Oberkirn
Encyclopedia
Oberkirn is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld
district
in Rhineland-Palatinate
, Germany
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
.
to the southwest, in the central Hunsrück
.
As of 31 December 2010, Oberkirn’s population is 333. The municipal area comprises some 200 ha of forest and another 300 ha of meadowland.
, Gösenroth
, Schwerbach
, Lindenschied
, Rohrbach
, Woppenroth
and Hausen
.
presence in what is now Oberkirn, for the Evangelical
church on the village’s upper outskirts is built on the foundations of an old Roman villa rustica
. The plain, Gothic
church itself was built a few years before 1400 and houses the graves of the Schenken (roughly “Stewards”) at Schmidtburg, a sideline of that great comital dynasty from the Hahnenbach valley.
In 1335, Oberkirn had its first documentary mention as Overkehr. A legend has it that Oberkirn was once named Oberhausen, and that Oberhausen bei Kirn
was then known as Oberkirn. Sometime over the course of the centuries, it is said, the two village’s names were confused, and thereby exchanged, in a document. However, there is no scientific proof for this.
Slate
was long quarried within Oberkirn’s municipal limits, first for building houses and then, beginning in the 19th century until the 1960s for making roof slates. Most men in the village earned their livelihood at the pits, and then also worked the land as well. When cheaper artificial slates appeared on the market, the slate pits went out of business, the last one closing in 1966.
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
The municipality’s arms
might in English heraldic
language be described thus: Per fess Or a monster with a wolf’s head and an eagle’s body sans talons displayed gules, its breast charged with a cramp sable, and azure issuant from base a bishop’s staff sinister of the first between two arming buckles argent.
The charge
in the escutcheon’s upper field is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgravial
-Rhinegravial high court
of Rhaunen. The charges in the lower field refer to the Schenk of Schmidtburg, Lothar Karl Franz Josef, Cathedral Canon at Liège
, Bishop Superior at Trier
, Lord at Oberkirn (according to a plaque at the Church of Our Lady, or Liebfrauenkirche, in Trier) in the case of the bishop’s staff, and the Amt of Schmidtburg in the case of the buckles. According to a 16th-century record, Oberkirn belonged to the Amt of Schmidtburg. Oberkirn and some other places had their own local court, over which presided the two Burgmann
en Jakob and Henne Braun von Schmidtburg as lords of the court.
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
50 and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
.
Municipalities of Germany
Municipalities are the lowest level of territorial division in Germany. This may be the fourth level of territorial division in Germany, apart from those states which include Regierungsbezirke , where municipalities then become the fifth level.-Overview:With more than 3,400,000 inhabitants, the...
belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde
Verbandsgemeinde
A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...
, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld
Birkenfeld (district)
Birkenfeld is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Sankt Wendel , Trier-Saarburg, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhein-Hunsrück, Bad Kreuznach and Kusel.- History :...
district
Districts of Germany
The districts of Germany are known as , except in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein where they are known simply as ....
in Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen
Rhaunen (Verbandsgemeinde)
Rhaunen is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Rhaunen....
, whose seat is in the like-named municipality
Rhaunen
Rhaunen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
.
Location
The municipality lies in the Kyrbach valley between the Lützelsoon (a small, wooded mountain range) to the southeast and the Idar ForestIdar Forest
The Idar Forest is part of the Hunsrück low mountain range in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.- Geography :...
to the southwest, in the central Hunsrück
Hunsrück
The Hunsrück is a low mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the river valleys of the Moselle , the Nahe , and the Rhine . The Hunsrück is continued by the Taunus mountains on the eastern side of the Rhine. In the north behind the Moselle it is continued by the Eifel...
.
As of 31 December 2010, Oberkirn’s population is 333. The municipal area comprises some 200 ha of forest and another 300 ha of meadowland.
Neighbouring municipalities
Oberkirn’s neighbours are RhaunenRhaunen
Rhaunen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named Verbandsgemeinde.-Location:...
, Gösenroth
Gösenroth
Gösenroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies...
, Schwerbach
Schwerbach
Schwerbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality, a...
, Lindenschied
Lindenschied
-History:In 1345, Lindenschied, which was then under the High Court of Rhaunen, had its first documentary mention. The document itself stated Lindenschied’s, and several other villages’, legal status, which at this time was disputed, perticularly as to these villages’ rights and boundaries, between...
, Rohrbach
Rohrbach, Birkenfeld
Rohrbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany...
, Woppenroth
Woppenroth
-Geology:In the Hahnenbach valley and its side valleys, Devonian slate was mined until the early 20th century. All that now bears witness to this epoch in the village’s history is some gallery entrances and tailing heaps.-History:...
and Hausen
Hausen, Birkenfeld
Hausen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rhaunen, whose seat is in the like-named municipality.-Location:The municipality lies in...
