The Nagold () is a river in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, southwestern

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 ...

. A tributary of the Enz, it gave its name to the town of

Nagold Nagold () is a town in southwestern Germany, bordering the Northern Black Forest. It is located in the '' Landkreis'' (district) of Calw (Germany/Baden-Württemberg). Nagold is recorded for the first time in a historical document dating back to ...

. It merges with the smaller Enz in the town centre of

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

Physical geography

General

The Nagold is 90.7 kilometres in length and has its source in Urnagold in the municipality of Seewald in the

Northern Black Forest The Northern Black Forest () refers to the northern third of the Black Forest in Germany or, less commonly today, to the northern half of this mountain region. Geography The Northern Black Forest is bounded in the north by a line from Karlsruh ...

and flows in an easterly direction past Nagold,

Calw Calw (; previously pronounced and sometimes spelled Kalb accordingly; ) is a Landstadt, town in the middle of Baden-Württemberg in the south of Germany, capital and largest town of the Calw (district), district Calw. It is located in the North ...

and Liebenzell and joins the Enz in

, near what is now the Parkhotel Pforzheim. The Nagold flows mainly through the

Black Forest The Black Forest ( ) is a large forested mountain range in the States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is th ...

. Around the town of Nagold (between Rohrdorf and Pfrondorf) it flows through the

Heckengäu The Heckengäu is a part of the Gäu (Baden-Württemberg), Gäu, a region in the counties of Landkreis Böblingen, Böblingen, Landkreis Calw, Calw, Landkreis Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg and Enzkreis in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Part of ...

region. At the Pforzheimer Kupferhammer, it enters the Pforzheim Enz Valley, which, like the Heckengäu, also belongs to the

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecological point of view, the naturally occurring flora and ...

of the Gäu. The Nagold is regarded by convention as a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of Enz. However, it carries more water than the upper course of the Enz at their confluence, is longer by a factor of about 2, and has a larger catchment by a factor of 3.5. Hydrographically, therefore, the main line of the Enz-Nagold- river system runs along it them. The upper Enz, however, has the wider valley and maintains its direction of flow. The upper reaches of Nagold run predominantly east and southeast as far as the town of Nagold, where it swings almost completely around, to head to Pforzheim, mainly in a northerly direction. The Nagold has formed numerous loops and 'meander hills' (''Umlaufberge''), for example at Pfrondorf (Bettenberg), in Wildberg, at Hof Waldeck (Schlossberg hill and Waldeck Castle), near Tannenberg (Rudersberg, with hillfort) and in Weißenstein. The source of the Nagold is a spring called the ''Nagoldursprung'' at Urnagold in the municipality of Seewald, on the territory of Besenfeld. After just a few kilometres, at Erzgrube, the Nagold is impounded to form the Nagold Reservoir. Up to the first town,

Altensteig Altensteig (; Swabian: ''Aldaschdaeg'') is a town in the district of Calw, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. History Altensteig was most likely given town rights by the Counts of Hohenberg around the middle of the 14th century. In 1398, the t ...

, the Nagold valley is mostly uninhabited. In front of Rohrdorf, the Nagold leaves the Black Forest, makes its great change of direction at the foot of the ruins of Hohennagold and enters the Black Forest again north of Pfrondorf. The Nagold now passes through the above mentioned meander hills as well as its most important settlements: Wildberg,

, Hirsau and

Bad Liebenzell Bad Liebenzell (; Swabian: ''Bad Liabazell'') is a spa town in the Nagold River valley, the northern part of the Black Forest. It was first mentioned in 1090 and is the heart of the Liebenzeller Mission (a religious movement). Bad Liebenzell is ...

. Between Dillstein and Pforzheim the Nagold leaves the Black Forest and enters into the former old town of Pforzheim merging with the Enz from the right and south. The Enz then continues eastwards to

Besigheim Besigheim () is a municipality in the district of Ludwigsburg in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated 13 km north of Ludwigsburg at the confluence of the Neckar and Enz rivers. The town has many old buildings and a tow ...

where it empties into the

Neckar The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern States of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar ...

