Welda is a village and constituent community ''(stadtteil)'' of the town of

Warburg Warburg (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warberich'' or ''Warborg'') is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It ...

, in the district of Höxter in the east of the

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

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 ...

. Welda has historically been known by the names of Wellede, Welde and Kerkwellede. Welda has an area of 9.22 km² and a population of 863.Stadt Warburg: ''Die Warburger Stadtteile''
(Accessed 2009-07-31)

Geography

The village of Welda is the southernmost point of Kreis Höxter (within the administrative region of

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

) near North Rhine-Westphalia's border with the

Waldeck-Frankenberg Waldeck-Frankenberg is a ''Kreis'' (district) in the north of Hesse, Germany. Neighbouring districts are Höxter, Kassel, Schwalm-Eder, Marburg-Biedenkopf, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Hochsauerland. History The district was created in 1972 by merging t ...

district of the federal state of Hessen. It lies between the towns of

and

Volkmarsen Volkmarsen is a small town in Waldeck-Frankenberg district in northern Hesse, Germany. It is home to 6840 residents. Geography Location Volkmarsen lies on the northern edge of the ''Waldecker Tafel'' (Waldecker Shield (geology)) where it flatten ...

on a line between the cities of

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

(40 km) and

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

(35 km). It adjoins the Warburg communities of

Calenberg The Calenberg is a hill in central Germany in the Leine depression near Pattensen in the municipality of Schulenburg. It lies 13 km west of the city of Hildesheim in south Lower Saxony on the edge of the Central Uplands. It is made from a ...

, Germete and Wormeln. Welda lies in the valley of the river Twiste which runs north into the river Diemel.

History

The land around Welda, once a border village between

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, Waldeck and

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...

, has yielded forth archaeological evidence of a

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic presence. In 1856 Welda was visited by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who went on to become the "Ninety-Nine-Day Emperor", Kaiser

Friedrich III Frederick III may refer to: * Frederick III, Duke of Upper Lorraine (died 1033) * Frederick III, Duke of Swabia (1122–1190) * Friedrich III, Burgrave of Nuremberg (1220–1297) * Frederick III, Duke of Lorraine (1240–1302) * Frederick III of S ...

. He presented the church with a Communion chalice. In

World War II 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 ...

Welda was liberated by U.S. forces in April 1945. In the fields east of the railway station there was an American internment camp holding up to 80,000 German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

. Welda was in the British zone of occupation from 1945, then from 1949, following the political division of occupied Germany, Welda became part of the Federal Republic of West Germany until German reunification in 1990.

Places of interest

* The Roman Catholic Church dedicated to Saint Kilian was founded in 1220. * Schloss Welda was built between 1734 and 1736 by the architect Justus Wehmer who was also the architect of

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

cathedral and of Schloss Vinsebeck; the architectural history and construction of the two houses are closely linked together. The Kassel baroque sculptor and artist Johann Georg Kotschau was also involved. The historic baroque park and landscape garden of Schloss Welda was created from 1738 to 1758 by the landscape architect Carl Hatzel.Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe: Schlosspark Welda
/ref> The garden includes an orangery which was built from 1756 to 1763. In the north part of the garden is a baroque wall that is partly fallen down. The access road from the south has an avenue of lime trees which leads to a carriage turn in front of the Schloss. Today the house is used as a registry office, for wedding receptions, and for concerts. * The oldest existing village house (a timber-frame building) was built in 1747. * The old mill houses a museum of village life. * The Iron Way, an old iron ore route, now a hiking and cycling trail.

Transport

In 1890, a section of the railway line from Warburg to Bad Arolsen opened with a station in the village. The railway line was closed in 1982 and converted in 1989 into a bicycle lane (R 51), part of an inter-regional cycle network. The station building was sold and is now used as a private residence. Welda's nearest links to the national rail network are located in Warburg and Volkmarsen. The autobahn

A44 A44 may refer to : * A44 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Oxford, England and Aberystwyth, Wales * A44 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Aachen at the German-Belgian border and Kassel * A44 motorway (Netherlands), a motorway in the Nethe ...

(E331) from

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

runs to the north-west of Welda. The closest regional airports are KSF Kassel-Calden (27 km) and PAD Paderborn-Lippstadt (46 km).

References

External links