View source for Beuren, Cochem-Zell

{{Infobox German location
|name              = Beuren
|image_coa            = 
|coordinates       = {{coord|50|5|40|N|7|4|42|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|image_plan = Beuren in COC.svg
|state        = Rheinland-Pfalz
|district         = Cochem-Zell
|Verbandsgemeinde  = Ulmen
|elevation              = 420
|area            = 10.63
|postal_code               = 56825
|area_code           = 02675
|licence               = COC
|Gemeindeschlüssel = 07 1 35 008
|mayor             = Sandra Hendges-Steffens<ref>[https://www.rhein-zeitung.de/region/aus-den-lokalredaktionen/kreis-cochem-zell_artikel,-buergermeisterwahl-in-beuren-deutliches-votum-fuer-sandra-hendgessteffens-_arid,2547454.html Bürgermeisterwahl in Beuren: Deutliches Votum für Sandra Hendges-Steffens], Rhein-Zeitung 19 June 2023, accessed 16 July 2023 (German).</ref>
|leader_term       = 2023&ndash;24  	
|Bürgermeistertitel = Ortsbürgermeisterin
}}
'''Beuren''' is an ''[[Ortsgemeinde (Germany)|Ortsgemeinde]]'' – a [[Municipalities of Germany|municipality]] belonging to a ''[[Verbandsgemeinde]]'', a kind of collective municipality – in the [[Cochem-Zell]] [[Districts of Germany|district]] in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]], [[Germany]]. It belongs to the [[Ulmen (Verbandsgemeinde)|''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Ulmen]], whose seat is in the [[Ulmen|like-named town]].

== Geography ==
Beuren, which is found on the heights above the [[Moselle (river)|Moselle]], lies in the ''Vordereifel'' (“Further [[Eifel]]” – not to be confused with the [[Vordereifel|''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Vordereifel]], which is in the [[Mayen-Koblenz]] district), only 5&nbsp;km upstream from [[Bremm]] on the Moselle. The municipality has an elevation of roughly 400&nbsp;m above [[sea level]] and an area of roughly 1&nbsp;000&nbsp;ha. There are about 500 inhabitants.

== Name ==
There are 15 places in Germany named Beuren, all of which likely draw their names from [[German language|German]] words such as ''bauen'' (“raise”, “cultivate”), ''bebauen'' (“farm” in the [[verb]]al meaning) and ''Bauern'' (“peasants”, “farmers”).

== History ==
About the year 1920 during building excavation work, a whole underground maze of passageways some 1.8&nbsp;m high with peaked ceilings, well preserved inside a cliff, was unearthed. The walls showed no trace of any work done with the customary striking tools, but rather they had been painstakingly hewn out of the stone with thrusting tools. Here and there, narrow shafts leading up to the surface had been bored, through which spoil might have been lifted in leather sacks. The apparent use of thrusting tools has given rise to the supposition that this maze of tunnels might have been the [[Ancient Rome|Romans’]] work.

Evidence of a Roman presence has also come to light at the municipality's “castle”. This complex is known as such (''Burg'' in German) on the assumption that something resembling a [[castle]] must once have stood there. All that can be seen nowadays is a ring-shaped earthen wall thirty metres across and one metre high. Nevertheless, it was here that [[potsherd]]s of Roman origin were found during drainage works. Whether this ring was the wall around a Roman watchtower – a ''[[burgus]]'' to use the word that the Romans [[Loanword|borrowed]] from [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] speech – or the bank of a Roman pond in a garden complex with a castle on the hillock next to it is unknown. However, a Roman origin seems to be beyond doubt.

Also lending weight to the proposition that there was a Roman presence in what is now Beuren is a find made a few hundred metres from the “castle”, the remnants of a [[Roman roads|Roman road]]. It lay one metre below the modern surface, which given the rate of [[Deposition (geology)|wind deposition]] in the [[Eifel]] dates the find to about 2,000 years ago.

Local recorded history, however, can shed no light on the puzzle represented by these finds. Beuren itself was a late founding, arising about 1300, and in 1744 consisted of three estates, one belonging to the Stuben Monastery, one being an [[Electorate of Trier|Electoral-Trier]] holding and one being held by the Pyrmonts. The boundaries between these three estates all met right near the “castle”, at the “Hargarten”. This might mean that settlement began on the foundations of the Roman complex.

