Lübbecke
Encyclopedia
Lübbecke (ˈlʏbɛkə; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
district of Minden-Lübbecke
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
.
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
. In the geest
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
, the Wurzelbrink
and the Kniebrink
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
, the Heidkopf
and the Meesenkopf
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
period i.e. sand
, gravel
, loess
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
period, such as sandstone
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
s (see the accompanying map).
The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
attacked a Frankish
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
under their duke, Widukind
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the Prussia
n government arranged the division of the marks
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
to standard gauge
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.
Lübbecke (ˈlʏbɛkə; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
district of Minden-Lübbecke
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
.
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
. In the geest
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
, the Wurzelbrink
and the Kniebrink
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
, the Heidkopf
and the Meesenkopf
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
period i.e. sand
, gravel
, loess
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
period, such as sandstone
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
s (see the accompanying map).
The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
The settlement of Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek in the Frankish imperial annals. At that time Saxony
attacked a Frankish
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
under their duke, Widukind
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the Prussia
n government arranged the division of the marks
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
to standard gauge
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.
Lübbecke (ˈlʏbɛkə; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
district of Minden-Lübbecke
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
.
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
. In the geest
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
, the Wurzelbrink
and the Kniebrink
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
, the Heidkopf
and the Meesenkopf
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
period i.e. sand
, gravel
, loess
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
period, such as sandstone
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
s (see the accompanying map).
The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
The settlement of Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek in the Frankish imperial annals. At that time Saxony
attacked a Frankish
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
under their duke, Widukind
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the Prussia
n government arranged the division of the marks
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
to standard gauge
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
Ostwestfalen-Lippe
Ostwestfalen-Lippe , abbreviation OWL, is a region in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a 2,000-years-old history and culture. Ostwestfalen-Lippe is the eastern part of the region of Westphalia, joined with the Lippe region. Translated to English, the name would be East...
district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
Geography
Lübbecke is situated just north of the Wiehen Hills, approx. 20 km (12.4 mi) north of HerfordHerford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
.
Location
Lübbecke is located in northeast North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
Minden Land
Minden Land is a cultural landscape in East Westphalia, the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It covers the four fifths of the district of Minden-Lübbecke that lie on the North German Plain and is clearly bounded to the south by the Weser Hills and Wiehen Hills, where it...
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
North German plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain...
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
Midland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connection...
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
Großes Torfmoor
The Großes Torfmoor is a raised peat bog or moor located in the northeast of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany south of the Mittelland Canal. It is between the town of Lübbecke and the community of Hille...
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
Rahden-Diepenau Geest
The Rahden-Diepenau Geest is a natural region in the extreme northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia and in the neighbouring state of Lower Saxony in north Germany...
. In the geest
Geest (topography)
Geest is a type of slightly raised landscape that occurs in the plains of in Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils, usually mantled by a heathland vegetation, comprising glacial deposits left behind after the last ice age during the...
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
Alswede
Alswede is a village in the East Westphalian borough of Lübbecke in Minden-Lübbecke district in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.- Politics :* The parish chair of Alswede is Günther Vullriede.* The local historian is Helmut Woelk....
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
Heidbrink
The Heidbrink is a hill which lies south of Lübbecke in central Germany and, at , is the highest peak in the Wiehen Hills. It is also the highest elevation in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
, the Wurzelbrink
Wurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
and the Kniebrink
Kniebrink
The Kniebrink, at , is the third highest mountain in the northern German Wiehen Hills. Its immediate summit belongs administratively to the village of Oberbauerschaft in the municipality of Hüllhorst...
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
Reineberg
The Reineberg is a hill on the Wiehen ridge, south of the town of Lübbecke. With a height of 275.9 m above sea level it is, from a topographical point of view, not a particularly impressive eminence in this part of the Wiehen Hills, because, in the immediate vicinity are considerably higher...
, the Heidkopf
Heidkopf (Wiehen Hills)
The Heidkopf is a high hill in the Wiehen in Minden-Lübbecke district within the borough of Lübbecke. It lies one kilometre north of the Heidbrink and 500 metres northeast of the Reineberg....
and the Meesenkopf
Meesenkopf
The Meesenkopf, also called the Mesenkopf, is a hill in the Wiehen range, south of the town of Lübbecke in Northern Germany. Whilst not particularly prominent, the hill is historically significant as the site of a medieval castle....
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
Waterbodies
Because the watershed of the Wiehen Hills forms the southern boundary of the borough, almost the entire territory of Lübbecke is drained towards the north. Only the few hectares of land on the southern slopes of the WurzelbrinkWurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
Ronceva
The Ronceva is a stream that flows through the East Westphalian town of Lübbecke.- Course :The source of the Ronceva lies at in the Wiehen between the hills of Heidbrink and Horsts Höhe at the lower end of the Mensinger Ravine. It flows initially to the east of the B 239 federal road on its way...
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
Große Aue
The Große Aue is an long, southwestern, left tributary of the River Weser in northern North Rhine-Westphalia and central Lower Saxony in Germany.- Course :...
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
Geology and natural resources
Geologically, the surface is mainly covered with unconsolidated rock of the QuaternaryQuaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
period i.e. sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
, gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period, such as 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,...
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
Heat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
s (see the accompanying map).
Extent and land usage
The borough has a total area of 65 km², with a maximum west-east extent of 13 km and north-south extent of around 9 km.The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
| Area by land use type |
Agricultural terrain |
Forested terrain |
Settlements and transport routes |
Water- bodies |
Special usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area in ha Hectare The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2... |
3,408 | 1,316 | 1,441 | 98 | 241 |
| Proportion of total area | 52.4 % | 22.2 % | 20.2% | 1.5 % | 3.7 % |
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
Lübbecke Loessland
The Lübbecke Loessland is a natural region that is mainly situated in northeastern North Rhine-Westphalia but with a small area also lying in the western part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a belt of land, covered by loess, about 2 to 5 km wide and around 35 km long, that lies just north of the...
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
Soil quality
The proposed a definition, stating that ' is an account of the soil’s ability to provide ecosystem and social services through its capacities to perform its functions under changing conditions...
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood is a woodland area that lies mainly on the territory of the borough of Preußisch Oldendorf in the North German county of Minden-Lübbecke. Within the wood the terrain is almost entirely level, lying between 50 and 52 metres above sea level . A negligible piece of woodland in...
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
Neighbouring municipalities
- HüllhorstHüllhorstHüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
- EspelkampEspelkampEspelkamp is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Espelkamp is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of Lübbecke and 20 kilometers north-west of Minden.-Neighbouring places:-Division of the town:...
- Preußisch OldendorfPreußisch OldendorfPreußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
- HilleHilleHille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
- PetershagenPetershagenPetershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Petershagen is situated on the river Weser, approx...
Division of the borough
According to §3 of the main by-law the territory of the borough of Lübbecke is amongst the following districts (population in brackets as at 31 December 2007):- Lübbecke (town) (15,682 inhabitants)
- Alswede (1,068 inhabitants)
- Blasheim (1,491 inhabitants)
- Eilhausen (773 inhabitants)
- Gehlenbeck (3,279 inhabitants)
- Nettelstedt (2,725 inhabitants)
- Obermehnen (1,377 inhabitants)
- Stockhausen (779 inhabitants)
Climate
The climate in Lübbecke is dictated by its location in the maritime-continental transition region of Central EuropeCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
Windward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
History
The settlement of Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek in the Frankish imperial annals. At that time SaxonySaxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
attacked a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
Angrivarii
The Angrivarii were a Germanic tribe of the early Roman Empire mentioned briefly in Ptolemy as the Angriouarroi , which transliterates into Latin Angrivari. They are believed to be the source of the 8th century identity, Angrarii, which was one of three subdivisions of Saxony...
under their duke, Widukind
Widukind
Widukind was a pagan Saxon leader and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. Widukind was the leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne...
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
Canonical
Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. At 357 km², it is the 9th largest settlement in Germany by area , though only about 45,000 inhabitants live there...
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church, Lübbecke
The present-day Evangelical-Lutheran parish church of St. Andrew in Lübbecke is one of the ancient parishes of the Bishopric of Minden.- Construction history :...
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
Franz von Waldeck
Count Franz von Waldeck , was Prince-Bishop of Münster, Osnabrück, and Minden and a leading figure in putting down the Münster Rebellion....
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
Bishopric of Minden
The Bishopric of Minden was a Roman Catholic diocese and a state, Prince-bishopric of Minden , of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Minden which is in modern day Germany.-History:...
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the 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 government arranged the division of the marks
Agrarian reform
Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
Proto-industrialization
Proto-industrialisation is a phase in the development of modern industrial economies that preceded, and created conditions for, the establishment of fully industrial societies...
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
Cologne-Minden trunk line
The Cologne-Minden trunk line is a railway built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company . The line is the westernmost part of the railway line from Berlin to the Rhine that was proposed by Friedrich List in his Concept for a railway network in Germany, published in 1833...
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
Hille
Hille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.
Lübbecke (ˈlʏbɛkə; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
Ostwestfalen-Lippe
Ostwestfalen-Lippe , abbreviation OWL, is a region in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a 2,000-years-old history and culture. Ostwestfalen-Lippe is the eastern part of the region of Westphalia, joined with the Lippe region. Translated to English, the name would be East...
district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
Geography
Lübbecke is situated just north of the Wiehen Hills, approx. 20 km (12.4 mi) north of HerfordHerford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
.
Location
Lübbecke is located in northeast North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
Minden Land
Minden Land is a cultural landscape in East Westphalia, the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It covers the four fifths of the district of Minden-Lübbecke that lie on the North German Plain and is clearly bounded to the south by the Weser Hills and Wiehen Hills, where it...
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
North German plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain...
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
Midland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connection...
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
Großes Torfmoor
The Großes Torfmoor is a raised peat bog or moor located in the northeast of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany south of the Mittelland Canal. It is between the town of Lübbecke and the community of Hille...
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
Rahden-Diepenau Geest
The Rahden-Diepenau Geest is a natural region in the extreme northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia and in the neighbouring state of Lower Saxony in north Germany...
. In the geest
Geest (topography)
Geest is a type of slightly raised landscape that occurs in the plains of in Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils, usually mantled by a heathland vegetation, comprising glacial deposits left behind after the last ice age during the...
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
Alswede
Alswede is a village in the East Westphalian borough of Lübbecke in Minden-Lübbecke district in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.- Politics :* The parish chair of Alswede is Günther Vullriede.* The local historian is Helmut Woelk....
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
Heidbrink
The Heidbrink is a hill which lies south of Lübbecke in central Germany and, at , is the highest peak in the Wiehen Hills. It is also the highest elevation in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
, the Wurzelbrink
Wurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
and the Kniebrink
Kniebrink
The Kniebrink, at , is the third highest mountain in the northern German Wiehen Hills. Its immediate summit belongs administratively to the village of Oberbauerschaft in the municipality of Hüllhorst...
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
Reineberg
The Reineberg is a hill on the Wiehen ridge, south of the town of Lübbecke. With a height of 275.9 m above sea level it is, from a topographical point of view, not a particularly impressive eminence in this part of the Wiehen Hills, because, in the immediate vicinity are considerably higher...
, the Heidkopf
Heidkopf (Wiehen Hills)
The Heidkopf is a high hill in the Wiehen in Minden-Lübbecke district within the borough of Lübbecke. It lies one kilometre north of the Heidbrink and 500 metres northeast of the Reineberg....
and the Meesenkopf
Meesenkopf
The Meesenkopf, also called the Mesenkopf, is a hill in the Wiehen range, south of the town of Lübbecke in Northern Germany. Whilst not particularly prominent, the hill is historically significant as the site of a medieval castle....
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
Waterbodies
Because the watershed of the Wiehen Hills forms the southern boundary of the borough, almost the entire territory of Lübbecke is drained towards the north. Only the few hectares of land on the southern slopes of the WurzelbrinkWurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
Ronceva
The Ronceva is a stream that flows through the East Westphalian town of Lübbecke.- Course :The source of the Ronceva lies at in the Wiehen between the hills of Heidbrink and Horsts Höhe at the lower end of the Mensinger Ravine. It flows initially to the east of the B 239 federal road on its way...
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
Große Aue
The Große Aue is an long, southwestern, left tributary of the River Weser in northern North Rhine-Westphalia and central Lower Saxony in Germany.- Course :...
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
Geology and natural resources
Geologically, the surface is mainly covered with unconsolidated rock of the QuaternaryQuaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
period i.e. sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
, gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period, such as 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,...
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
Heat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
s (see the accompanying map).
Extent and land usage
The borough has a total area of 65 km², with a maximum west-east extent of 13 km and north-south extent of around 9 km.The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
| Area by land use type |
Agricultural terrain |
Forested terrain |
Settlements and transport routes |
Water- bodies |
Special usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area in ha Hectare The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2... |
3,408 | 1,316 | 1,441 | 98 | 241 |
| Proportion of total area | 52.4 % | 22.2 % | 20.2% | 1.5 % | 3.7 % |
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
Lübbecke Loessland
The Lübbecke Loessland is a natural region that is mainly situated in northeastern North Rhine-Westphalia but with a small area also lying in the western part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a belt of land, covered by loess, about 2 to 5 km wide and around 35 km long, that lies just north of the...
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
Soil quality
The proposed a definition, stating that ' is an account of the soil’s ability to provide ecosystem and social services through its capacities to perform its functions under changing conditions...
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood is a woodland area that lies mainly on the territory of the borough of Preußisch Oldendorf in the North German county of Minden-Lübbecke. Within the wood the terrain is almost entirely level, lying between 50 and 52 metres above sea level . A negligible piece of woodland in...
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
Neighbouring municipalities
- HüllhorstHüllhorstHüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
- EspelkampEspelkampEspelkamp is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Espelkamp is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of Lübbecke and 20 kilometers north-west of Minden.-Neighbouring places:-Division of the town:...
- Preußisch OldendorfPreußisch OldendorfPreußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
- HilleHilleHille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
- PetershagenPetershagenPetershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Petershagen is situated on the river Weser, approx...
Division of the borough
According to §3 of the main by-law the territory of the borough of Lübbecke is amongst the following districts (population in brackets as at 31 December 2007):- Lübbecke (town) (15,682 inhabitants)
- Alswede (1,068 inhabitants)
- Blasheim (1,491 inhabitants)
- Eilhausen (773 inhabitants)
- Gehlenbeck (3,279 inhabitants)
- Nettelstedt (2,725 inhabitants)
- Obermehnen (1,377 inhabitants)
- Stockhausen (779 inhabitants)
Climate
The climate in Lübbecke is dictated by its location in the maritime-continental transition region of Central EuropeCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
Windward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
History
The settlement of Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek in the Frankish imperial annals. At that time Saxony
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
attacked a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
Angrivarii
The Angrivarii were a Germanic tribe of the early Roman Empire mentioned briefly in Ptolemy as the Angriouarroi , which transliterates into Latin Angrivari. They are believed to be the source of the 8th century identity, Angrarii, which was one of three subdivisions of Saxony...
under their duke, Widukind
Widukind
Widukind was a pagan Saxon leader and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. Widukind was the leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne...
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
Canonical
Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. At 357 km², it is the 9th largest settlement in Germany by area , though only about 45,000 inhabitants live there...
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church, Lübbecke
The present-day Evangelical-Lutheran parish church of St. Andrew in Lübbecke is one of the ancient parishes of the Bishopric of Minden.- Construction history :...
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
Franz von Waldeck
Count Franz von Waldeck , was Prince-Bishop of Münster, Osnabrück, and Minden and a leading figure in putting down the Münster Rebellion....
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
Bishopric of Minden
The Bishopric of Minden was a Roman Catholic diocese and a state, Prince-bishopric of Minden , of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Minden which is in modern day Germany.-History:...
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the 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 government arranged the division of the marks
Agrarian reform
Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
Proto-industrialization
Proto-industrialisation is a phase in the development of modern industrial economies that preceded, and created conditions for, the establishment of fully industrial societies...
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
Cologne-Minden trunk line
The Cologne-Minden trunk line is a railway built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company . The line is the westernmost part of the railway line from Berlin to the Rhine that was proposed by Friedrich List in his Concept for a railway network in Germany, published in 1833...
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
Hille
Hille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.
Lübbecke (ˈlʏbɛkə; ) is a town in northeast North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
in north Germany. This former county town lies on the northern slopes of the Wiehen Hills (Wiehengebirge) and has around 26,000 inhabitants. The town is in the Eastwestphalian
Ostwestfalen-Lippe
Ostwestfalen-Lippe , abbreviation OWL, is a region in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a 2,000-years-old history and culture. Ostwestfalen-Lippe is the eastern part of the region of Westphalia, joined with the Lippe region. Translated to English, the name would be East...
district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
(in the Regierungsbezirk of Detmold). Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek and was given town rights in 1279.
Geography
Lübbecke is situated just north of the Wiehen Hills, approx. 20 km (12.4 mi) north of HerfordHerford
Herford is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the lowlands between the hill chains of the Wiehen Hills and the Teutoburg Forest. It is the capital of the district of Herford.- Geographic location :...
and 20 km (12.4 mi) west of Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
.
Location
Lübbecke is located in northeast North Rhine-WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
, north of East Westphalia-Lippe (Ostwestfalen-Lippe), in the southwestern part of the district of Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke
Minden-Lübbecke is a Kreis in the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Diepholz, Nienburg, Schaumburg, Lippe, Herford, Osnabrück.-Geography:...
. From a landscape perspective, the town lies in the west of the Minden Land
Minden Land
Minden Land is a cultural landscape in East Westphalia, the northeastern part of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It covers the four fifths of the district of Minden-Lübbecke that lie on the North German Plain and is clearly bounded to the south by the Weser Hills and Wiehen Hills, where it...
. Geographically, most of the built-up area is on the North German Plain
North German plain
The North German Plain or Northern Lowland is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain...
. Only its southern suburbs lie on the northern slope of the Wiehen Hills, whose crest that marks the southern boundary of the borough. The town itself lies on the edge of the hills, whils the rest of the borough is more rural in character. The northern boundary of the borough is defined by the Midland Canal
Midland Canal
The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of that country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connection...
(Mittelland Canal). In the northeast of the borough is the Großes Torfmoor
Großes Torfmoor
The Großes Torfmoor is a raised peat bog or moor located in the northeast of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany south of the Mittelland Canal. It is between the town of Lübbecke and the community of Hille...
which, together with the Oppenweher Moor, is the largest moor in Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
. Between the wet lowlands south of the Mittelland Canal, the glacial valley of the River Weser and the higher ground is a narrow fringe of fertile loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
soils at the foot of the Wiehen Hills called the Lübbecker Lößland. The far north of the area is part of the Rahden-Diepenau Geest
Rahden-Diepenau Geest
The Rahden-Diepenau Geest is a natural region in the extreme northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia and in the neighbouring state of Lower Saxony in north Germany...
. In the geest
Geest (topography)
Geest is a type of slightly raised landscape that occurs in the plains of in Northern Germany, the Northern Netherlands and Denmark. It is a landscape of sandy and gravelly soils, usually mantled by a heathland vegetation, comprising glacial deposits left behind after the last ice age during the...
there are only are the villages of Stockhausen and Alswede
Alswede
Alswede is a village in the East Westphalian borough of Lübbecke in Minden-Lübbecke district in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.- Politics :* The parish chair of Alswede is Günther Vullriede.* The local historian is Helmut Woelk....
and part of Lübbecke industrial estate.
