was turned, for which the two conical openings beside the hole in the millstone, the so-called swallowtail-shaped recesses, stone and wooden axle were bound tightly together by means of an iron plate of matching shape.
“Mills of this size were found in great Roman estate operations, which are known from many examples in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate, among others, also one in Wachenheim. They convey an impression of the capability of Roman technology
and likewise of Roman agriculture
from the first to fourth centuries AD.”
as Wacchanheim. It played a rôle as seat of the Landgericht auf dem Kaldenberg (a court).
Bishop Burchard
, builder of Worms Cathedral
, acknowledged in 1141 the income from fields and vineyards in the villa of Wachenheim, Mölsheim
and Flörsheim
that was owed the brethren of Saint Andrew’s Church Foundation (Andreasstift) in Worms
.
Beginning in the 12th century, the noble family Leiningen held the lordship and court rights over the Kalte(n) Berge by Wachenheim off der prym (“Cold Mountains near Wachenheim on the Pfrimm”).
On the occasion of Friedrich von Botzheim’s christening on 28 November 1766, King Frederick II of Prussia
and Crown Prince William
both stood godfather. The family von Botzheim, at this time holders of the so-called Wachenheimer Oberschloss (“Wachenheim Upper Castle”) were related to the highest Prussia
n nobility and the Prussian court.
With the 1815 Congress of Vienna
, Wachenheim passed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
, whereas its neighbours to the west in the Zeller valley (Niefernheim, Harxheim and Zell
) were annexed to the Kingdom of Bavaria
.
After 1919, Wachenheim became part of the People's State of Hesse (Province of Rhenish Hesse); the western part of the Zeller valley was assigned to Bavaria’s Palatine province. Sharp-eyed hikers in the Wachenheim municipal area can still discover a border stone with the abbreviations GH (for Großherzogtum Hessen) and KB (for Königreich Bayern) during their explorations.
of Rhineland-Palatinate
in 1946, the whole Zeller valley became part of the same state, although Wachenheim was assigned to the Regierungsbezirk
of Rheinhessen while the western Zeller valley was assigned to the Regierungsbezirk of Pfalz.
With administrative reform in 1972, both these Regierungsbezirke were united into the Regierungsbezirk of Rheinhessen-Pfalz
. However, even today, the Zeller valley is not quite united: Wachenheim and Mölsheim belonged until 1969 to the old Worms district, and thereafter to the Alzey-Worms
district and the newly founded administrative entity of the Verbandsgemeinde of Monsheim
, whereas the western Zeller valley was assigned to the Donnersbergkreis
(district) and the Verbandsgemeinde of Göllheim
.
making businesses whose main work lies in this pursuit, and four others who pursue it as a sideline. Moreover, there are still seven agricultural operations whose only work lies in this pursuit, with mixed structure, as well as a professional farm with nothing but cropraising. All together, field farming stretches across 311 ha, of which winegrowing takes up 80 ha.
Wachenheim’s inhabitants mainly earn their livings at jobs in the Worms area and the greater Ludwigshafen-Mannheim
-Heidelberg
area (Rhine-Neckar area), as well as in the Mainz
-Wiesbaden
area and on to Frankfurt am Main.
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
might be described thus: Or three quails sable.
Wachenheim’s arms are modelled on those borne by the local noble family Druschel von Wachenheim. Such arms are known to have been borne by this family as early as 1280. However, the three birds in those early arms were thrushes
, meant as a canting
charge
for the name Druschel, as “thrush” is Drossel in German
. The family Druschel von Wachenheim was a longtime resident noble family, but they eventually died out. The birds in the arms later became quail
s, which themselves are canting for the municipality’s name, Wachenheim, as “quail” is Wachtel in German.
The arms were granted Wachenheim on 12 December 1927.
. It is easy to tell the difference between a Wachenheimer’s dialect and that spoken by one from the neighbouring Palatine village of Niefernheim
, even though the two places are only just over a kilometre apart.
