Helme () is a

small borough The following is a list of Populated places in Estonia, boroughs () and Populated places in Estonia, small boroughs () in Estonia. Boroughs *Aegviidu *Järva-Jaani *Järvakandi *Kiili *Kohila *Kohtla-Nõmme *Lavassaare *Märjamaa *Paikuse *Pärn ...

() in

Tõrva Parish Tõrva Parish () is a rural municipality in Valga County. It includes the town of Tõrva. Settlements ;Town Tõrva ;Boroughs Helme, Hummuli ;Villages Aitsra, Ala, Alamõisa, Holdre, Jeti, Jõgeveste, Kalme, Karjatnurme, Karu, Ka ...

Valga County Valga County ( or ''Valgamaa'') is a first-level administrative unit and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and largest town of Valga Co ...

, in southern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. Prior to the 2017 reform of Estonian municipalities, it was located in

Helme Parish Helme Parish () was a rural Municipalities of Estonia, municipality of Estonia, in Valga County. It had a population of 2,525 (as of 1 January 2009) and an area of 312.73 km2. Geography Populated places There was Populated places in Esto ...

. It is located only northwest of the town of

Tõrva Tõrva () is a town () in Tõrva Parish, Valga County, southern Estonia. It is located on the banks of the Õhne River. Tõrva has an area of and a population of 2,800 (as of 1 January 2009), making it the second largest of the three towns in ...

by the Valga–

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

road (nr. 6). At the 2011 Census, the settlement's population was 167.

Helme castle

The settlement was first mentioned in the

Livonian Chronicle of Henry The ''Livonian Chronicle of Henry'' () is a Latin narrative of events in Livonia (roughly corresponding to today's Estonia and Latvia) and surrounding areas from 1180 to 1227. It was written by a priest named Henry. Apart from some references ...

in 1210. Helme church parish was first mentioned in 1329 during a Lithuanian raid. Most of the neighbouring land was

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

ed in the 15th–16th centuries.

Livonian Order The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237. From 1435 to 1561 it was a member of the Livonian Confederation. History The order was formed from the remnants of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword after thei ...

castle in Helme (''Ordensburg Helmet'') was probably built in the first half of the 14th century. The site on a steep hill is believed to have been used as a stronghold earlier by Sackalians in the

Ancient Estonia Ancient Estonia refers to a period covering History of Estonia from the middle of the 8th millennium BC until the conquest and subjugation of the local Finnic tribes in the first quarter of the 13th century during the Teutonic and Danish Nort ...

. By its ground plan, the order castle was 120×60 m oval-shaped structure, surrounded by two

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

s. There was a borough beside the castle in the Middle Ages, it was mentioned until the 17th century. The castle was destroyed by the

Swedes Swedes (), or Swedish people, are an ethnic group native to Sweden, who share a common ancestry, Culture of Sweden, culture, History of Sweden, history, and Swedish language, language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries, ...

during the Russo-Swedish War in 1658. Nowadays only parts of the walls with high window holes have survived. Helme is the birthplace of poet and dramatist

Henrik Visnapuu Henrik Visnapuu ( – 3 April 1951) was an Estonian poet and playwright. Life Henrik Visnapuu was born in Helme Parish, Viljandi County, Livonia. He first attended the village school in Reola (today in Ülenurme Parish) and college in Sipe ...

(1890–1951) and sculptor

Erna Viitol Erna Viitol (née Erna Juhanson; 10 May 1920 – 11 November 2001) was an Estonian sculptor. Biography Viitol was born into a family of farmers in Ala, Valga County, Ala, Lõve Parish (now in Tõrva Parish), Valga County. She traveled to Stockhol ...

(1920–2001).

Gallery

File:Helme linnus 1.jpg, Ruins of Helme castle File:Helme castle ruins.jpg, File:Helme linnus 3.jpg, File:Helme-caves.jpg, Entrance to Helme caves File:Helme mõisahoone.jpg, Helme Manor

References

External links

Helme Parish
Boroughs and small boroughs in Estonia Kreis Fellin {{valga-geo-stub