Gehringswalde, a so-called
Waldhufendorf, is situated about 1.5 km east of
Wolkenstein in the
Ore Mountains. It extends for about 1.5 km along the valley of a stream which joins the
Zschopau river ca. 1.5 km west of
Warmbad. The nearby ''Hüttengrundmühle'' (site of a former water mill) is also part of the village. The mountain
Dreibrüderhöhe
Dreibrüderhöhe or short Brüderhöhe is a mountain of Saxony, southeastern Germany. It is located near Marienberg in Saxony and can reached by a road branching off Bundesstraße 171, or on hiking routes from Marienberg, Wolkenstein, Lauta, Groà ...
lies ca. 3 km east of Gehringswalde.
Bundesstraße 101
''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'' ...
forms the main road of the village, at whose western end it is joined by
Bundesstraße 171
''Bundesstraße'' (German language, German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for Germany, German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. ...
. A county road connects Gehringswalde with Warmbad.
History
Gehringswalde was first mentioned in 1427 as ''Geringiswalde''.
After the
Protestant Reformation it became part of Wolkenstein parish in 1536/37. In 1540 it was known as ''Gerichtswalde''. From this time on there are reports of ore mining in Gehringswalde. The village was centred on the
demesne
A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...
of the
prince-elector. In 1693, possibly as a consequence of the
Thirty Years' War, of the need for water in the mines, and of damages due to increasing numbers of wild animals, there were only 5
Hufner
A ''Hufner'', also spelt ''Hüfner'', was a farmer in medieval Europe who managed one or more oxgangs (German: ''Hufe'') as his own property.
The actual names of these members of the farming community varied from region to region. In the Low Saxo ...
s, 8 half-Hufners, and 10 cotters, signifying pronounced poverty, and causing the local judges to ask for reductions of taxes.
In 1816 Gehringswalde had according to
August Schumann 45 houses, 221 inhabitants who kept 123 heads of cattle and 100 sheep, and some mills. The road through the village was renewed between 1823 and 1829. The first school is mentioned in 1824, a new schoolhouse was built in 1874. In 1846 the grange of Huth was transferred from
Großrückerswalde to Gehringswalde. Until 1856 the village was part of Amt Wolkenstein.
Municipal offices were built in 1925, the
volunteer fire department was formed two years later. An aerial attack in the night from 14 to 15 February 1945 destroyed 26 buildings.
On 1 January 1999 the hitherto separate municipalities of Falkenbach, Gehringswalde, Hilmersdorf and Schönbrunn joined the town of Wolkenstein
''Gebietsänderungen ab 1. Januar 1999 bis 31. Dezember 1999'', Statistisches Landesamt des Freistaats Sachsen, p. 4
(PDF; 39 kB), retrieved 02 July 2015. and became subdivisions thereof.
References
{{Authority control
Erzgebirgskreis
Wolkenstein
Villages in the Ore Mountains