, where the Worms–Alzey and Monsheim–Grünstadt–Neustadt lines meet. The Zellertalbahn, the Monsheim–Wachenheim–Langmeil–Kaiserslautern railway line, was run on Sundays and holidays in the warmer months in 2006 by the promotional club Eistalbahn e.V. after regular traffic on the line ceased in the 1970s.
Given Wachenheim’s favourable location with regard to transport, on the one hand with the B 47 running through the municipality, and on the other with the Autobahn A 61
with its Worms-Pfeddersheim and Mörstadt interchange
s being nearby, makes it easy to reach. The district seat of Alzey
is 16 km away, and to Kirchheimbolanden
, seat of the neighbouring Donnersbergkreis
, it is likewise 16 km. To the centre of Worms
, it is 17 km.
In neighbouring Monsheim
to the east, the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
, Bundesstraße
n 47 and 271 cross each other, the latter of which, beginning in Bockenheim, is called the Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Route).
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 Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...
district 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...
.
Location
The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse on the river PfrimmPfrimm
The Pfrimm is a 42.7 km long, left or western tributary of the Rhine in the Rhineland-Palatinate .- Course :The Pfrimm rises in the southern part of the Donnersbergkreis. Its spring lies in the northern part of the Palatinate Forest Nature Park, about 3 km southeast of the municipality Sippersfeld...
, a 42.7 km-long left-bank tributary to the Rhine. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Monsheim
Monsheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Monsheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Monsheim....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Monsheim
Monsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
. Wachenheim is nestled in the Zellertal valley region and to the west borders right on the Palatinate at neighbouring Niefernheim, an outlying centre of the municipality of Zellertal
Zellertal
Zellertal is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The villages of Zell, Harxheim and Niefernheim form Zellertal.Zellertal is in the Palatinate wine region, bordering the Rhenish Hesse wine region.-Economy:...
. Running the length of the like-named valley is Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
47.
Wachenheim is the eastern entrance to the Zellertal, and 1.5 km of the heavily used Bundesstraße 47 lies within the municipality’s limits. In 2006 the Ortsgemeinde and the Verbandsgemeinde strengthened their efforts to do something about the high traffic by working with higher authorities. After a traffic count in 2005, the number of vehicles passing on the B 47 in the Wachenheim area had been found to be roughly 7,000 in 24 hours on average.
Prehistory
The many archaeologicalArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
finds in the Pfrimm valley show that the climatically favourable countryside was settled even in prehistory
Prehistory
Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...
.
Johannes Würth’s self-publication Heimatbuch für Wachenheim an der Pfrimm unter Berücksichtigung seiner Umgebung (1930) yields some information:
From the time about 2000 BC, some little pots together with a ring of baked clay of the crudest kind were found in a grave during clearing work on Sülzer Weg in 1896. Würth furthermore reports that finds from the New Stone Age (5000 to 2000 BC) in the western part of the Wormsgau were quite numerous.
Around the municipal areas of Wachenheim, Mölsheim and Monsheim, evidence of settlement from several prehistoric periods was found, including Hinkelstein
Hinkelstein culture
Die Hinkelstein culture is a Neolithic archaeological culture situated in Rhine-Main and Rhenish Hesse, Germany.It is a Megalithic culture, part of the wider Linear Pottery horizon, dating to approximately the 50th to 49th century BC....
, Flomborn
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 5500–4500 BC.It is abbreviated as LBK , is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Incised Ware culture, and falls within the Danubian I culture of V...
, Hallstatt
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Central European culture from the 8th to 6th centuries BC , developing out of the Urnfield culture of the 12th century BC and followed in much of Central Europe by the La Tène culture.By the 6th century BC, the Hallstatt culture extended for some...
and La Tène
La Tène culture
The La Tène culture was a European Iron Age culture named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland, where a rich cache of artifacts was discovered by Hansli Kopp in 1857....
.
