Erp is a village in

Erftstadt Erftstadt () is a town located about 20 km south-west of Cologne in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name of the town derives from the river that flows through it, the Erft. The neighbouring towns are Brüh ...

, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It had about 2650 inhabitants in 2006.

Location and appearance

Erp is located 25 km south-west of

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in an open and flat landscape about 125 metres above sea level. The municipal territory covers 1630 ha. The

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

is a rich

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

. The land outside the village is entirely used for agricultural purposes, with sugar beet, wheat, barley and potatoes being the main products. A small brook, the Erpa, rises a few hundred meters west of the village and flows through it in an easterly direction. Erp's widely visible

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern-day use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures ...

is the high white tower of St. Pantaleon's church in the centre of the village. A large number of farm houses and buildings, many of which have been transformed into accommodation over the last years, still characterise the appearance of the village. A green band of meadows and gardens on both sides of the Erpa runs through the old centre. Many new buildings – mostly detached houses – built as of the 1960s around the old centre complete the picture.

History

The oldest traces of human settlement in the municipal territory go back to prehistoric times. The names of the village and of the brook Erp/Erpa are of pre-Germanic origin (from "Erl-Apa", which means "running water"). They indicate that the place has been inhabited continuously for more than 2000 years. Various objects from

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

(coins, pots, bricks) were discovered in and around the village. A visible trace of these times is the

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

between

and

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

, which runs through the south of the municipal territory. In the present day its straight route is still used as a track across the fields. In 1140 Erp was mentioned in a document for the first time. 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 ...

Erp lay in the territory of the archbishop and electoral prince of Cologne. However, the Counts of

Schleiden Schleiden () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the Eifel hills, in the district of Euskirchen (district), Euskirchen, and has 12,998 inhabitants as of 30 June 2017. Schleiden is connected by a tourist railway to Kall, German ...

residing in the town of the same name in the nearby mountains of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

and as of 1451 their successors, the Counts of Manderscheid-Blankenheim, held the power in the village. In these times almost the entire population of the village worked in the agricultural sector. During the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

in February 1642, Erp was completely destroyed (except for one house) by French and Hessian troupes. During the long reign (1644–1684) of Count Salentin Ernst of Manderscheid-Blankenheim the village was slowly rebuilt. The old

feudal system Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring socie ...

disappeared with the arrival of French troops in October 1794. The French made Erp a municipality (in French: “mairie”) as part of the French administration. After the official recognition of the annexation of the Rhineland in the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary do ...

in 1801 Erp became French; a situation that should last until 1814. The French period had important consequences for the village. The big farms which had been owned for centuries by nobles, monasteries or other religious institutions were sold by auction and became property of private persons. Moreover, the legal and administrative system changed completely. In 1815 the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

ns followed the French. They retained – except for the language and some smaller modifications here and there - the legal and administrative system introduced by the French. Erp remained a municipality in the district of Lechenich, which became district of

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian language, Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Euskirchen (district), district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating ba ...

in 1827. This administrative structure should stay for almost 150 years. In the end of the 19th century the

industrialisation Industrialisation ( UK) or industrialization ( US) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive reorganisation of an economy for th ...

started to change the rhythm of life in Erp which had been determined by the agriculture for centuries. The quarrying of

brown coal Lignite (derived from Latin ''lignum'' meaning 'wood'), often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, Combustion, combustible sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35% and is considered ...

in the nearby area of the Ville, a low ridge west of Cologne, and around Zülpich offered jobs for the local population outside of the agriculture. Moreover, in 1894 Erp got a rail way station, which allowed the transport of agricultural products beyond the immediate surroundings. This was also the beginning of the cultivation of

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

s in Erp which is still the main pillar of its agriculture. During a bomb attack on 30 November 1944 a large part of the village was severely damaged. In the beginning of March 1945 Erp was taken by American troops. Subsequently, Erp became part of the British occupation zone. In August 1946 Erp became part of the new Land

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

(in German: “Nordrhein-Westfalen”). In 1969, the municipality of Erp was integrated in the newly created town of

, a merger of a small town and several villages right and left of the river Erft. In 1975, Erftstadt was cut from the district of Euskirchen and attached to the newly created ''Erft-district'', which was renamed into ''Rhein-Erft-district'' (in German: Rhein-Erft-Kreis) in 2003.

Bibliography

*Albert Esser: ''Die Geschichte des Dorfes Erp''. 1969. *Everhard Ismar: ''Geschichte der Pfarre und Kirche St. Pantaleon Erp''. Erp 1994 *Horst Matzerath (ed.): ''Auf dem Weg zur Erftstadt - Politik und Verwaltung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, mit Beiträgen von Frank Bartsch, Horst Matzerath, Ralf Othengrafen. Schriften des Geschichtsvereins Erftstadt'', Band 2. ISBN 9783921300503, 2015 *Bernhard Schreiber: ''Archäologische Funde und Denkmäler des erftstädtischen Raumes''. Erftstadt 1999 *Karl Stommel: ''Die französischen Einwohnerlisten aus Erftstadt''. Stadt Erftstadt 1989 *Karl und Hanna Stommel: ''Quellen zur Geschichte der Stadt Erftstadt'' Band 1–5. Erftstadt 1990–1998 *Hans Welters: ''Erp, ein alter Dorfplan erzählt''. In: ''Heimatkalender des Kreises Euskirchen''. 1955.

External links

Erftstadt municipal website: Erp
{{Authority control Villages in North Rhine-Westphalia Erftstadt