Sennelager
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Country | Germany |
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Administrative region | Detmold |
| District | Paderborn |
| Elevation | 109 m |
| Coordinates | 51°46′ N 8°43′ E |
| Postal code | 33104 |
| Area code | 05254 |
| Licence plate code | PB |
| Mayor | Heinz Paus (CDU) |
| Website | sennelager.net |
Sennelager is a village in Germany that forms part of the City of Paderborn. It is notable by the presence of a British army barracks, which has led to a considerable settlement around the area of British people, as the subsequent nicknaming of the area as "Little England". Many of the British residents are involved with the army or related to someone who is, but many are also unrelated.
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[edit] Location
Sennelager lies around 5 km north of Paderborn City Centre in the West of the Senne region. The area falls under the administration of the Schloss Neuhaus/Sande wards of the city. To the South between Sennelager and the City of Paderborn is Schloss Neuhaus, to the West Sande, and to the North Hövelhof.
The river Ems, for which Hövelhof is known, has a terminus in Sennelager.
[edit] History
The name Sennelager literally translates as Camp on the Senne - a name it received in 1851 when the Prussians used the area as a training camp for their cavalry. At the time, the area belonged to what was then the Neuhaus region and was largely unpopulated. This camp was later expanded into a full training facility for the armed forces, most notably during the reign of Wilhelm II.
The word Senne itself derives from the old Low German word sinedi, meaning sand.
During the Third Reich the village was used as a military loading station, and the village's small railway station shows signs of this - although the modern rail system only uses two of the rails in the village, there are in fact six dating back from the Second World War. The Catholic order of the Salvatorians, who were based in the still-standing Heilandsfrieden House, was disbanded and driven out of Sennelager by the Nazis in 1941, and were forbidden to settle anywhere in Westphalia or in the Rhineland.
At the end of World War II, the historic military base passed first briefly into the administration of the United States Army, before a more long-term handover to the British who retain control to this day, using the area as a training facility.
[edit] Connections
The former Bundesstraße B68 runs through the village, which is now Bielefelder Straße; this now runs through to the northerly-lying village of Hövelhof. The B68 has since been replaced by the east-west A33, which can be accessed at the Paderborn-Sennelager junction.
Sennelager train station serves a regular train service that runs between the City of Paderborn itself and Bielefeld. The train operates on a roughly hourly basis, although a number of trains run in the early hours to allow for the considerable commuter traffic.
Two regular bus services, the number 1 and the number 420, connect Sennelager to Paderborn City Centre.
[edit] Culture
Modern culture in Sennelager is largely decided by the presence of the British Armed Forces in the village. The area contains several British settlements, and businesses have opened there largely to cater for this market, including a "traditional" British corner shop, several tax-free auto dealers, some British pubs and a fish and chips restaurant. There is also an industrial estate containing a NAAFI supermarket (only accessible to forces personnel and their families), car dealership and electrical goods dealer.
[edit] Education
Two British schools, one primary and one secondary exist to educate the children of the British families resident in the area. There is also a primary school, a Catholic and a civic kindergarten for the German residents. Children of German families in the area generally go on to attend secondary school in Schloss Neuhaus or Paderborn itself.