Roman times
Uneven crop growth in 1905 led to digging in the area between Harxheimer Straße (Bundesstraße 47) and the river Pfrimm in the summer of 1905. Well preserved foundations of a RomanAncient 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....
villa
Villa rustica
Villa rustica was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a villa set in the open countryside, often as the hub of a large agricultural estate . The adjective rusticum was used to distinguish it from an urban or resort villa...
were thereby unearthed. The digs were documented with drawings and photographs. Unfortunately, the site was thereafter levelled and then used once again as a cropfield. Beginning in 1972, the land was built up. Only a street running parallel to Harxheimer Straße recalls the villa in its name – Römerstraße, or “Romans’ Street”.
In the summer of 1992, in a building excavation in this same area (Diehlgartenstraße), a millstone was brought to light along with some Roman potsherd
Sherd
In archaeology, a sherd is commonly a historic or prehistoric fragment of pottery, although the term is occasionally used to refer to fragments of stone and glass vessels as well....
s. The State Office for Care of Monuments in Mainz describes the find as follows:
“The stone is made of a hard sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone 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,...
and has a diameter of 82 cm, is 33 cm thick and weighs 355 kg. It belonged with a second stone, which has not been preserved, to a Roman gristmill
Gristmill
The terms gristmill or grist mill can refer either to a building in which grain is ground into flour, or to the grinding mechanism itself.- Early history :...
, which, owing to the stone’s size and weight was run by either a draught animal or waterpower.
“The lower millstone sat fast, the upper was turned, for which the two conical openings beside the hole in the millstone, the so-called swallowtail-shaped recesses, stone and wooden axle were bound tightly together by means of an iron plate of matching shape.
“Mills of this size were found in great Roman estate operations, which are known from many examples in Rhenish Hesse and the Palatinate, among others, also one in Wachenheim. They convey an impression of the capability of Roman technology
Roman technology
Roman technology is the engineering practice which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years....
and likewise of Roman agriculture
Roman agriculture
Agriculture in ancient Rome was not only a necessity, but was idealized among the social elite as a way of life. Cicero considered farming the best of all Roman occupations...
from the first to fourth centuries AD.”
Middle Ages
On 29 August 765, Wachenheim had its first documentary mention in a donation document from Lorsch AbbeyLorsch Abbey
The Abbey of Lorsch is a former Imperial Abbey in Lorsch, Germany, about 10 km east of Worms, one of the most renowned monasteries of the Carolingian Empire. Even in its ruined state, its remains are among the most important pre-Romanesque–Carolingian style buildings in Germany...
as Wacchanheim. It played a rôle as seat of the Landgericht auf dem Kaldenberg (a court).
Bishop Burchard
Burchard of Worms
Burchard of Worms was the Roman Catholic bishop of Worms in the Holy Roman Empire, and author of a Canon law collection in twenty books, the "Collectarium canonum" or "Decretum".-Life:...
, builder of Worms Cathedral
Worms Cathedral
Cathedral of St Peter is a church in Worms, southern Germany. It was the seat of the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Worms until its extinction in 1800.It is a basilica with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end...
, acknowledged in 1141 the income from fields and vineyards in the villa of Wachenheim, Mölsheim
Mölsheim
Mölsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
and Flörsheim
Flörsheim
Flörsheim am Main is a town in the Main-Taunus district, in Hesse, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the river Main, opposite Rüsselsheim, 12 km east of Mainz.-Neighbouring communities and counties:...
that was owed the brethren of Saint Andrew’s Church Foundation (Andreasstift) in Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
.
Beginning in the 12th century, the noble family Leiningen held the lordship and court rights over the Kalte(n) Berge by Wachenheim off der prym (“Cold Mountains near Wachenheim on the Pfrimm”).
Modern times
In 1689, as throughout the Palatinate and Rhenish Hesse, even Wachenheim was not spared the ravages of the Nine Years' War.On the occasion of Friedrich von Botzheim’s christening on 28 November 1766, King Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II of Prussia
Frederick II was a King in Prussia and a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was also Elector of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
and Crown Prince William
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
both stood godfather. The family von Botzheim, at this time holders of the so-called Wachenheimer Oberschloss (“Wachenheim Upper Castle”) were related to the highest 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...
n nobility and the Prussian court.