The highest hills in Lübbecke's territory are the Heidbrink
Heidbrink
The Heidbrink is a hill which lies south of Lübbecke in central Germany and, at , is the highest peak in the Wiehen Hills. It is also the highest elevation in the district of Minden-Lübbecke in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
, the Wurzelbrink
Wurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
and the Kniebrink
Kniebrink
The Kniebrink, at , is the third highest mountain in the northern German Wiehen Hills. Its immediate summit belongs administratively to the village of Oberbauerschaft in the municipality of Hüllhorst...
. Next to the town itself is the Reineberg
Reineberg
The Reineberg is a hill on the Wiehen ridge, south of the town of Lübbecke. With a height of 275.9 m above sea level it is, from a topographical point of view, not a particularly impressive eminence in this part of the Wiehen Hills, because, in the immediate vicinity are considerably higher...
, the Heidkopf
Heidkopf (Wiehen Hills)
The Heidkopf is a high hill in the Wiehen in Minden-Lübbecke district within the borough of Lübbecke. It lies one kilometre north of the Heidbrink and 500 metres northeast of the Reineberg....
and the Meesenkopf
Meesenkopf
The Meesenkopf, also called the Mesenkopf, is a hill in the Wiehen range, south of the town of Lübbecke in Northern Germany. Whilst not particularly prominent, the hill is historically significant as the site of a medieval castle....
. The hills in the south of the borough are the highest in the whole of the Wiehen ridge. In the north the land only attains a height of about . The lowest point is about .
Waterbodies
Because the watershed of the Wiehen Hills forms the southern boundary of the borough, almost the entire territory of Lübbecke is drained towards the north. Only the few hectares of land on the southern slopes of the WurzelbrinkWurzelbrink
The Wurzelbrink is a hill south of Lübbecke which, at , is the second highest peak in the Wiehen Hills in north Germany. Immediately to the south is the no less majestic Kniebrink...
drain towards the south. The Ronceva
Ronceva
The Ronceva is a stream that flows through the East Westphalian town of Lübbecke.- Course :The source of the Ronceva lies at in the Wiehen between the hills of Heidbrink and Horsts Höhe at the lower end of the Mensinger Ravine. It flows initially to the east of the B 239 federal road on its way...
river flows through the town itself (mostly through pipes) and via the rivers Flöthe and Große Aue
Große Aue
The Große Aue is an long, southwestern, left tributary of the River Weser in northern North Rhine-Westphalia and central Lower Saxony in Germany.- Course :...
to the Weser. The Weser does not cross the borough, however, and even the Große Aue only enters it in the extreme west. The marketed "mountain spring water" (Gebirgsquellwasser) is still of great importance for the breweries in Lübbecke.
The borough of Lübbecke does not have many natural lakes. Both the river channels and the lakes and ponds in the moor are man-made. The largest bodies of water are the Mittelland Canal, with about 50 ha of water surface in Lübbecke's territory, and an unnamed lake in the moor area, which has a contiguous water area of about 9 ha. All other bodies of water have areas under 1 ha. A total of 1.5% of the borough's area (98.2 ha) is covered by water.
Geology and natural resources
Geologically, the surface is mainly covered with unconsolidated rock of the QuaternaryQuaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
period i.e. sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
, gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
, loess
Loess
Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...
and glacial till, predominantly from the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
epoch. In the Wiehen Hills rocks of the Jurassic
Jurassic
The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about Mya to Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by...
period, such as 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,...
, also occur on the surface.
Of particular importance, today as in the past, is the recovery of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
for use as ballast for buildings and roads, and there is a large working quarry in the Wiehen Hills, south of Nettelstedt, where rock is broken and crushed. Numerous small quarries in the Wiehen show that there is a long mining tradition in Lübbecke. Ore appears to have been mined in the hills here for centuries; at Horst Hill there is an old mine gallery. Until the mid 20th century peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
was harvested in the Großer Torfmoor, mainly for use in domestic fireplaces. Old transport systems (using tipplers) still existed until a few years ago, when production stopped due to the exhaustion of the deposits and for reasons of nature conservation.
Despite the steep natural gradients, water power cannot be used today because the small catchment area of the mountain streams only delivers small quantities of water. In the past, several water mills worked in the borough. There is a water wheel at the foot of the Wurzelbrink in the village of Eilhausen that can be visited. The use of wind power
Wind power
Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as using wind turbines to make electricity, windmills for mechanical power, windpumps for water pumping or drainage, or sails to propel ships....
as a natural resource has recently received a boost. Windmills in places such as Eilhausen show that this energy source has been used since ancient times. The borough's location on the North German Plain favours the use of wind generators, although they are still less cost-effective than other energy generators.
Lübbecke is rated almost everywhere as good to very good in terms of its use of geothermal heat sources, especially borehole heat exchangers, and heat production using heat pump
Heat pump
A heat pump is a machine or device that effectively "moves" thermal energy from one location called the "source," which is at a lower temperature, to another location called the "sink" or "heat sink", which is at a higher temperature. An air conditioner is a particular type of heat pump, but the...
s (see the accompanying map).
Extent and land usage
The borough has a total area of 65 km², with a maximum west-east extent of 13 km and north-south extent of around 9 km.The borough is predominantly used for agricultural purposes and is thus very rural. In general, only the Wiehen Hills are forested. The following table gives an overview of its land usage:
| Area by land use type |
Agricultural terrain |
Forested terrain |
Settlements and transport routes |
Water- bodies |
Special usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area in ha Hectare The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2... |
3,408 | 1,316 | 1,441 | 98 | 241 |
| Proportion of total area | 52.4 % | 22.2 % | 20.2% | 1.5 % | 3.7 % |
Source: LDS
The most densely populated areas are the fertile foothills, known as the Lübbecke Loessland
Lübbecke Loessland
The Lübbecke Loessland is a natural region that is mainly situated in northeastern North Rhine-Westphalia but with a small area also lying in the western part of Lower Saxony in Germany. It is a belt of land, covered by loess, about 2 to 5 km wide and around 35 km long, that lies just north of the...
(Lübbecker Lößland); this is where almost all the villages are found. The average population density here is 600-1000 inhabitants/km². The lowlands south of the canal, apart from Lübbecke's industrial area, are very sparsely populated. The Wiehen Hills themselves are unpopulated as is the Großer Torfmoor.
The most densely populated district is the town of Lübbecke itself: with some 800 inhabitants per km², its population density is twice as high as in the whole borough. With an average of 250 inhabitants per square km, the other parts of the borough are comparatively thinly populated.
The percentage of agricultural land is lower than in the rest of the district (66%), but slightly above the national average (49.7%). The Lübbecke Loess Land is very fertile. The soil quality
Soil quality
The proposed a definition, stating that ' is an account of the soil’s ability to provide ecosystem and social services through its capacities to perform its functions under changing conditions...
here is 75. As a result, this good soil, where the villages have given it space, is used mainly for agriculture. The cultivation of cereals of all kinds as well as of root crops brings in high yields. There are also scattered fruit orchards. Amongst the special crops grown here, asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
and strawberries in the north of the borough are worth mentioning. There are only occasional pastures in the vicinity of the hill forests or in along the few meandering streams. As one travels further north, especially north-east towards the peat moors, the proportion of grassland steadily increases as the soil becomes poorer and wetter to the peat bog. East of the industrial area, meadows and pastures take up almost the entire land area. In some places the frugal green maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
crop still grows albeit requiring heavy supplies of manure. Within the protected area of the peat bog, but still outside of the actual moor, there is some extensive grazing, especially of sheep, almost exclusively for environmental grounds.
The Wiehen Hills are mostly covered by forest. Much of the enclosed forest area in Lübbecke is part of the hill forests of the Wiehen Hills, which begins at around 100 – 135 metres and extends to cover the highest peaks. It is mainly made up of spruce forest, but large areas, particularly in the area south of the town are original beech mixed forests. Apart from the larger woods in Lübbecke Land beyond the town limits, there are only small copses in the lowlands which together comprise less than 1 km². Inter alia These are the Stockhauser Busch, small copses in the area of the marina and the birch woods on the Großer Torfmoor. On the border of the town to the north-west at Alswede on the territory of Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf
Preußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
is the approximately 44 hectare Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood
Hollwinkel Wood is a woodland area that lies mainly on the territory of the borough of Preußisch Oldendorf in the North German county of Minden-Lübbecke. Within the wood the terrain is almost entirely level, lying between 50 and 52 metres above sea level . A negligible piece of woodland in...
. Part of the moor is covered with enclose birch stands. The relative proportion of forest is almost twice as high as the district average (11.2%).
The relatively high proportion of 'special' terrain is essentially that of the Großer Torfmoor. Moors, heath and wasteland cover about 3.3% of the borough.
Neighbouring municipalities
- HüllhorstHüllhorstHüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
- EspelkampEspelkampEspelkamp is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Espelkamp is situated approximately 10 kilometers north of Lübbecke and 20 kilometers north-west of Minden.-Neighbouring places:-Division of the town:...
- Preußisch OldendorfPreußisch OldendorfPreußisch Oldendorf is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. in 1905 the town name Oldendorf was changed officially by putting "Preußisch" in front of it, to make the distinction from other towns with the same name more easy .-Geography:Preußisch Oldendorf is...
- HilleHilleHille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
- PetershagenPetershagenPetershagen is a town in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Petershagen is situated on the river Weser, approx...