Tributaries

The main tributaries of the Nagold are the: * Zinsbach, a right-hand tributary, 13.3 km long with a 33.8 km² catchment, which joins the Nagold before the town of

* Köllbach, a left-hand tributary, 10.0 km long with a 29.9 km² catchment, which joins after the town of Altensteig * Waldach, a right-hand tributary, 24.7 km long with a 157.1 km² catchment, which joins at the Nagold Knee (''Nagoldknie'') in the borough of

* Teinach, a left-hand tributary, 15.4 km long with a catchment of 61.5 km², which joins near Teinachtal. *

Würm Wurm or Würm may refer to: Places * Wurm (Rur), a river in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany * Würm (Amper), a river in Bavaria, southeastern Germany ** Würm glaciation, an Alpine ice age, named after the Bavarian river * Würm (Nagold ...

, a right-hand tributary, 53.9 km long with a catchment of 418.3 km², which joins south of Pforzheim, shortly before leaving the Black Forest

Political geography

The Nagold flows through the counties of

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt (, Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is the capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to ...

and Pforzheim (urban county). Until the great territorial upheavals around 1803 and 1806, the course of the Nagold was predominantly on the territory of Old Württemberg. Smaller areas belonged to the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the tw ...

or the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic Church, Catholic Military order (religious society), military order. It was founded in the Crusader states, crusader K ...

. Altensteig, Nagold, Wildberg, Calw and Liebenzell were the administrative centres of the Old Württemberg; Hirsau and Reuthin were Old Württemberg monastic estates. Hirsau Abbey was important in European history. The present areas around Pforzheim (territories of Weißenstein, Dillstein and Pforzheim) belonged to Baden. Rohrdorf was the seat of a

commandry In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

of the Order of Saint John under Württemberg's sovereignty. Historischer Atlas von Baden-Württemberg, Map VI/13

Transportation

The Nagold valley between Pforzheim and Altensteig forms the backbone of various main transport axes. North-south traffic between Pforzheim and Nagold and further towards Horb is carried by the B 463 and Nagold Valley Railway. Between Nagold and Altensteig the Nagold valley picks up the important east-west link of the B 28 (whose traffic increasingly however is switching further south to the direct link between Freudenstadt, Horb and Tübingen, because the B 28 between Tübingen and Freudenstadt via Herrenberg, Nagold and Altensteig runs in a large arc to the north). Until its closure in 1967 there was a narrow gauge railway between Nagold and Altensteig: the ''Altensteigerle''.

Economy

Timber rafting Timber rafting is a method of transporting felled tree trunks by tying them together to make rafts, which are then drifted or pulled downriver, or across a lake or other body of water. It is arguably, after log driving, the second cheapest mea ...

was important in the Black Forest until the early 20th century. Like the Enz, the Nagold was used to transport logs. Many places, such as Weißenstein, earned their living from timber rafting and ponds were created in the river for this purpose, e.g. near the village of Erzgrube. In the Black Forest today, the

timber industry Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

is still important; around Nagold

agriculture 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 ...

is more prominent.

Heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

and

service industries Service industries are those not directly concerned with the production of physical goods (such as agriculture and manufacturing). Some service industries, including transportation, wholesale trade and retail trade are part of the supply chai ...

play a key role, especially in Pforzheim (jewellery, precious metals, clocks, business, administration), as well as Ebhausen, Nagold, Kentheim (historic cotton mill), Calw (county town) and Liebenzell (spa).

Protected areas

On its way to its confluence with the Enz, the Nagold runs mainly through

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

s. #In its upper reaches in the county of Freudenstadt is the ''Nagoldtal'' protected area, covering 555.5

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s, which was established on 1 July 1991 as number 2.37.044 by Freudenstadt council. #In the county of Calw the protected area is still called the ''Nagoldtal''. It covers 4,384 hectares and was established by Calw council as no. 2.35.037 on 24 November 1971. #In its lower reaches to its mouth the Nagold flows through the protected are of ''Landschaftsschutzgebiet für den Stadtkreis Pforzheim'', established by the town council of Pforzheim as no. 2.31.001 on 12 December 1994.

References

Literature

* Max Scheifele: ''Als die Wälder auf Reisen gingen. Flößerei im Enz-Nagold-Gebiet''. Verlag G. Braun, Karlsruhe, 1996, .

External links

{{Wiktionary, Nagold
Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart: Teilbearbeitungsgebiet 44 Nagold
Rivers of Baden-Württemberg Rivers of the Black Forest Freudenstadt (district) Calw (district) Pforzheim Nagold Rivers of Germany