Ratingen-Homberg

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The part of Ratingen city that formerly was the independent village of Homberg -at that time being in the district Homberg-Meiersberg, with its scenic view of the both churches, one Protestant and one catholic - the latter devoted to James, son of Zebedee. Both church towers together form the characteristic silhouette of Homberg ("Wiesnasen") in the surrounding meadows in the Bergisches Land.

Residential Areas

Homberg consists of an older (northern) part with about 1000 inhabitants, three taverns and two churches and a new residential area for about 5000 residents and one restaurant.

History

The first documented reference to Homberg goes back to the year of 1067.[2]

In the twelfth century the Catholic Church devoted to James of Zebedee was built.

By mid of the 14th century Homberg was part of the district office "Rheinamt Angermund" and had its own jurisdiction.[3]

1684 the first Protestant church in Homberg was built, north of the village in "im Grund".

In 1685 - opposite to the Protestant church - a Protestant school was built.

The current Protestant church was built in 1912.

As part of an ongoing restructuring of municipalities, Homberg-Bracht-Bellscheid became to be a part of the new district "Amt Hubbelrath" in county Düsseldorf-Mettmann on 29. Juli 1929

On August 14, 1959 the new waterworks started operations.

By 1. April 1967 the municipalities Homberg-Bracht-Bellscheidt and Meiersberg voluntarily merged to be Gemeinde Homberg-Meiersberg. It consisted of the village of Homberg as well as Hofermühle and Oberheide plus some solitude farms; it belonged to the jurisdiction of local court "Amtsgericht" Ratingen[4].

In 1968 the school in Meiersberg closed, so did the confessional schools in Homberg and a common school was founded, using the common building of the former confessional schools in old-Homberg.

By that time, the municipalities of Amt Hubbelrath (Hasselbeck-Schwarzbach, Homberg-Meiersberg, Hubbelrath, Metzkausen) planned to merge in 1968 to be one single municipality named Hubbelrath. The great official North Rhine-Westphalia restructuring of that year stopped these plans.[4]

In the 1970s Homberg was extended with residential areas south of the country road L2422 from Ratingen to Wülfrath (Meiersberger Straße), even covering parts of the former Meiersberg area. By now, the only school ("Christian-Morgenstern-Schule") is located in that southern area, as the former school was closed in the meantime.

Homberg-Meiersberg as a municipality only lasted for a short time and was split according to the restructuring law of Sept 10th 1974 to be effective by Jan 1st 1975. Counties of the area of Mönchengladbach/Düsseldorf/Wuppertal were affected[5]. Homberg village (both north and south area) was joined into Ratingen (together with the municipalities of Breitscheid, Eggerscheidt, Hösel und Lintorf) to be the new city of Ratingen in Mettmann County. Hofermühle was to be part of the city of Heiligenhaus, while some areas of Oberheide came to county-city Mettmann.

Traffic

Homberg is connected to Ratingen-city via country road L422 (west) as well as to the federal highways A3 (Cologne-Oberhausen) and A44 (Velbert-Düsseldorf-Mönchengladbach), while L422 east goes to Wülfrath. Country Road L156 leads to Heiligenhaus (north) as well as Mettmann (south). Public transport access is done via the VRR regional transit bus lines 748 (Wülfrath-Mettmann), 761 (Homberg-Ratingen) and 771 (Velbert-Ratingen) - with switching via 759 in Ratingen to Düsseldorf_International_Airport (EDDL,DUS).

Since the Wülfrath industry sites are connected to highways mainly along L422 through Homberg, the heavy duty transport crossing the little village has been the focus of public debates and politicians' promises. Despite noise and accidents, no substantial improvements have been achieved.

Leisure

Homberg is the starting point of biking or hiking tours in the Angertal (valley of the Anger river), which is reached via a scenic country road from the north end of the village. The valley itself is about 12miles long and goes from Ratingen to Wuelfrath, without car road but with a hiking path, the river and a remote railway line. A full tour would start at Ratingen and follow the Anger river uphill to Wuelfrath-Rohdenhaus via Flandersbacherstrasse K34, uphill through Wuelfrath and then return via road L422 back to Homberg.

A Glider airfield can be found 2 miles east of Homberg.

People

Georg Heidenreich grew up in Homberg and is now consultant to the European Commission.

References

  • 1 Weidenhaupt/Münster-Schröer, S. 136
  • 2 Weidenhaupt, Hugo; Münster-Schröer, Erika; Die Geschichte der Pfarre St. Jacobus der Ältere in Ratingen-Homberg; Düsseldorf 1997; S. 36
  • 3 Mundt, Eckart, Hackstein, Marlies; Das Amt Hubbelrath - Eine historische Studie; Opladen 1974
  • 4 GV. NW. 1967, Drucksache Nr. VI 462 (North Rhine-Westphalia Authority Print) page 38
  • 5 GV. NW. 1974 (North Rhine-Westphalia Authority Print) page 890

Coordinates 51° 17' 45" North and 6° 55' 15" East

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