With the 1815 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,...
, Wachenheim passed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
, whereas its neighbours to the west in the Zeller valley (Niefernheim, Harxheim and Zell
Zellertal
Zellertal is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The villages of Zell, Harxheim and Niefernheim form Zellertal.Zellertal is in the Palatinate wine region, bordering the Rhenish Hesse wine region.-Economy:...
) were annexed to the Kingdom of Bavaria
Kingdom of Bavaria
The Kingdom of Bavaria was a German state that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Bavarian Elector Maximilian IV Joseph of the House of Wittelsbach became the first King of Bavaria in 1806 as Maximilian I Joseph. The monarchy would remain held by the Wittelsbachs until the kingdom's dissolution in 1918...
.
After 1919, Wachenheim became part of the People's State of Hesse (Province of Rhenish Hesse); the western part of the Zeller valley was assigned to Bavaria’s Palatine province. Sharp-eyed hikers in the Wachenheim municipal area can still discover a border stone with the abbreviations GH (for Großherzogtum Hessen) and KB (for Königreich Bayern) during their explorations.
Since the Second World War
With the founding of the stateStates 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 ....
in 1946, the whole Zeller valley became part of the same state, although Wachenheim was assigned to the Regierungsbezirk
Regierungsbezirk
In Germany, a Government District, in German: Regierungsbezirk – is a subdivision of certain federal states .They are above the Kreise, Landkreise, and kreisfreie Städte...
of Rheinhessen while the western Zeller valley was assigned to the Regierungsbezirk of Pfalz.
With administrative reform in 1972, both these Regierungsbezirke were united into the Regierungsbezirk of Rheinhessen-Pfalz
Rheinhessen-Pfalz
Rheinhessen-Pfalz was one of the three Regierungsbezirke of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located in the south of the state...
. However, even today, the Zeller valley is not quite united: Wachenheim and Mölsheim belonged until 1969 to the old Worms district, and thereafter to the Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms
Alzey-Worms is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the district Groß-Gerau , the city of Worms and the districts of Bad Dürkheim, Donnersbergkreis, Bad Kreuznach and Mainz-Bingen.- History :...
district and the newly founded administrative entity of the Verbandsgemeinde of Monsheim
Monsheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Monsheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Monsheim....
, whereas the western Zeller valley was assigned to the Donnersbergkreis
Donnersbergkreis
The Donnersbergkreis is a district in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel.-History:...
(district) and the Verbandsgemeinde of Göllheim
Göllheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Göllheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the Donnersbergkreis, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Göllheim....
.
Today
Wachenheim itself is still said to be a classic wine village with five wineWine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
making businesses whose main work lies in this pursuit, and four others who pursue it as a sideline. Moreover, there are still seven agricultural operations whose only work lies in this pursuit, with mixed structure, as well as a professional farm with nothing but cropraising. All together, field farming stretches across 311 ha, of which winegrowing takes up 80 ha.
Wachenheim’s inhabitants mainly earn their livings at jobs in the Worms area and the greater Ludwigshafen-Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
-Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
area (Rhine-Neckar area), as well as in the Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
-Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
area and on to Frankfurt am Main.
Population development
With the new development areas In den Bachstaden and Harxheimer Weg laid out between 1999 and 2003 and the filling in of a few gaps in the older development area Mühlbrunnen laid out between 1968 and 1970, a small rise in the population figure is foreseen.Municipal council
The council is made up of 12 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:
| SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany... |
FWG Free Voters Free Voters is a German concept in which an association of persons participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it is a locally organized group of voters in the form of a registered association . In most cases, Free Voters are active only at the... |
Total | |
| 1989 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 1994 | 5 | 7 | 12 |
| 1999 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 2004 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
| 2009 | 4 | 8 | 12 |
Mayors
- 1951 - 1979 Karl Würth
- 1979 - 1982 Willi Johannes (SPD)
- 1982 - 1984 Dieter Jürgen Günther
- 1984 - 1988 Jakob Becker (SPD)
- 1988 - 1992 Regina Johannes (SPD)
- 1992 - 1994 Karl Liesy (SPD)
- 1994 - 2004 Wolf Dieter Egli (FWG)
- 2004–present Dieter Heinz (FWG)
Coat of arms
The municipality’s armsCoat 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 be described thus: Or three quails sable.
Wachenheim’s arms are modelled on those borne by the local noble family Druschel von Wachenheim. Such arms are known to have been borne by this family as early as 1280. However, the three birds in those early arms were thrushes
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
, meant as a canting
Canting arms
Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name in a visual pun or rebus. The term cant came into the English language from Anglo-Norman cant, meaning song or singing, from Latin cantāre, and English cognates include canticle, chant, accent, incantation and recant.Canting arms –...
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...
for the name Druschel, as “thrush” is Drossel in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. The family Druschel von Wachenheim was a longtime resident noble family, but they eventually died out. The birds in the arms later became quail
Quail
Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...
s, which themselves are canting for the municipality’s name, Wachenheim, as “quail” is Wachtel in German.
The arms were granted Wachenheim on 12 December 1927.
Flag
Wachenheim’s flag, according to the certificate issued by the now abolished Regierungsbezirk administration is to be five horizontal stripes of like breadth, alternating between yellow and black with the municipality’s coat of arms in the middle.Local dialect
The local speech in Wachenheim is Rhenish-Hessian, but with a heavy admixture of Palatinate GermanPalatinate German
Palatine German is a West Franconian dialect of German which is spoken in the Rhine Valley roughly in an area between the cities of Zweibrücken, Kaiserslautern, Alzey, Worms, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Mannheim, Heidelberg, Speyer, Landau, Wörth am Rhein and the border to the Alsace region in France...
. It is easy to tell the difference between a Wachenheimer’s dialect and that spoken by one from the neighbouring Palatine village of Niefernheim
Zellertal
Zellertal is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.The villages of Zell, Harxheim and Niefernheim form Zellertal.Zellertal is in the Palatinate wine region, bordering the Rhenish Hesse wine region.-Economy:...
, even though the two places are only just over a kilometre apart.
Transport
The former railway station is three kilometres west of the Monsheim railway junctionJunction (rail)
A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge.This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes , 'points' and signalling.one or two tracks each meet at a junction, a fairly simple layout of tracks suffices to...
, where the Worms–Alzey and Monsheim–Grünstadt–Neustadt lines meet. The Zellertalbahn, the Monsheim–Wachenheim–Langmeil–Kaiserslautern railway line, was run on Sundays and holidays in the warmer months in 2006 by the promotional club Eistalbahn e.V. after regular traffic on the line ceased in the 1970s.
Given Wachenheim’s favourable location with regard to transport, on the one hand with the B 47 running through the municipality, and on the other with the Autobahn A 61
Bundesautobahn 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....
with its Worms-Pfeddersheim and Mörstadt interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...
s being nearby, makes it easy to reach. The district seat of Alzey
Alzey
Alzey is a Verband-free town – one belonging to no Verbandsgemeinde – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fourth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, and Bingen....
is 16 km away, and to Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden
Kirchheimbolanden, the capital of Donnersbergkreis, is a town in Rhineland-Palatinate, south-western Germany. It is situated approx. 25 km west of Worms, and 30 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. The first part of the name, Kirchheim, dates back to 774. It became a town in 1368, and the...
, seat of the neighbouring Donnersbergkreis
Donnersbergkreis
The Donnersbergkreis is a district in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Bad Kreuznach, Alzey-Worms, Bad Dürkheim, Kaiserslautern, Kusel.-History:...
, it is likewise 16 km. To the centre of Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
, it is 17 km.
In neighbouring Monsheim
Monsheim
Monsheim is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Location :...
to the east, the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde
Monsheim (Verbandsgemeinde)
Monsheim is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Monsheim....
, Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
n 47 and 271 cross each other, the latter of which, beginning in Bockenheim, is called the Deutsche Weinstraße (German Wine Route).