Aschbach, Rhineland-Palatinate

Aschbach
Coat of arms
Aschbach
Location of Aschbach within Kusel district
Coordinates: 49°36′1″N 7°34′37″E / 49.60028°N 7.57694°E / 49.60028; 7.57694Coordinates: 49°36′1″N 7°34′37″E / 49.60028°N 7.57694°E / 49.60028; 7.57694
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Kusel
Municipal assoc.	Lauterecken-Wolfstein
Government
• Mayor	Herbert Mäurer
Area
• Total	4.46 km2 (1.72 sq mi)
Elevation	270 m (890 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	331
• Density	74/km2 (190/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	67753
Dialling codes	06304
Vehicle registration	KUS

Aschbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde Lauterecken-Wolfstein.

The municipality lies on the north side of the Königsberg, a mountain in the North Palatine Uplands, in the narrow valley of the like-named brook, the Aschbach, some 260 m above sea level. The Aschbach rises on the north slope of the Hahnenkopf, a lesser peak in the Königsberg group, and flows northnorthwestwards towards the Glan. The elevations around the village reach more than 500 m above sea level in the Königsberg area, but otherwise between 300 and 400 m above sea level elsewhere. These are some selected local peaks:

The municipal area measures 446 ha, of which 18 ha is settled and 80 ha is wooded.

Aschbach borders in the north on the municipality of Offenbach-Hundheim, in the east on the town of Wolfstein, in the south on the municipality of Eßweiler, in the southwest on the municipality of Oberweiler im Tal, in the west on the municipality of Hinzweiler and in the northwest on the municipality of Nerzweiler. Aschbach also meets the municipalities of Lohnweiler and Rutsweiler an der Lauter at single points in the northeast and southeast respectively.

The village lies mainly as a street village – by some definitions, a thorpe – along Landesstraße 368, which links the Eßweiler Tal (dale) with the Lauter valley and crosses the Aschbach valley. Branching from this thoroughfare are several streets, mostly southwards. The oldest part of the built-up area can be found in the area at the bridge across the Aschbach. Most of the buildings come from the 19th century and the earlier half of the 20th century. Newer building characterizes the village’s west end, especially. The first schoolhouse (Hauptstraße 5) was built in 1789, while a further one with two classrooms was built at the turn of the 20th century. The graveyard lies on a sidestreet in the village’s east.