Wilgersdorf is a village in the district Siegen-Wittgenstein in

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 ...

.
Apart from that, it is also the biggest part (by area) of the municipality

Wilnsdorf Wilnsdorf is a municipality in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography The southern municipal limits, with the Kalteiche peak, part of the Rothaargebirge, form not only the community's highest point, at ...

Geography

Wilgersdorf is located in a rich forestregion in the

Rothaargebirge The Rothaar Mountains (german: Rothaargebirge, , also ''Rotlagergebirge''), or Rothaar, is a low mountain range reaching heights of up to 843.1 m in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse, Germany. It is believed that its name must once have been ...

(see

Rothaarsteig The Rothaarsteig is a 154.80 km long hiking trail along the crest of the Rothaargebirge mountain range in Germany in the border region between the states of North Rhine-Westphalia (NW) and Hesse (HE). It was opened in 2001. Overview Th ...

for the nearby hiking trail). Highest elevations of the area are the ''Kalteiche'' (579.3 m , 1900.6 ft) and the ''Tiefenrother Höhe'' (552.3 m , 1812 ft). In the southern part of the village arises the ''Weiss'', which joins the river

Sieg The Sieg is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Rhine. The river is named after the Sicambri. It is in length. The source is located in the Rothaargebirge mountains. From here t ...

after 18.1 km (11.2 mi). Wilgersdorf has a total area of 11.54 km² (4.46 sq mi).

History

Wilgersdorf had its first documentary mention in 1377 under the name ''Vylgirstorff''. In 1491, the villages were completely destroyed by a major fire. In 1563, the plaque killed 10 of the 204 inhabitants, in 1636 45% died of

hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In the ...

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

. From 1579 onwards the village belonged to the parish of

Haiger Haiger is a country town in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. The nearest city is Siegen, about 25 km north of Haiger. Geography Location Haiger lies about 5 km west of Dillenburg, and 20 km southeast of Siegen on the eastern ...

, since 1595 to Wilnsdorf. 1716 started with the construction of a

Simultaneum A shared church (german: Simultankirche), simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th-century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in the German-sp ...

in the village. The place fell under the control of John of

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

in 1621. Wilgersdorf was united to one municipality with Wilnsdorf and Rödgen in 1648 and assigned to the

Amt Amt is a type of administrative division governing a group of municipalities, today only in Germany, but formerly also common in other countries of Northern Europe. Its size and functions differ by country and the term is roughly equivalent to ...

of Wilnsdorf in 1818. Big fires destroyed many houses in 1857 and 1920. Piped water supply was available by 1906 and by 1911 the local mill provided electricity for the village. The fire service was established in 1927. In 1953 a Protestant community house was built. A Catholic church was consecrated in 1957, followed by a Protestant church in the 60's. In 1963 dwelling and smelting places of the

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age Hallstatt culture without any defini ...

(500 B.C.,

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

) were found on the territory. The Amt of Wilnsdorf was disbanded in 1969 and Wilgersdorf was integrated into the new municipality of Wilnsdorf.

Mines

The

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

''Neue Hoffnung'' (transl.: new hope) was operated with 300 workers from 1883 to 1913 with a total depth of 440 m (1443 ft).

Zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

Lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

- and

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

ores and also

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 ...

ore was mined. Other mines were ''Neues Jerusalem'', ''Viktoria'' and ''Bomkutte''.

Trivia

* In the local tongue, the people of Wilgersdorf call themselves 'Wiljerschdorfer' (roughly pronounced '

Will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will ...

'+' Yeah'+'R'+ Shh+'

Dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

'+'R' for an English speaker - rolling the R's is required) * Like in other place of the district people may greet each other with the term 'Schur', sounding like the English 'sure', meaning 'Hi' or 'Good day' * From an observation deck on top of the ''Tiefenrother Höhe'' hill , a regional famous view over the whole nearby uplands is possible (part of the Rothaarsteig hiking trail)

Literature

* Herbert Wiesner: ''600 Jahre Wilgersdorf 1377-1977'' (transl.: ''600 years Wilgersdorf 1377-1977'') – Chronicle and

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

, author's edition, published by the local associations in 1977 * Kurt Becker: ''Unsere Väter - die Bergleute der Grube Bautenberg zwischen Gilsbach und Wilden, Dill und Westerwald'' (transl.: ''Our fathers: the miners of the mine Bautenberg between Gilsbach and Wilden, Dill and Westerwald''), Dillbrecht 1994

External links

Wilgersdorf online
{{authority control Villages in North Rhine-Westphalia