Witten-Stockum is a borough of the City of Witten

Witten

Witten is a university city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the home of the Witten/Herdecke University, the first private university in Germany.-Bordering municipalities:* Bochum* Dortmund* Herdecke* Wetter * Sprockhoevel* Hattingen...

. It has about 6.300 inhabitants (2003).

History

Stockum was first mentioned in 882 as villa stochem. Villa stochem was a little castle that was owned by a knight who called himself "op der Heyde". During the so called Dortmunder Fehde in 1388/89, Stochem was burned down by soldiers from Archebishop of Cologne, who fought a war against Dortmund

Dortmund

Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....

, that was just a few kilometres north of the village. In 1423/24 it was burned down for the second time - this time by troops of the Margrave

Margrave

A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...

 of the County Mark who fought a war against his own brother. In 1701 Stockum became a part of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

, 1752 the first coal mine was built - and the era of mining began. This era ended in 1904. In 1929 Stockum became a borough of Witten.