Dornburg, Hesse


Dornburg is a community in the Westerwald in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.

Geography

Neighbouring communities

Dornburg borders in the north and west on communities in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, with the other neighbours all lying in Limburg-Weilburg. Among them is the town of Hadamar, historically the seat of a county.

Constituent communities

Dornburg’s Ortsteile are Frickhofen, Langendernbach, Dorndorf, Thalheim and Wilsenroth

History

The “Dornburg”, which gave the community its name after its forerunner communities were amalgamated in 1974, is a roughly 396-m-high elevation upon which are found the remains of a ringwall site from La Tène times. Within it lay a Celtic settlement rather like a town. On the Blasiusberg was a worship place. The Christian chapel built there later served until 1734 as the parish church for eleven of the area’s villages.
The founding of the five villages that now make up the community of Dornburg goes back in some cases more than 1,200 years. Wilsenroth had its first documentary mention in 879 under the name Welsenderode – meaning the area cleared by Willesind – as did also Langendernbach when Count Gebhard in the Lahngau donated property here to the St. Severus Monastery in Gemünden.
Dorndorf’s first documentary mention under the name Torndorph stems from the year 772. Frickhofen was founded sometime between 802 and 812.
In 1636, the Plague ravaged Dornburg. In Dorndorf only a single family survived.
Within the framework of administrative reform in Hesse on 1 February 1971, the community of Dornburg came into being through the amalgamation of the formerly autonomous villages of Frickhofen, Dorndorf and Wilsenroth, and then shortly thereafter Thalheim as well. Langendernbach left amalgamation to the last possible moment, the deadline on 1 July 1974. It nevertheless joined the community.

Politics

Community council

The municipal election held on 26 March 2006 yielded the following results:

Community executive

The Gemeindevorstand consists of the mayor and 10 deputies. Here, too, the CDU currently holds an absolute majority.

Mayor

Dornburg’s mayor is Andreas Höfner.

Sightseeing

In Dornburg there are various cultural offerings, mostly under the responsibility of local clubs. There is also a village museum in Wilsenroth that affords the visitor a glimpse of the local history and a chance to remember or learn what it was like to live, work and celebrate festivals in a Westerwald village in days of yore.

Economy and infrastructure

Transport

Through Langendernbach runs Bundesstraße 54.

Education

In Dornburg are found primary schools in the constituent communities of Dorndorf, Langendernbach, Thalheim and Wilsenroth. Frickhofen is home to the Mittelpunktschule St. Blasius with primary school, Hauptschule and Realschule sections.

Public institutions

Notable people that were born or lived in Dornburg include: