Gemeinde Ühlingen-Birkendorf

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Brief portrait

Brief portrait

Ühlingen-Birkendorf - the four-valley-municipality in th nature park southern Black Forest

In the process of a municipal reorganization, which took place in 1975, the towns of Birkendorf and Ühlingen merged,  thus giving their names to the new community. The previously independent villages of

Berau,  Brenden, Hürrlingen, Obermettingen, Riedern am Wald and Untermettingen became part of this municipality as well.

The entire territory lies at an altitude of 450 to 950 m above sea level and it expands across the four valleys of the Black Forest, to the west over the Mettma  and the Schlücht (canyon) and up  to the Steina to the east ( Expansion north-south direction max.10 km, west-east direction max. 15 km) .

The valleys run though the area deep into the bed rocks, in a north south direction causing a noticeable separation that reflects in the difference in mentality and independency of each of the villages. 

Because of its entire surface of 7.706 ha, of which 3.415 ha is forest area, the municipality of Ühlingen- Birkendorf is considered to be the largest community of the Waldshut district.

First settlements

Generally, it can be said that any settlement of the Black Forest worth mentioning didn’t begin until the building of monasteries, such as that of Sankt Blasien in 948.  Most of the early documented references originate from this time. The St. Blasien Monastery, in particular, dominated the ownership proportions in the region in the times to come.

Findings from prehistoric and early times in the surroundings of the community have been made merely in the form of Alemannen graves ( Mettingen and Birkendorf ). Names of places ending in *-ingen*point in general to an Alemannen settlement dating back to the 4th century. Findings and excavations from the Roman times are also known.

Indeed, the most important excavation at the beginning of this century exposed a * Villa Rustica * above the Breitenwiesen yard. What makes this structure so special is the fact that this is the most extensive Roman settlement in this area of the Black Forest.

Ühlingen-Birkendorf  today

An intense business activity has developed mainly in the small center of Ühlingen and in Birkendorf which offers an almost complete supply in trade- , commerce – and services. But trade is also blooming in the smaller villages. Any goods which cannot be found here can be supplied by the businesses of the neighbouring cities of Waldshut- Tiengen and Bonndorf.

The population increased steadily until a few years back and has reached a present number of 5.200 inhabitants. Due to the special structure of the municipality, eight villages in a general demanding topographical location, many of the infrastructure facilities are available in a multiple fashion.  In this way the community operates nowadays 4 Kindergartens ( there are 2 additional ones run by the church ) runs 4 schools -  three of them Elementary and one 9 – year elementary school- , maintains 7 cemeteries, 7 community  halls and assembly rooms and eight fire deparments.  Just by looking at this never-ending list it is obvious that Ühlingen – Birkendorf is not an ordinary community.

Because of the strenuous effort of all the people involved since the merge of the towns of   Ühlingen – Birkendorf, it has become a very attractive community in the rural area. The combination of peaceful country life and a vicinity to several cities makes this community an ideal place to live.