Many cadastral names in Beuren are of [[Middle Ages|mediaeval]] or even later origin. There is, however, one traditional cadastral area whose name suggests an earlier origin. It is called the “Mur”. ''Murus'' in [[Latin]] means “wall” or “fortification”, which along with the [[Archaeology|archaeological]] finds points to Roman beginnings.

Beginning in 1794, Beuren lay under [[France|French]] rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of [[Prussia]] at the [[Congress of Vienna]].

For Beuren, the year 1834 was fateful. A great fire all but destroyed the whole village, killing one man. Also claimed by the flames were a great deal of livestock and grain stocks. The local poet from Beuren described the village's plight in one of her poems.

Between 1845 and 1860, many people from Beuren emigrated. Neediness, poverty and hunger were to blame for these people's quest for a new livelihood in the [[United States]] or [[Brazil]]. At the turn of the 20th century, a veritable flight from the countryside set in. Many inhabitants, mainly from the younger generations, moved to Germany's industrial centres and took on work there, and a great number of them also chose to settle there.

After the [[Second World War]], Beuren experienced a huge economic upswing. Many inhabitants worked at industrial jobs and the [[Agriculture|agricultural]] structure that had once characterized Beuren declined.<ref>[http://www.beureneifel.de/Chronik/chronik.html Beuren’s history]</ref>

Since 1946, Beuren has been part of the then newly founded [[States of Germany|state]] of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]].

== Politics ==

=== Municipal council ===
The council is made up of 8 council members, who were elected by [[Plurality voting system|majority vote]] at the municipal election held on 26 May 2019, and the honorary mayor as chairman.<ref>[https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/wahlen/kg/ergebnisse/1350300800.html Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2019, Gemeinderat]</ref>

=== Mayor ===
Beuren's mayor is Sandra Hendges-Steffens, and her deputies are Karl-Heinz Heinz and Gerhard Schneiders.<ref>[http://www.beureneifel.de/Ansprechpartner/ansprechpartner.html Beuren’s council]</ref>

=== Coat of arms ===
The municipality's [[Coat of arms|arms]] might be described thus: Tierced in mantle dexter argent issuant from base a cross tau sable, hanging on each arm a bell gules, sinister Or three ears of wheat slipped vert, the two outer ones with blades, in base vert an urn with two handles of the first.

== Culture and sightseeing ==

=== Buildings ===
The following are listed buildings or sites in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:
* [[Anthony of Padua|Saint Anthony’s]] [[Roman Catholicism|Catholic]] Parish Church (''Pfarrkirche St. Antonius''), Unterdorfstraße 1 – possibly [[Gothic architecture|Late Gothic]] quire, [[Baroque architecture|Baroque]] [[aisleless church]] possibly from 1716, fourth axis and tower from 1848.
* Hofstraße (no number) – former [[school]] 1832-1845, architect F. Nebel, [[Koblenz]].
* Oberdorfstraße 1 – former communal bakehouse, ''Quereinhaus'' (a combination residential and commercial house divided for these two purposes down the middle, perpendicularly to the street), partly [[Timber framing|timber-frame]], hipped [[mansard roof]], main body 18th century, expansion 1926.
* Oberdorfstraße 9 – estate complex, early 19th century, timber-frame house, partly solid, timber-frame barn.
* Oberdorfstraße 14 – estate complex from 1835, timber-frame house, partly solid.
* Schulstraße, graveyard – graveyard cross from 1845, before it a tomb.
* [[Chapel]], on ''Landesstraße'' (State Road) 103 towards [[Bad Bertrich]] near the ''Beurener Mühle'' (mill) – with a [[Jesus|Christ]] figure from the very late Gothic period.<ref>[http://denkmallisten.gdke-rlp.de/Cochem-Zell.pdf Directory of Cultural Monuments in Cochem-Zell district]</ref>

=== Sport and leisure ===
Beuren has various [[hiking]] possibilities to, for instance, a local [[waterfall]]. Other choices include hikes to the ''Schorker-Höhl'' ([[cave]]), the ''Vier-Seen-Blick'' (“Four-Lake-View”), the ''Echo-Bank'', the ''Hohe Lay'' (“High Rock”) and the ''Kuckuckslay'' (“[[Cuckoo]]’s Rock”).

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.beureneifel.de Municipality’s official webpage] {{in lang|de}}

{{Cities and towns in Cochem-Zell (district)}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Cochem-Zell]]