Division of the borough
According to §3 of the main by-law the territory of the borough of Lübbecke is amongst the following districts (population in brackets as at 31 December 2007):- Lübbecke (town) (15,682 inhabitants)
- Alswede (1,068 inhabitants)
- Blasheim (1,491 inhabitants)
- Eilhausen (773 inhabitants)
- Gehlenbeck (3,279 inhabitants)
- Nettelstedt (2,725 inhabitants)
- Obermehnen (1,377 inhabitants)
- Stockhausen (779 inhabitants)
Climate
The climate in Lübbecke is dictated by its location in the maritime-continental transition region of Central EuropeCentral Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
and on the North German Plain. The region mainly enjoys a sub-Atlantic maritime climate, but also has occasional continental influences
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. The winters, influenced by the Atlantic, are generally mild, the summers moderately warm, and its precipitation spread relatively evenly throughout the year. Westerly and southwesterly winds prevail, bringing precipitation with them. As a result of its location in the lee
Windward and leeward
Windward is the direction upwind from the point of reference. Leeward is the direction downwind from the point of reference. The side of a ship that is towards the leeward is its lee side. If the vessel is heeling under the pressure of the wind, this will be the "lower side"...
of the Wiehen Hills and Teutoburg Forest
Teutoburg Forest
The Teutoburg Forest is a range of low, forested mountains in the German states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia which used to be believed to be the scene of a decisive battle in AD 9...
its precipitation is however lower overall than in most of the Central Upland regions of Ostwestfalen, only the tops of the hills receive rather more. The annual precipitation figures in the northern part of the borough are 680 mm and on the hills about 800 mm.
Air temperatures average 8.9 °C, the warmest month is July with 16.9 °C, the coldest is January at 0.8 °C. In the hills it is around 0.5 to 1.0 °C colder per 100 metres of height. For an average of 37 days (during the months of November to March) the average daytime temperatures remain below 0 °C. The number of hours of sunshine is 1,435 hours per year, with a monthly variation from 200 hours in June to 32 hours in December.
History
The settlement of Lübbecke was first mentioned in the records in 775 as hlidbek in the Frankish imperial annals. At that time Saxony
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
attacked a Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
camp. Lübbecke was the central site of the Saxon hlidbeki gau. In those days there may already have been a church in hlidbeki that dated back to the Saxon Angrivarii
Angrivarii
The Angrivarii were a Germanic tribe of the early Roman Empire mentioned briefly in Ptolemy as the Angriouarroi , which transliterates into Latin Angrivari. They are believed to be the source of the 8th century identity, Angrarii, which was one of three subdivisions of Saxony...
under their duke, Widukind
Widukind
Widukind was a pagan Saxon leader and the chief opponent of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. Widukind was the leader of the Saxons against the Frankish king Charlemagne...
, a tribe who had settled the region during the spread of Christianity under Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
. Lübbecke was the center of a early church parish in the Diocese of Minden, and so the nobility who were native to the area as well as the knightly family in Lübbecke were ministeriales of the bishops of Minden. By 1279 Lübbecke had been given its town charter by the Minden Bishop Volquin of Schwalenberg. The area was also run by the bishops of Minden from the country castle of Reineburg (now Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst
Hüllhorst is a municipality in the Minden-Lübbecke district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:Hüllhorst is situated on the south side of the Wiehengebirge, approx...
). The lords based there came mainly from the knightly family of Lübbecke. The Burgmann
Burgmann
A Burgmann was a member of the low aristocracy in the Middle Ages who guarded and defended castles. They were hired by a lord of the castle to take on the burghut, the guarding and defense of a castle....
estates in Lübbecke were, in turn, enfeoffed by the castle. In 1806 twelve of these Burgmann estates were recorded in the borough. The Burgmannen also held a majority on the town council, which met in town hall, first mentioned in 1460.
From 1295 Lübbecke became part of a canonical
Canonical
Canonical is an adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the greek word κανών kanon, "rule" or "measuring stick" , and is used in various meanings....
church foundation. This was originally founded in 1274 in Ahlden an der Aller, but moved in 1280 to Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge
Neustadt am Rübenberge is a town in the district of Hanover, in Lower Saxony, Germany. At 357 km², it is the 9th largest settlement in Germany by area , though only about 45,000 inhabitants live there...
and in 1295 to Lübbecke to the St. Andrew's Church
St. Andrew's Church, Lübbecke
The present-day Evangelical-Lutheran parish church of St. Andrew in Lübbecke is one of the ancient parishes of the Bishopric of Minden.- Construction history :...
. It remained here until it was abolished in 1810. The foundation had 4 estates within the town. In 1549 the diocesan synod was held here under Bishop Franz von Waldeck
Franz von Waldeck
Count Franz von Waldeck , was Prince-Bishop of Münster, Osnabrück, and Minden and a leading figure in putting down the Münster Rebellion....
.
In 1648 the now secular Principality of Minden (known prior to secularization as the Bishopric of Minden
Bishopric of Minden
The Bishopric of Minden was a Roman Catholic diocese and a state, Prince-bishopric of Minden , of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Minden which is in modern day Germany.-History:...