.
History
There was clearly a RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
presence in what is now Oberkirn, for the Evangelical
Evangelical Church in Germany
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
church on the village’s upper outskirts is built on the foundations of an old Roman villa rustica
Villa rustica
Villa rustica was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a villa set in the open countryside, often as the hub of a large agricultural estate . The adjective rusticum was used to distinguish it from an urban or resort villa...
. The plain, Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
church itself was built a few years before 1400 and houses the graves of the Schenken (roughly “Stewards”) at Schmidtburg, a sideline of that great comital dynasty from the Hahnenbach valley.
In 1335, Oberkirn had its first documentary mention as Overkehr. A legend has it that Oberkirn was once named Oberhausen, and that Oberhausen bei Kirn
Oberhausen bei Kirn
Oberhausen bei Kirn is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany.-References:...
was then known as Oberkirn. Sometime over the course of the centuries, it is said, the two village’s names were confused, and thereby exchanged, in a document. However, there is no scientific proof for this.
Slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
was long quarried within Oberkirn’s municipal limits, first for building houses and then, beginning in the 19th century until the 1960s for making roof slates. Most men in the village earned their livelihood at the pits, and then also worked the land as well. When cheaper artificial slates appeared on the market, the slate pits went out of business, the last one closing in 1966.
Municipal council
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by majority votePlurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
Coat of arms
The German blazon reads: In geteiltem Schild oben in Gold ein rotes Fabeltier mit einem Wolfskopf und weit geöffneten Schwingen, belegt mit einem schwarzen Wolfshaken.Unten in Blau ein goldener Bischofsstab begleitet von zwei silbernen Schnallen.The municipality’s arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might in English heraldic
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
language be described thus: Per fess Or a monster with a wolf’s head and an eagle’s body sans talons displayed gules, its breast charged with a cramp sable, and azure issuant from base a bishop’s staff sinister of the first between two arming buckles argent.
The charge
Charge (heraldry)
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon . This may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object or other device...
in the escutcheon’s upper field is a reference to the village’s former allegiance to the Waldgravial
Waldgrave
The noble family of the Waldgraves or Wildgraves descended of a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113....
-Rhinegravial high court
Blood court
Blood Court or high justice in the Holy Roman Empire referred to the right of a Vogt to hold a criminal court inflicting bodily punishment, including the death penalty.Not every Vogt held the blood court...
of Rhaunen. The charges in the lower field refer to the Schenk of Schmidtburg, Lothar Karl Franz Josef, Cathedral Canon at Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
, Bishop Superior at Trier
Trier
Trier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
, Lord at Oberkirn (according to a plaque at the Church of Our Lady, or Liebfrauenkirche, in Trier) in the case of the bishop’s staff, and the Amt of Schmidtburg in the case of the buckles. According to a 16th-century record, Oberkirn belonged to the Amt of Schmidtburg. Oberkirn and some other places had their own local court, over which presided the two 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....
en Jakob and Henne Braun von Schmidtburg as lords of the court.
Buildings
The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-PalatinateRhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....
’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
- EvangelicalEvangelical Church in GermanyThe Evangelical Church in Germany is a federation of 22 Lutheran, Unified and Reformed Protestant regional church bodies in Germany. The EKD is not a church in a theological understanding because of the denominational differences. However, the member churches share full pulpit and altar...
church, Kirchstraße 7 – aisleless churchAisleless churchAn Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...
with ridge turretRidge turretA ridge turret is a turret build on the peak of a roof....
, possibly from the 16th century, conversion in the 18th century; tomb slab, 1573 - Saint Mark’sMark the EvangelistMark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
Catholic Church (Kirche St. Markus), Hauptstraße 8 – aisleless church with ridge turret, 1794, expansion 1968/1969 - Hauptstraße – bridge over the Kyrbach, two-arch slate quarrystone structure, marked 1878
- Hauptstraße 2 – house, marked 1850, essentially older
- Staureweg 1 – house with knee wallKnee wallIn architecture, a knee wall is typically a short wall, usually under three feet in height. In his book A Visual Dictionary of Architecture, Francis D. K. Ching defines a Knee Wall as "A short wall supporting rafters at some intermediate position along their length." The term is derived from the...
, partly timber-frameTimber framingTimber framing , or half-timbering, also called in North America "post-and-beam" construction, is the method of creating structures using heavy squared off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs . It is commonplace in large barns...
(slated), latter half of the 19th century
Economy and infrastructure
Oberkirn has a village community centre. To the north lie BundesstraßeBundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...
50 and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport
-Cargo airlines:-Other facilities:AirIT Services AG, a subsidiary of Fraport, has its head office in Building 663 at Hahn Airport.-References:*Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 USAF Reference Series, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force,...
.