Heimsheim is a town in the Enz district, in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

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 ...

History

Heimsheim was given the official status of a township by the

County Palatine of Tübingen The County Palatine of Tübingen was a state of the Holy Roman Empire in the medieval period. The dynasty, originally based in Nagold, managed to acquire extensive holdings over the course of their time in power, distinguishing themselves by foun ...

at the start of the 14th century. Early in the 16th century, the town came into the possession of the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg (german: Herzogtum Württemberg) was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a member of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1806. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries ...

. Heimsheim was assigned to the district of

Weil der Stadt Weil der Stadt is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the Stuttgart Region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is about west of Stuttgart city centre, in the valley of the River Würm, and is often called the "Gate to the Black Fore ...

in 1803, and then to in 1807–08. The town remained under Leonberg when the district was recreated on 1 October 1938. After

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 ...

, the town became part of the

Stuttgart Metropolitan Region The Stuttgart Metropolitan Region is a metropolitan region in south-west Germany consisting of the cities and regions around Stuttgart, Heilbronn, Tübingen/Reutlingen. These cities are arranged into three agglomeration areas. The population of th ...

and expanded to the north and east, in the direction of the

Bundesautobahn 8 is an autobahn in southern Germany that runs 497 km (309 mi) from the Luxembourg A13 motorway at Schengen via Neunkirchen, Pirmasens, Karlsruhe, Pforzheim, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and Munich to the Austrian West Autobahn near Salzb ...

. On 1 January 1973, Heimsheim the Enz district.

Geography

The township ('' Stadt'') Heimsheim covers an area of at the very southeastern tip of the Enz district. It is physically located in the foothills of the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

, in the

Heckengäu The Heckengäu is a part of the Gäu, a region in the counties of Böblingen, Calw, Ludwigsburg and Enzkreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Part of the landscape in the county of Calw is called Schlehengäu. Hence it is also called th ...

, a region geology is characterized by

karstified Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

and wooded

muschelkalk The Muschelkalk (German for "shell-bearing limestone"; french: calcaire coquillier) is a sequence of sedimentary rock strata (a lithostratigraphic unit) in the geology of central and western Europe. It has a Middle Triassic (240 to 230 million ye ...

hills. Because the Heckengäu is home to a number of protected species of fauna, Heimsheim borders the , , , and Federal nature reserves. The primary watercourse in Heimsheim is the Kotzenbach (also called the Zieselbach), which drains into the

Würm The Würm is a river in Bavaria, Germany, right tributary of the Amper. The length of the river is , or including the ''Steinbach'', the main feed of Lake Starnberg. It drains the overflow from Lake Starnberg and flows swiftly through the villag ...

to the southwest. The river flows through a shallow valley carved into the Upper

Buntsandstein The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphy, lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphy, allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the Subsurface (geology), subsurface ...

near Heimsheim's center, and along Enz district's western edge. The Kotzenbach is also the location of Heimsheim's lowest elevation, NN. The highest elevation, , is the top of a hill on the border with

Renningen Renningen is a town in the district of Böblingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 18 km west of Stuttgart. Geography Renningen is located in the west of Stuttgart, between Leonberg and Weil der Stadt on the fringes of the ...

, in the Böblingen district. The southwest portion of Heimsheim lies in the while the northern and eastern portion is made up by and the west of and .

Politics

The local council has 14 members. Elections were held in 2014:Statistisches Landesamt Baden-Württemberg, Kommunalwahlergebnis 2014
/ref> *FWV Freie Wählervereinigung (Free voters) 4 seats *BfH Bürger für Heimsheim (Citizens for Heimsheim) 3 seats *CDU 3 seats *SPD 3 seats *UWV Unabhängige Wählervereinigung (Independent voters association) 1 seat

Coat of arms

The

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

of Heimsheim depicts two golden

ears An ear is the organ that enables hearing and, in mammals, body balance using the vestibular system. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three parts—the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists o ...

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

upon an emerald

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

. This pattern dates back to 1456 and has been the most consistently used coat of arms used by the township. There have, however, been some variants used. From 1585 to 1902, a pattern that replaced the wheat with arrows was sometimes used, as was another with three ears of wheat. In 1596, a pattern of the coat of arms that replaced the emerald field with a yellow one was introduced. The original, default coat of arms was confirmed by the

Federal Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

on 25 July 1966.

References

External links

Official website
(in German) {{Authority control Enzkreis Württemberg