Bockenau
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Bockenau is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
belonging to a ''
Verbandsgemeinde A (; plural ) is a low-level administrative division, administrative unit in the Germany, German States of Germany, federal states of Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt. A is typically composed of a small group of Municipalitie ...
'', a kind of collective municipality – in the
Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...
district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim, whose seat is in the municipality of
Rüdesheim an der Nahe Rüdesheim an der Nahe, or simply Rüdesheim, is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ' ...
. Bockenau is a state-recognized tourism centre.


Geography


Location

Bockenau lies at the south edge of the
Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced mountain range, upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle (river), Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued ...
in the Ellerbach valley at the 380 m-high Wingertsberg and is enclosed by the
Soonwald The Soonwald () is a forested, low mountain region, up to , which forms part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It lies within the counties of Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis and Landkreis Bad Kreuznach, Bad Kreuznach in the state of ...
foothills, whose highest elevation is the
Ellerspring The Ellerspring, at , is the highest point of the Soonwald, a part of the Hunsrück mountains in the German Central Uplands. It is situated near Winterbach (Soonwald), Winterbach in the county of Landkreis Bad Kreuznach, Bad Kreuznach in the state ...
at 657 m above sea level, which is also where the Ellerbach, which passes through Bockenau, rises. The village thus lies geographically in the scenically interesting and to a great extent untouched Gauchswald (forest). As a whole, the countryside is known as the ''Bockenauer Schweiz'' ("Bockenau Switzerland"), as reflected in the name borne by the village's sport and event centre. The municipal area measures 9.66 km2.


Neighbouring municipalities

Clockwise from the north, Bockenau's neighbours are the municipality of Allenfeld, the municipality of
Sponheim Sponheim is a municipality in the district of Bad Kreuznach in Rhineland-Palatinate in western Germany. History Sponheim was the capital of the County of Sponheim. Sponheim Abbey There was a Benedictine abbey which was founded in 1101 by Steph ...
, the municipality of
Burgsponheim Burgsponheim is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Rüdesheim ...
, the municipality of Waldböckelheim, the municipality of
Nußbaum Nußbaum (or ''Nussbaum'') is an ''Ortsgemeinde (Germany), Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach Dist ...
, the municipality of Daubach, the municipality of Rehbach and the municipality of Winterburg.


Constituent communities

Also belonging to Bockenau is the outlying homestead of Lindenhof.


History

Beginning no later than the 12th century, Bockenau belonged to the
County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the cou ...
and was thereby one of its oldest landholds, and therefore lies today on the ''Sponheimer Weg'', an historically thematized hiking trail. Nevertheless, the village's origins actually go much further back. When the new building zone "In der Bein" was opened, foundations of a
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
villa rustica Villa rustica () was the term used by the ancient Romans to denote a farmhouse or villa set in the countryside and with an agricultural section, which applies to the vast majority of Roman villas. In some cases they were at the centre of a large ...
from the 3rd century AD were found. This was proved by the coins that were also unearthed. On the lands of the campground called ''Bockenauer Schweiz'', lying within municipal limits, and the settlement of ''Daubacher Brücke'' (between Winterburg and Bockenau) once lay, in the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, Nunkirchen, a homestead with a church that was owned by
Jutta von Sponheim Countess Jutta von Sponheim (22 December 1091 – 1136) was the youngest of four noblewomen who were born into affluent surroundings in what is currently the Rhineland-Palatinate. She was the daughter of Count Stephen of Spanheim. Jutta, inste ...
.


Population development

Bockenau's population development since
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
ic times is shown in the table below. The figures for the years from 1871 to 1987 are drawn from census data.


Religion

As at 31 August 2013, there are 1,241 full-time residents in Bockenau, and of those, 536 are
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
(43.191%), 477 are
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
(38.437%), 2 are
Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...
(0.161%), 32 (2.579%) belong to other religious groups and 194 (15.633%) either have no religion or will not reveal their religious affiliation.


Politics


Municipal council

The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by
majority vote A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.


Mayor

Bockenau's mayor is Jürgen Klotz, and his deputies are Rolf Stangenberg and Manfred Hay.


Culture and sightseeing


Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in
Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...
's Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Bad Kreuznach district
/ref> *
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
parish church, Winterburger Straße 21 –
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
aisleless church An aisleless church () is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways on either side of the nave and separated from the nave by col ...
, marked 1748; west tower, District Master Builder Ludwig Behr * Saint Lawrence's
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
Church (''Kirche St. Laurentius''), Waldböckelheimer Straße 9 – Romanesquified aisleless church, 1905; at the church
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
Crucifix A crucifix (from the Latin meaning '(one) fixed to a cross') is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the (Latin for 'body'). The cru ...
, marked 1892 * Lindenstraße 2 – Baroque
timber-frame Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden pegs. If the struc ...
house, partly solid, 18th century * Mainzer Straße – former bakehouse; Classicized rusticated building, 1923 * Waldböckelheimer Straße, at the graveyard – arcade hall with soldier figure, 1923 * At Winterburger Straße 3 –
spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin for 'spoils'; : ''spolium'') are stones taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction or decorative purposes. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice (spoliation) whereby stone that has been quar ...
, former keystone, 18th century * Winterburger Straße 12 – so-called ''Haus Hay''; timber-frame house, partly solid, partly slated, about 1900 * Winterburger Straße 15 – town hall; Historicized plastered building with former fire equipment room, marked 1846 * Winterburger Straße 21 – Evangelical rectory, Late Baroque building with half-hip roof, marked 1766 * Winterburger Straße 23 – Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, 18th century * Near Winterburger Straße 25 – Late
Gründerzeit The (; ) was a period of Economic history of Europe (1000 AD–present), European economic history in mid- and late-19th century German Empire, Germany and Austria-Hungary between Industrialization in Germany, industrialization and the great P ...
sandstone Crucifix, marked 1903 * Winterburger Straße 34/36 – villalike Late Classicist house (former Catholic school), about 1880 * Winterburger Straße 38/40 – former Evangelical school; Late Classicist plastered building, about 1830/1840 * Signpost, on ''
Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'' ) are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are road ...
'' 237 – Classicist sandstone
obelisk An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used th ...
, about 1820 * Signpost, at ''Landesstraße'' 238/''
Kreisstraße A Kreisstraße (, or 'county road') is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a ''Districts of Germany, Kreis'' or district or between two neighbouring districts. In importance, the ''Kreisstraße'' ...
'' 23 – Classicist sandstone obelisk, about 1820 File:Bockenau St. Laurentius 4110.jpg, Saint Lawrence's Catholic Church File:SAM 4092.JPG, Sandstone Crucifix at the Catholic church File:SAM 4115.JPG, Evangelical parish church File:SAM 4119.JPG, Evangelical parish church File:SAM 4120.JPG, Late Gründerzeit sandstone Crucifix, 1903 File:SAM 4122.JPG, Former Catholic school, about 1880 File:SAM 4105(Bockenau).JPG, Waldböckelheimer Straße, at the graveyard: arcade hall


Clubs

Bockenau has an active club life manifested mainly at the new ''Bockenauer Schweiz Halle''.


Museums

On the way out of the village to the south is found an open-air
Kleinbahn The term ''Kleinbahn'' (literally 'small railway', plural: ''Kleinbahnen'') was a light railway concept used especially in Prussia for a railway line that "on account of its low importance for general railway transport" had less strict requirements ...
museum. Visitors can discover – and even climb – two
Krauss-Maffei KraussMaffei is a German manufacturing company. It is a manufacturer of injection molding machines, machines for plastics extrusion technology, and reaction process machinery. It was acquired by ChemChina in 2016. History KraussMaffei was forme ...
narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curv ...
steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...
s, one of them of the type
ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways ( , formally or () and formerly the or ''BBÖ'' ), now commonly known as ÖBB (), is the national railway company of Austria, and the administrator of Liechtenstein's railways. The ÖBB group i ...
998, together with a restored coach and a typical guard's hut with a great signal tree from the same time period. The ''Kreuznacher Kleinbahn'' ran from 1896 to 1936 between Winterburg and
Bad Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach (district), Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke (Bad Kreuznach), Alte Nahebrücke, ...
.


Economy and infrastructure


Winegrowing

Known countrywide is the 12.5 ha Schäfer-Fröhlich winery, which belongs to the ''
Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter Verband Deutscher Prädikatsweingüter e.V. or the Association of German Prädikat Wine Estates, is an association of more than 200 wineries in Germany that promotes binding quality standards and – since 1990 – also ecological management o ...
'' (VDP).


Established businesses

The firm HAY's drop forge is with its newly expanded plant the biggest employer in the village and ensures together with its other location in nearby
Bad Sobernheim Bad Sobernheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. It is a state-recognized spa town, and is well known for two fossil discovery sit ...
more than 1,200 skilled jobs in the emergent region.


Education

Bockenau has one primary school.


Transport

Running to Bockenau's south is ''
Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with re ...
'' 41, which since 2008 has been a four-lane highway. Serving the neighbouring town of
Bad Sobernheim Bad Sobernheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. It is a state-recognized spa town, and is well known for two fossil discovery sit ...
is a
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...
on the
Nahe Valley Railway The Nahe Valley Railway () is a two-track, partially electrified main line railway in the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, which runs for almost 100 kilometres along the Nahe (Rhine), Nahe. It was built by the Rhine-Nahe Railway ...
( Bingen
Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...
) with direct service without transfer to
Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
by
Regional-Express In Germany, Luxembourg and Austria, the Regional-Express (; RE, or in Austria: REX) is a type of regional train. It is similar to a semi-fast train, with a top speed of and an average speed of about as it calls at fewer stations than ''R ...
train. Five kilometres to the northwest lies the disused Pferdsfeld military airfield, while 35 km farther on in that same direction is found
Frankfurt-Hahn Airport Hahn Airporthahn-airport.de
retrieved 30 April 2025
() , also colloquially known and formerly officially br ...
.


Famous people


Sons and daughters of the town

* Johann Friedrich Abegg (22 May 1761 – 8 August 1840 in
Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
), salesman and senator in Bremen * Rudolf Desch (1 August 1911 – 15 February 1997 in
Bad Sobernheim Bad Sobernheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. It is a state-recognized spa town, and is well known for two fossil discovery sit ...
), composer and professor


References


External links

{{Authority control Bad Kreuznach (district) Districts of the Rhine Province