Hecken is an – 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 , a kind of collective municipality – in the

Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis is a district () in the middle of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The neighbouring districts are (from north clockwise) Mayen-Koblenz, Rhein-Lahn, Mainz-Bingen, Bad Kreuznach, Birkenfeld, Bernkastel-Wittlich, Cochem-Zell. His ...

(

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 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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like-named town.

Geography

Location

The municipality lies in 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 ...

some 3 km south of the town of Kirchberg, on the edge of the Kyrbach valley. The name Hecken derives from the

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

word ''hag'', meaning a hedged field or wood. Hecken's area is 3.89 km² and its elevation ranges from roughly 390 to 420 m above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

. Roughly half the municipal area is wooded.

History

In 1291, Hecken had its first documentary mention when Count Johan von

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 ...

gave his ''

Burgmann From the 12th century in central Europe, a ''Burgmann'' (plural: ''Burgmannen'' or modern term ''Burgmänner'', Latin: ''oppidanus'', ''castrensus'') was a knight ministeriales or member of the nobility who was obliged to guard and defend castles. ...

'' from

Kastellaun Kastellaun () is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality. Geography Location The town lies in the eastern Hunsrüc ...

, Herrmann von Kestilun, leave to let his wife Sophia live at the estate in Hecken should anything untoward befall him. A knightly family named itself after the village. The family's first representative, Heinrich von Hecken, belonged in 1290 to the Court of ''Schöffen'' (roughly “lay jurists”) at Kirchberg. In Hecken itself, the Counts had an estate made up of three houses and as many barns with the attendant estate lands. The oldest written text that can be found in the municipality of Hecken comes from the year 1737 and is from the Princely Margravial Badish Court Councilman and Kirchberg ''Ober

amtmann __NOTOC__ The ''Amtmann'' or ''Ammann'' (in Switzerland) was an official in German-speaking countries of Europe and in some of the Nordic countries from the time of the Middle Ages whose office was akin to that of a bailiff A bailiff is a ...

'' Seitz: :''Erstens soll ein neu angehender Untertan oder Bürger bei seinem Antritt in die Gemeinde, bevor er das Gemeinsrecht erlangt hat, schuldig und gehalten sein, einen ledernen Feuereimer zu stellen, widrigenfalls und in solange derselbe in die Gemeinde nicht an– und aufgenommen werden soll, bis er dieses befolgt und solchen Feuereimer gestellt haben wird.'' It is hardly something that sheds a great deal of light on historical developments in the 18th century, although it may offer a window on civic duties as they were defined in the

Rhineland The Rhineland ( ; ; ; ) is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly Middle Rhine, its middle section. It is the main industrial heartland of Germany because of its many factories, and it has historic ties to the Holy ...

in those days. In English, this reads: :“First, a newly prospective subject or townsman, upon coming into the municipality, before he has been granted commoner’s rights, should be bound and obliged to provide a leather fire pail, failing which he should not be accepted and admitted, until he abides by this and has provided such a fire pail.” Beginning in 1794, Hecken lay under

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of

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, ...

at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

. Among Hecken's distinctions are some 100 barrows scattered throughout the ''Bannholz'' (a wood whose function is to shield against adverse weather). It is the biggest barrow field in the middle Hunsrück. During planning work in the course of land consolidation in 1953, a neck ring, among other things, was found. This now stands as a

charge Charge or charged may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Charge, Zero Emissions/Maximum Speed'', a 2011 documentary Music * ''Charge'' (David Ford album) * ''Charge'' (Machel Montano album) * '' Charge!!'', an album by The Aqu ...

in the municipality's

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

Religion

Since 1963, Hecken's

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 ...

adherents have belonged the parish of Dickenschied in the church district of Simmern-Trarbach. The

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

are members of Saint Michael's parish in Kirchberg.

Politics

Municipal council

The council is made up of 7 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.

Mayor

Hecken's mayor is Heinz-Jürgen Ströher, and his deputies are Rüdiger Henn and Winfried Berg. (2016)

Coat of arms

The German blazon reads: ''In Gold auf grünem Dreiberg, darin ein silberner Wendelring, ein grüner Heckenrosenstrauch mit einer blau besamten roten Rose.'' The municipality's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

might in English

heraldic Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branc ...

language be described thus: Or in base a mount of three vert charged with a neck ring argent, issuant from the mount a rose stem embowed to dexter of the second with a rose gules barbed of the second and seeded azure. The rose is a

canting ' (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: , Van Ophuijsen Spelling System, VOS Spelling: , ) is a pen-like tool used to apply liquid hot wax () in the batik-making process in Indonesia, more precisely (). Traditional consists of copper wax-con ...

, as it is meant to represent what in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

is known as a ''Heckenrose'' (''Rosa corymbifera'', meaning “hedge rose” – similar to a dog rose), and thereby refers to the name Hecken. The “mount of three” in base, a charge called a ''Dreiberg'' in

German heraldry German heraldry is the tradition and style of heraldic achievements in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions. German her ...

, refers in these arms to the barrow field in the nearby woods from the Hunsrück-Eifel Culture and

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 ...

times. The neck ring refers to the one unearthed, along with other artefacts, east of the village in 1953. The arms have been borne since 1997.

Culture and sightseeing

Buildings

The following are listed buildings or sites in

’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district
/ref> * Dorfstraße 32 – bakehouse; quarrystone building, marked 1873 * Im Kappesgarten 2 – former

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

;

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 ...

building, marked 1878 (see also below) From 1878 comes the timber-frame house known as the ''Haus Ursula''. This former school was thoroughly renovated in 1978 and is now used as a meeting house by a

religious institute In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public religious vows, vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, a ...

. The former school bell hangs in a separate belltower and is rung by hand each evening, and also on special occasions such as deaths and church services.

Culture

Community life expresses itself in many kinds of activities, such as club festivals and celebrations, as well as collaborative work to reduce costs throughout the year.

Economy and infrastructure

In Hecken, there are currently (2014) two full-time

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

businesses. There is also one business in the building trade.

References

External links

Municipality's official webpage
{{Authority control Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis