Werdohl

Town hall

Coat of arms

Werdohl

Location of Werdohl within Märkischer Kreis district

Coordinates: 51°16′N 07°46′E / 51.267°N 7.767°ECoordinates: 51°16′N 07°46′E / 51.267°N 7.767°E

Country

Germany

State

North Rhine-Westphalia

Government

• Mayor

Siegfried Griebsch (SPD)

Area

• Total

33.35 km² (12.88 sq mi)

Elevation

162 - 448 m (−1,308 ft)

Population (2015-12-31)

• Total

18,002

• Density

540/km² (1,400/sq mi)

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

58791

02392

Website

Werdohl is a town in the district Märkischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Werdohl is located in the hills of the Sauerland, at a double meander of the river Lenne and its confluent, the Verse. The highest elevation is the Hölzerne Klinke with 448.8m above sea level, the lowest is in valley of Lenne at the boundary to the city Altena with 162m. Werdohl shares borders with (clockwise) Altena, Neuenrade, Plettenberg, Herscheid and Lüdenscheid. A large part of the area, about 19.2 km², is meadows and forests and is used for agriculture and forestry, followed by 3.18 km² of residential areas and 1.24 km² are commercial and industrial areas.

The city centre is located at the banks of the river Lenne and at the foot of surrounding hills. The townships are Versevörde, where the river Verse flows into the river Lenne, Königsburg, Rodt and Erlhagen.

Kettling lies upstream of the Lenne at the border to Plettenberg. Ütterlingsen, Dresel and Elverlingsen are downstream of the Lenne towards the border to Altena.

Following the Verse from upstream from Versevörde to Lüdenscheid, the townships Osmecke, Pungelscheid, Kleinhammer, Eveking, Bärenstein and Oberborbecke are located upstream in the valley of the Verse (Versetal) or on the hills forming the valley.

The first document which mentions Werdohl dates to the year 1101. Bishop Heinrich II. from Paderborn mentions the church of Werdohl, which was donated by count Erpo of Padberg to the monastery Boke/Flechtdorf. In 1220 the Priorat Berentrop took over the ownership, which in 1300 was bought by count Everhard II. of the Mark.

Werdohl was long administrated in the Amt Neuenrade, however at the end of the 19th century the population of Werdohl was higher than those of the other municipalities in the Amt together. On June 1, 1891 Werdohl left the Amt and became self-administrated, after it failed to get the seat of the Amt administration to be moved to Werdohl. On April 19, 1936 the municipality received city rights.

The coat of arms of Werdohl shows a rose, which was already present in the seal of the church. To the right are three chain segments, the symbol of the family Neuhoff, a noble family which resided in the municipality in the past. The bottom part shows the red-white chequered bordure as the symbols of the counts of the Mark.

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Wikipedia