Duchroth is an ''

Ortsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically compose ...

'' – a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

belonging to a ''

Verbandsgemeinde A Verbandsgemeinde (; plural Verbandsgemeinden) is a low-level administrative unit in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A Verbandsgemeinde is typically composed of a small group of villages or towns. Rhineland- ...

'', a kind of collective municipality – in the

Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim, whose seat is in the like-named town. Duchroth is a

winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

centre and lies in the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park.

Geography

Location

Duchroth lies 240 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

in the Rheingrafenstein local recreation area, south of the

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

, between the

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

and the gemstone town of

Idar-Oberstein Idar-Oberstein () is a town in the Birkenfeld district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. As a ''Große kreisangehörige Stadt'' (large city belonging to a district), it assumes some of the responsibilities that for smaller municipalities in ...

, not far from neighbouring

Odernheim am Glan Odernheim am Glan is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Bad ...

, where the Glan empties into the Nahe.

Neighbouring municipalities

Clockwise from the north, Duchroth's neighbours are the municipality of Waldböckelheim, the municipality of

Schloßböckelheim Schloßböckelheim (or Schlossböckelheim) is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''V ...

, the municipality of

Oberhausen an der Nahe Oberhausen an der Nahe is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of ...

, the municipality of

Hallgarten Hallgarten is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Charles Hallgarten (1838–1908), German-American banker, philanthropist and social reformer * George W. F. Hallgarten (1901–1975), German-American historian , counting those from both Duchroth and neighbouring

. Duchroth's old

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

burnt right down in the great fire that struck the village in 1905, making a new one necessary. This was built between 1908 and 1910 to plans by

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

architect Karl Schenkel, and on 4 September 1910, it was consecrated. The 30 m-tall belltower and the onion-vaulted roof make it visible across a great distance. One peculiarity is the clock mechanism, which has to be wound up by hand every day. Slightly older than the church itself is the rectory, built in 1906, standing across the street from the church. Built out of

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

, it affords its occupants comfortable coolth in the summer months. In the winter, however, its high ceilings (3.25 m) can make it necessary for them to don one or more extra layers of clothing. Also falling victim to the blaze in 1905 were the old parish hall and the parish barn. A new parish hall (without a barn) has only in recent years been built. This can comfortably accommodate 80 to 100 people. Church community groups meet here.

More about the town hall

The town hall (''Rathaus'') is surely one of Duchroth's oldest buildings. It is believed to have been built in the 16th century, although there are no documents establishing this. Undertaken in 1982, at a cost of some €225,000, was a thorough renovation led by the Didion architectural agency. On the strength of the structural survey by the architects, the time of building was reckoned to be the 11th or 12th century, not the 16th. This is likelier, since the town hall was built in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

style. According to Didion, the building comes from the oldest time of the Gothic period. All buildings in the area built in the Gothic style that still stand today are made of quarrystone and

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. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

material. The back and gables are in typical Gothic style and well preserved. Regrettably, the windows on the street side have been enlarged and the Gothic façade no longer appears in its original form. On the righthand gable side is found a round-arched window. It is richly moulded and the keystone bears an image of a mask hewn into the stone. The column with the top beam, which is still standing near the entrance, suggests that there was once a great space, opened to the outside here. Once sitting on the roof was a

ridge turret A ridge turret is a turret or small tower constructed over the ridge or apex between two or more sloping roofs of a building. It is usually built either as an architectural ornament for purely decorative purposes or else for the practical housing ...

that held one of the Palatinate's most interesting bells. The bell's shape alone suggests that it was very old, likewise the puzzling inscription upon the rim: “+ O A S O +”, likely standing for ''OMNIA AD SALVTEM OMNIVM'', meaning “Everything to everyone’s Salvation”. The bell is believed to have come from

Disibodenberg Disibodenberg today Disibodenberg ruins Disibodenberg ruins Disibodenberg picture Disibodenberg is a monastery ruin in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was founded by Saint Disibod. Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote Disibod's biography "Vita Sanct ...

Abbey, whose six bells were shared out after

Secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

to villages that had in bygone times been subject to the old abbey. The bell measured 68 cm across and was made of prime

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

. Akin in shape was a bell from

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, which was cast in 1261. In 1894, the bell was fetched down from the ridge turret and sold for a few ''Pfennig'', because it had cracked. The turret itself was torn down after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

because it had fallen into disrepair. In its long, eventful history, the ''Rathaus'' has served not only for meetings and consultations of the municipal representatives and the clubs, but also as a

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

(windows with

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

grilles), a prison camp, a courthouse, a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

house, a dwelling, a shelter in case of war, a storehouse, a garage for the

hearse A hearse is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin at a funeral, wake, or memorial service. They range from deliberately ano ...

(in a leanto shed) and a communal bakehouse.

“Ring path”

From time to time in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, the Knights of Montfort drew their subjects in Duchroth into their disputes with other nobles. In the 1335

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one part ...

with St. Stephen's Collegiate Foundation in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, for example, the villagers were armed and led into battle as a militant cohort. The Montforts, for their part, assumed a duty to protect their subjects, by giving the village ''Pfortenrecht'' (“gate rights”), whereby the villagers were allowed to build two fortified gates and to gird their village with a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

and an

abatis An abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed (in the modern era) of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced ...