), to which the present borough belonged, went to Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia
Brandenburg-Prussia is the historiographic denomination for the Early Modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenzollern intermarried with the branch ruling the Duchy of Prussia, and secured succession...
. The town hall burned down in 1705 and was rebuilt in 1709. In 1765 the 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 government arranged the division of the marks
Agrarian reform
Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land reform measures. Agrarian reform can include credit measures,...
which generated a large portion of the revenue of the town through the allocation of rights and the collection of hunting revenue. Lübbecke's protests against the mark division were unsuccessful.
Lübbecke's medieval fortifications were preserved up to the beginning of the 19th century. Due to the high cost of maintenance and their limited military value, the fortifications were razed in 1830 and the material used for construction, the walls being transformed into promenades.
Until the establishment of the de facto French Kingdom of Westphalia
Kingdom of Westphalia
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a new country of 2.6 million Germans that existed from 1807-1813. It included of territory in Hesse and other parts of present-day Germany. While formally independent, it was a vassal state of the First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte...
in 1807 and the introduction of French administrative structures, the Burgmann lords remained a major centre of power in Prussian Lübbecke and hindered the development of a patrician
Patrician
The term patrician originally referred to a group of elite families in ancient Rome, including both their natural and adopted members. In the late Roman Empire, the class was broadened to include high council officials, and after the fall of the Western Empire it remained a high honorary title in...
class. The middle class merchants were however always represented on the town council by six senatorial seats and provided a civic mayor, who presided over the town jointly with a noble mayor, but the nobility held the reins. The town hall regulations adopted in 1727 by the Prussian government
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
institutionalized this 'diarchy' and envisaged only two senatorial seats. In the Kingdom of Westphalia Lübbecke became the canton capital
Cantons of France
The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 342 arrondissements and 101 departments.Apart from their role as organizational units in certain aspects of the administration of public services and justice, the chief purpose of the cantons today is to serve as...
in the Département du Weser and in the Distrikt of Minden and remained so even when this fell to France in 1811 (from 1811, the Département de l’Ems-Supérieur). In 1813 Lübbecke became Prussian again and, after belonging briefly to the Zivilgouvernement zwischen Weser und Rhine, became part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia
Province of Westphalia
The Province of Westphalia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:Napoleon Bonaparte founded the Kingdom of Westphalia, which was a client state of the First French Empire from 1807 to 1813...
. After extensive administrative reforms and the dissolution of the Principality of Minden, Lübbecke became part of the newly created Regierungsbezirk Minden and district of Rahden. In 1832 Lübbecke became the administrative seat of a new district combining Rahden with elements of the district of Bünde, which was renamed into Lübbecke district.
Like almost everywhere in Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg
Minden-Ravensberg was a Prussian administrative unit consisting of the Principality of Minden and the County of Ravensberg from 1719–1807. The capital was Minden. In 1807 the region became part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, a client state of Napoleonic France...
the textile industry initially emerged in proto-industrial
Proto-industrialization
Proto-industrialisation is a phase in the development of modern industrial economies that preceded, and created conditions for, the establishment of fully industrial societies...
form and, later, was supported by the Prussian state with the construction of the Cologne-Minden Railway
Cologne-Minden trunk line
The Cologne-Minden trunk line is a railway built by the Cologne-Minden Railway Company . The line is the westernmost part of the railway line from Berlin to the Rhine that was proposed by Friedrich List in his Concept for a railway network in Germany, published in 1833...
and its branch line from Bünde to Rahden, opened in 1899. The cigar
Cigar
A cigar is a tightly-rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco that is ignited so that its smoke may be drawn into the mouth. Cigar tobacco is grown in significant quantities in Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, and the Eastern...
industry developed into an important economic factor in Bünde Land and the surrounding towns, including Lübbecke, from about 1860. In 1863 August Blase founded a cigar factory, which had 6,000 employees by 1938. This included employees in its many branches, because just as before in the proto-industrial textile sector, cigars were often cut, rolled and pressed in the home or in stalls. These two branches of the economy - the textile and tobacco industries - are still represented in Lübbecke today, even though their influence now lags behind that of engineering and other industries. In 1907, the last section of the Minden District Railway to Lübbecke opened (running from Minden via Hille
Hille
Hille is a community in the Kreis Minden-Lübbecke in the north of East Westphalia, Germany, with approximately 16,000 inhabitants. It was created in 1973 in the framework of the community restructuring of North Rhine-Westphalia through the combining of nine communities of the Minden countryside. ...
to Eickhorst in 1903). In the 1950s, the narrow gauge railway was converted from metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
due to the transport of goods. Operations were discontinued in 1974 and the track dismantled between Hille and Lübbecke. In 1912, the first houses were connected to the electrical supply from the Lower Saxon Power Stations. In 1899 the Gasfabrik am Hahlerbaum, a local gas company, was founded; the precursor to today's public utilities. From 1934 Lübbecke had a central water supply.