Alfhausen

Coat of arms

Alfhausen

Location of Alfhausen within Osnabrück district

Coordinates: 52°30′07″N 7°57′05″E / 52.50194°N 7.95139°ECoordinates: 52°30′07″N 7°57′05″E / 52.50194°N 7.95139°E

Country

Government

• Mayor

Klaus Wübbolding (CDU)

Area

• Total

39 km² (15 sq mi)

Elevation

38 m (125 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

3,910

• Density

100/km² (260/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

49594

05464

Website

Alfhausen is a village in the collective municipality (Samtgemeinde) of Bersenbrück in the district of Osnabrück, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Alfhausen is located just under 27 km north of Osnabrück.

The area has a mild maritime climate affected by the moist northwest wind from the North Sea. The average annual temperature in Alfhausen is 8.5° - 9.0 °C and average annual precipitation is around 700 mm. Between May and August there is an average of 20-25 "summer days" (the climatological name for days on which the maximum temperature exceeds 25 °C).

Alfhausen was founded in 974. The name Alfhausen comes from the Low German and means "eleven houses". Its exact history is however unknown. The majority of the population is Roman Catholic. However, there are other religious communities in the town. In Early Modern times, the town came under the rule of the Kingdom of Hanover. Quite a number of its inhabitants emigrated to Baltimore in the United States.

In 1971, the Alfsee lake was created as a flood control storage basin for the River Hase; it was named after its closeness to the municipality of Alfhausen. As a popular destination for holiday makers and day trippers, the lake has gained great importance in recent years. The retention basin was extended in the 1990s by a second, in order to hold water from a larger catchment area.

The newly renovated Church of St John, built in the 13th century, is popular with couples getting married. Its interior partly dates to the Gothic era, for example the Bentheim font and the Madonna.

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Wikipedia