Esche is a community in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Geography

Location

Esche lies on the

Vechte The Vechte () (in German language, German and in Low German, Low Saxon (Dutch Low Saxon pronunciation: ̯ɛxtəThe places near the Vechte in the County of Bentheim have the same pronunciation or Vecht (in Dutch language, Dutch) (), often call ...

between

Nordhorn Nordhorn ( Northern Low Saxon: ''Nothoorn'' (or ''Notthoarn'', ''Netthoarn'' and ''Noordhoorn'')) is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the district seat of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony's southwesternmost corner near the border with th ...

and

Emlichheim Emlichheim (Low German: Emmelkamp) is a municipality in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, Germany, roughly 20 km south of Emmen, and 25 km northwest of Nordhorn. Geography Emlichheim lies right on the German- Du ...

. It belongs to the Joint Community (''Samtgemeinde'') of

Neuenhaus Neuenhaus is a town in the district of Grafschaft Bentheim in Lower Saxony, and is the seat of a like-named collective municipality Neuenhaus. Neuenhaus lies on the rivers Dinkel and Vechte near the border with the Netherlands and is roughly 10& ...

, whose administrative seat is in the like-named town.

Services

Esche currently has an internet connectivity of 384 kilobit per second which is relatively low compared to the surrounding areas where there are speeds of 16 megabit per second and upward. Also there is a kindergarten in Esche.

Politics

Mayor

The honorary mayor Hermann Berends was elected on 9 September 2001.

Regular events

The sport club holds its folk festival in mid-April.

History

The community’s namesake was the ''Haus Esche'', also known as Oedinghof. The ''Haus Esche'' and the ''Schulenburg'' (castle) in Veldhausen were both owned by a family named van Münster. In the

Dutch War of Independence The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...

, in 1593, when the Spaniards unsuccessfully laid siege to the fort at

Coevorden Coevorden (; nds-nl, Koevern) is a city and municipality in the province of Drenthe, Netherlands. During the 1998 municipal reorganisation in the province, Coevorden merged with Dalen, Sleen, Oosterhesselen and Zweeloo, retaining its name. In ...

, the inhabitants of the Esche farming community sought shelter in this house, albeit only for a short time. The dearth of food and lack of room gave rise to a

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

outbreak which daily killed many. The survivors were evicted, whereupon they had their goods stolen and were wretchedly mistreated. Today, the community of Esche is a modern residential community, but still with a strong rural character.

References

External links

Joint community’s webpage
{{authority control County of Bentheim (district)