Nettetal (, ) is a town in the district of Viersen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated in the Lower Rhine region.
History
Nettetal was founded on January 1, 1970, when the former townships Leuth, Breyell, Hinsbeck and former towns/cities
Lobberich and
Kaldenkirchen were merged. All five communities had developed around the river Nette.
Lobberich, Hinsbeck, and Leuth belonged historically to the Upper Guelders and thus to the Southern Netherlands. During the War of the Spanish Succession, these places were occupied by Prussia, along with the other municipalities that went on to form Prussian Upper Guelders in 1713.
Kaldenkirchen, Breyell and Schaag, on the other hand, historically belonged to the Duchy of Jülich.
Nettetal originally contained five boroughs, until Schaag separated from Breyell in 1995, becoming the sixth borough.
At the time of its formation, it was considered too problematic to try and combine all five coats of arms into one, so a new coat of arm was introduced in 1971. It shows a water lily before a blue blackground, symbolizing the predominance of nature and the variety of lakes. Five water lily leaves represent the five founding boroughs of Nettetal.
Dialect
The dialect originally spoken in
Hinsbeck (and in the entire municipality of Nettetal) lies on the dividing line between
Kleverlandish and South Low Franconian, which is almost identical to the
Limburgish spoken in nearby Netherlands.
Demographics
Nettetal's six boroughs, with populations per its own census, as of December 2020:
Geography
Nettetal is located in the middle of the cross-border Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park, along the border with the
Netherlands (the northwest edges of Kaldenkirchen and Leuth touch the border), approximately north-west of Mönchengladbach, Germany, and south-east of
Venlo, Netherlands. The Jenische, large number of a local minority lives nearby in the area.
In addition to the river Nette, peat mining from the 16th to the 19th century has resulted in the formation of twelve lakes in the municipality.
The Nette, broad forest, heath areas and lakes (see next section) make Nettetal a central resort in the Maas-Schwalm-Nette Nature Park.
Lakes
Nettetal features 12 lakes, with a combined area of .
Fed by the Nette:
-
Kleiner Breyeller See (5.3 ha)
-
Großer Breyeller See (9.2 ha)
-
Nettebruch (13.2 ha)
-
Windmühlenbruch (6 ha)
-
Ferkensbruch (4.5 ha)
-
Kleiner de Wittsee (4.5 ha)
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Großer de Wittsee (22.5 ha)
-
Schrolik (15.5 ha)
-
Poelvennsee (24.5 ha)
Fed by the Nette's Renne tributary:
-
Hinsbecker Bruch (37.5 ha)
-
Glabbacher Bruch (36 ha)
Fed by the Nette's Königsbach tributary:
Sights
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The 11th century Krickenbeck Castle and its park, set in the Leuth borough, surrounded by the Hinsbecker Bruch, Glabbacher Bruch, Schrolik and Poelvennsee lakes
-
The Kaldenkirchen Sequoia Farm, in the Kaldenkirchen borough, an arboretum with Giant Sequoias and more than 400 other varieties of trees, part of the "Protected area of Meuse-Schwalm-Nette"
-
A portion of the Fietsallee am Nordkanal, an international long-distance cycling route between Neuss, Germany, and Nederweert, Netherlands
-
The Galgenvenn hiking trail, voted "Germany's second most beautiful hiking trail" in 2016
Twin towns – sister cities
Nettetal is
Sister city with:
Notable people
-
Leo Anton Karl de Ball (1853–1916), German-Austrian astronomer
-
Werner Jaeger (1888–1961), classicist
-
Michael Hardt (born 1951), designer
-
Sascha Lappessen (born 1970), DJ and bandleader
-
Tuğrul Erat (born 1992), Azerbaijani footballer
External links
