Siegbach
Encyclopedia
Location
The community of Siegbach lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland in the valley of its namesake brook, the Siegbach, which empties into the Aar to the south at BischoffenBischoffen
-Location:Bischoffen lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland at the Aar Dam . This dam holds back the river Aar, a tributary to the Dill, forming a 57-ha lake whose purpose is mainly flood control, although of course it also has its recreational uses....
.
More than half of the municipal area is wooded.
Neighbouring communities
Siegbach borders in the north on the communities of EschenburgEschenburg
Eschenburg is a community in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. The community inherited its name from nearby Eschenburg mountain.-Geography:...
(Lahn-Dill-Kreis) and Angelburg
Angelburg
Angelburg is a community in western Marburg-Biedenkopf in northwest Middle Hesse in Germany.- Geographical location :The community is found about 12 km south of Biedenkopf in the Gansbach valley north of the Schelder Wald , whose north end consists of the Angelburg Mountain with its...
, in the south on the communities of Bischoffen
Bischoffen
-Location:Bischoffen lies in the Lahn-Dill Highland at the Aar Dam . This dam holds back the river Aar, a tributary to the Dill, forming a 57-ha lake whose purpose is mainly flood control, although of course it also has its recreational uses....
and Mittenaar
Mittenaar
-Municipal area's extent:On Mittenaar's 3 518 ha live more than 5,000 people. About 45 km of roads connect the various centres. More than half the municipal area is wooded.-Neighbouring communities:...
, in the southwest on the town of Herborn
Herborn
Herborn is a historic town on the Dill in the Lahn-Dill district of Hesse in Germany. Before World War I, it was granted its own title as Nassauisches Rothenburg. The symbol or mascot of this town is a bear. Scenic attractions include its half-timbered houses; Herborn is located on the German...
, and in the west on the town of Dillenburg
Dillenburg
Dillenburg is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis....
(all in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis).
Constituent communities
The community consists of the five centres of Eisemroth (administrative seat), Oberndorf, Tringenstein, Übernthal and Wallenfels.History
As part of Hesse's municipal reforms, the formerly independent municipalities of Eisemroth, Tringenstein, Übernthal and Wallenfels merged on 1 January 1972 to form the greater community of Siegbach, after the communities of Oberndorf and Eisemroth had already been united for a year. The new community's namesake is the brook in whose valley the greater part of the community lies.Within the municipal area once stood three castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
s, namely in Eisemroth (on whose site a church now stands), Wallenfels and Tringenstein. They came into being during the "Hundred Years' Dernbacher Feud
Dernbacher Feud
The Dernbacher Feud was an over one hundred year long ongoing dispute in present-day Germany between the House of Nassau, several knightly families, and the Landgrave of Hesse...
", which was hard-fought in this area. It was a struggle waged between 1233 and 1333 between the Lords of Dernbach and the ambitious Counts of Nassau, who eventually won.
Coat of arms
Siegbach's civic coat of armsCoat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
might heraldically be described thus: In vert on ground Or a mine gallery sable with framework Or, therein, a crossed sledge and iron argent.
The arms refer to the municipal area's former mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
industry.
Sightseeing
The Wilhelmsteine ("William's Stones"), lying between Tringenstein and Wallenfels, are a group of pyritePyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...
monadnock
Monadnock
A monadnock or inselberg is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain...
s in the middle of the Schelderwald (a foothill of the Rothaargebirge range). Every year on Ascension Day, the Wilhelmsteine serve as a local pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
place. A religious service is performed among them on this day.
The Wilhelmsteine, named after Count Wilhelm of Nassau, were in earlier times known as the Buschsteine. They were presumably the pre-Christian central holy place of the whole surrounding area. Nearby, at the Angelburg, from the early to high Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
was an important crossroads of old long-distance trade roads. The Hohe Straße (High Road) or as it was also known Herborner Straße (Herborn Road) coming from the northeast crossed the great east-west trade road there, the Brabant Road, which ran from Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
by way of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
to the province of Brabant
Duchy of Brabant
The Duchy of Brabant was a historical region in the Low Countries. Its territory consisted essentially of the three modern-day Belgian provinces of Flemish Brabant, Walloon Brabant and Antwerp, the Brussels-Capital Region and most of the present-day Dutch province of North Brabant.The Flag of...
(nowadays in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
). Locally, it was also known as the Schelderwald Weg, and in old documents as strada publica (the public road). The Westfalen Weg (Westphalia Way) also joined the knot of log-distance roads here, following more or less today's Highway L3047 up to the Zollbuche ("Customs Beech" – a tree that marked a border in days of yore), and then reaching the Angelburg by way of Günterod and Salzbödesattel. Continuing north on this route, one could reach Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
.
At the Angelburg, evidence of an important prehistoric settlement has been found.
Castle ruins can be found at Tringenstein and Wallenfels (only rubble heaps and dry moats).