. Even the churchyard was fortified with a mighty wall and incorporated into the defensive complex. Also belonging to this was a hefty stone defensive tower, actually the churchtower, with arrowslits, which the municipality built. This tower even withstood the pickaxe after the great fire in 1905 and had to be demolished with explosives. The mediaeval village court was always anxious to keep the fence around the village gapless. The defensive system herein described likely proved its worth during the “Duchroth War” in 1418, for Duke Stephan of Zweibrücken, in the agreement of atonement, reserved to himself the right to avail himself of the two villages of Duchroth and

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

along with their churchyards in case of feud. The moat that the villagers dug around their village defined its shape as a clump village. The only ways into the village then were the two gates, the ''Untertor'' (Lower Gate) and the ''Obertor'' (Upper Gate). The former stood where the ''Ringpfad'' (“ring path”) now crosses Naheweinstraße. Except for the village thoroughfare, then known as the ''Große Gasse'' (“Great Lane”), running from one village gate to the other, all village streets were dead ends, ending at either a yard or the village's edge. The mediaeval fortifications around Duchroth, and the two gates no longer exist. Nevertheless, the ''Historischer Ringpfad'' still follows the alignment of the now long gone moat.

“Grape variety teaching path”

Grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

growing has a centuries-long tradition in Duchroth. Just as varied as the structure of the lands are the

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

soils in Duchroth's outlying countryside. What is found here mostly is weathered minerals of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

origin, but also mixtures of

pebble A pebble is a clast of rock with a particle size of based on the Udden-Wentworth scale of sedimentology. Pebbles are generally considered larger than granules ( in diameter) and smaller than cobbles ( in diameter). A rock made predominant ...

s and

. To the northwest, sheltered by the

’s heights, the most varied of

white wine White wine is a wine that is Fermentation in winemaking, fermented without skin contact. The wine color, colour can be straw-yellow, yellow-green, or yellow-gold. It is produced by the alcoholic fermentation of the non-coloured Juice vesicles, ...

grape varieties thrive in a dry climate favourable to grapevines:

Riesling Riesling (, ; ) is a white grape variety that originated in the Rhine region. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and sparkling wh ...

Silvaner Sylvaner or Silvaner is a variety of white wine grape grown primarily in Alsace and Germany, where its official name is Grüner Silvaner. While the Alsatian versions have primarily been considered simpler wines, it was included among the vari ...

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Madeleine R ...

, Kerner,

Bacchus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...

Pinot blanc Pinot blanc is a white wine grape. It is a point genetic mutation of Pinot noir. Pinot noir is genetically unstable and will occasionally experience a point mutation in which a vine bears all black fruit except for one cane which produces white ...

Pinot gris Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio (, ) or Grauburgunder is a white wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. Thought to be a mutant clone of the Pinot Noir variety, it normally has a grayish-blue fruit, accounting for its name, but the gra ...

Faberrebe Faberrebe or Faber is a grape variety used for white wine. It was created in 1929 by Georg Scheu at the ''Landesanstalt für Rebenzüchtung'' in Alzey and was released with varietal protection in 1967. Scheu created Faberrebe by crossing Pinot b ...

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

Scheurebe Scheurebe or Sämling 88 is a white wine grape variety. It is primarily grown in Germany and Austria, where it often is called Sämling 88 (''English'': Seedling 88), and some parts of the New World. Scheurebe wines are highly aromatic, and the v ...

Sauvignon blanc is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...

and

Ehrenfelser Ehrenfelser is a white wine grape variety of German origin. It was created by Dr. Heinrich Birk (1898-1973) at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in 1929, by crossing Riesling with what was thought at the time to be Silvaner, but DNA marker ...

. Also grown here for making

red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

and

rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

are

Pinot noir Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...

Dornfelder Dornfelder is a dark-skinned variety of grape of German origin used for red wine.

and

Regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

. The ''Rebsortenlehrpfad'' (“Grape variety teaching path”) teaches the visitor all about these varieties.

Clubs

The following clubs are active in Duchroth:Clubs
/ref> *''Angelverein'' —

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...

club *''Förderverein Aktionsräume'' — “Home Ranges” promotional association *''Förderverein Feuerwehr'' — fire brigade promotional association *''Förderverein TuS Duchroth'' — ''TuS Duchroth'' promotional association *''Freiwillige Feuerwehr'' — volunteer

fire brigade A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

*''Kultur und Landschaft Duchroth'' — “Duchroth Culture and Landscape” *''Landfrauen'' — countrywomen's club *''TuS Duchroth'' —

gymnastic Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoul ...

and

sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

Economy and infrastructure

Winegrowing

Duchroth belongs to the “Nahetal

Winegrowing Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...

Area” within the

Nahe wine region Nahe () is a region (''Anbaugebiet'') for quality wine in Germany,Wein.de (German Agricultural S ...

. In business in the village are eleven winegrowing operations, and the area of

planted is 35 ha. Some 85% of the wine grown here (as at 2007) is

varieties. In 1979, there were still 36 winegrowing operations, and the vineyard area, at 59 ha, was almost twice what it is now.Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz - Infothek
/ref>

Transport

To Duchroth's north runs ''

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...

'' 41. Serving

Norheim Norheim (in the local speech ''Norem'') is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verb ...

and Staudernheim are

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s on the

Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway (german: Nahetalbahn) is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the ...

( Bingen–

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; Rhine Franconian: ''Saarbrigge'' ; lb, Saarbrécken ; lat, Saravipons, lit=The Bridge(s) across the Saar river) is the capital and largest city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken is S ...

Famous people

Sons and daughters of the town

* Johann Eimann (1764–1847), German colonist in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

* August Geib (1842–1879), early socialist lyricist, book dealer and Member of the Reichstag, founding member of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

and its first treasurer.

References

External links

Municipality’s official webpage

Video portrait of Duchroth
{{Authority control Bad Kreuznach (district) Palatinate (region)