Woppenroth

Woppenroth
Coat of arms
Woppenroth
Location of Woppenroth within Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis district
Coordinates: 49°52′32″N 7°24′54″E / 49.87556°N 7.41500°E / 49.87556; 7.41500Coordinates: 49°52′32″N 7°24′54″E / 49.87556°N 7.41500°E / 49.87556; 7.41500
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate
District	Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
Municipal assoc.	Kirchberg
Government
• Mayor	Ralf Franz
Area
• Total	8.67 km2 (3.35 sq mi)
Elevation	406 m (1,332 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	252
• Density	29/km2 (75/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	55490
Dialling codes	06544
Vehicle registration	SIM, früher BKS
Website	www.woppenroth.de

Woppenroth is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kirchberg, whose seat is in the like-named town.

The municipality lies at an elevation of more than 400 m above sea level on a plateau in the central Hunsrück, roughly 7 km south of Kirchberg and 12 km southeast of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. South of the village looms the Lützelsoon, a small wooded hill region. To the west lies the Hahnenbach valley, and to the east the Kellenbach valley. The plateau stretches northwards to Dickenschied and Kirchberg.

East–west through the village runs Landesstraße (State Road) 162 from Rhaunen to Gemünden, crossing Landesstraße 184 from Kirchberg to Kirn not far east of the village.

In the Hahnenbach valley and its side valleys, Devonian slate was mined until the early 20th century. All that now bears witness to this epoch in the village’s history is some gallery entrances and tailing heaps.

Within Woppenroth’s municipal limits, tools from the New Stone Age have been discovered. Since 1945, bronze jewellery (bracelets and rings), along with clay pots, have been found in barrows dating from between 1600 and 1200 BC. “Woppenroth” is a “clearing name”, a reference to its placename ending —roth, which comes from the same root as the German verb roden, meaning “clear”. This ending and its variants —rode and —rath mainly mark places whose founding dates back to the time when the Franks took over the land. This is underscored by the village’s location in the Hunsrück’s dry, high plateaux, where the land is easier to work. The moister valleys were settled later.