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{{For|the commune in France|Hecken, Haut-Rhin}}
{{Infobox German location
| Gemeindeschlüssel = 07 1 40 048
| name              = Hecken
| image_photo       =
| image_coa         = DEU Hecken COA.svg
| coordinates       = {{coord|49|54|55|N|7|23|53|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| image_plan        = Hecken in SIM.svg
| state             = Rheinland-Pfalz
| district          = Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis
| Verbandsgemeinde  = Kirchberg
| elevation         = 420
| area              = 3.89
| postal_code       = 55481
| area_code         = 06763
| licence           = SIM
| website           = {{URL|http://www.hecken-hunsrueck.de}}
| mayor             = Heinz-Jürgen Ströher<ref>[https://www.wahlen.rlp.de/de/kw/wahlen/kd/gebiete/1400000000000.html Direktwahlen 2019, Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis], Landeswahlleiter Rheinland-Pfalz, accessed 4 August 2021.</ref>
| leader_term       = 2019&ndash;24
| party             =
}}
'''Hecken''' is an {{lang|de|[[Ortsgemeinde (Germany)|Ortsgemeinde]]}} – a [[Municipalities of Germany|municipality]] belonging to a {{lang|de|[[Verbandsgemeinde]]}}, a kind of collective municipality – in the [[Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis]] ([[Districts of Germany|district]]) in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]], [[Germany]]. It belongs to the [[Kirchberg (Verbandsgemeinde)|''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kirchberg]], whose seat is in the [[Kirchberg, Rhein-Hunsrück|like-named town]].
==Geography==
===Location===
The municipality lies in the [[Hunsrück]] some 3&nbsp;km south of the town of Kirchberg, on the edge of the Kyrbach valley. The name Hecken derives from the [[Old High German]] word ''hag'', meaning a hedged field or wood. Hecken's area is 3.89&nbsp;km² and its elevation ranges from roughly 390 to 420&nbsp;m above [[sea level]]. Roughly half the municipal area is wooded.
{{Geographic Location|width=auto
| Centre    = Hecken
| North     = [[Kirchberg, Rhein-Hunsrück|Kirchberg]]
| Northeast = [[Maitzborn]]
| East      = [[Womrath]]
| Southeast = [[Dickenschied]]
| South     = [[Lindenschied]]
| Southwest = [[Sohrschied]]
| West      = [[Dill, Germany|Dill]]
| Northwest = [[Dillendorf]]
}}
==History==
[[File:hecken05.jpg|thumb|Hecken seen from the north]]
[[File:hecken02.jpg|thumb|Hauptstraße seen from the west]]
[[File:hecken06.jpg|thumb|Hecken seen from the east]]
[[File:Hecken Gemeindehaus 2009.jpg|thumb|Municipal centre, former school]]
In 1291, Hecken had its first documentary mention when Count Johan von [[County of Sponheim|Sponheim]] gave his ''[[Burgmann]]'' from [[Kastellaun]], Herrmann von Kestilun, leave to let his wife Sophia live at the estate in Hecken should anything untoward befall him.
A knightly family named itself after the village. The family's first representative, Heinrich von Hecken, belonged in 1290 to the Court of ''Schöffen'' (roughly “lay jurists”) at Kirchberg. In Hecken itself, the Counts had an estate made up of three houses and as many barns with the attendant estate lands.
The oldest written text that can be found in the municipality of Hecken comes from the year 1737 and is from the Princely Margravial [[Baden|Badish]] Court Councilman and Kirchberg ''Ober[[amtmann]]'' Seitz:
:''Erstens soll ein neu angehender Untertan oder Bürger bei seinem Antritt in die Gemeinde, bevor er das Gemeinsrecht erlangt hat, schuldig und gehalten sein, einen ledernen Feuereimer zu stellen, widrigenfalls und in solange derselbe in die Gemeinde nicht an– und aufgenommen werden soll, bis er dieses befolgt und solchen Feuereimer gestellt haben wird.''
It is hardly something that sheds a great deal of light on historical developments in the 18th century, although it may offer a window on civic duties as they were defined in the [[Rhineland]] in those days. In English, this reads:
:“First, a newly prospective subject or townsman, upon coming into the municipality, before he has been granted commoner’s rights, should be bound and obliged to provide a leather fire pail, failing which he should not be accepted and admitted, until he abides by this and has provided such a fire pail.”
Beginning in 1794, Hecken lay under [[France|French]] rule. In 1815 it was assigned to the Kingdom of [[Prussia]] at the [[Congress of Vienna]]. Since 1946, it has been part of the then newly founded [[States of Germany|state]] of [[Rhineland-Palatinate]].
Among Hecken's distinctions are some 100 [[Tumulus|barrows]] scattered throughout the ''Bannholz'' (a wood whose function is to shield against adverse weather). It is the biggest barrow field in the middle Hunsrück. During planning work in the course of land consolidation in 1953, a neck ring, among other things, was found. This now stands as a [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] in the municipality's [[coat of arms]]<ref>[http://www.hecken-hunsrueck.de/joomla/index.php/ortsgeschichte Hecken’s history]</ref>
==Religion==
Since 1963, Hecken's [[Evangelical Church in Germany|Evangelical]] adherents have belonged the parish of Dickenschied in the church district of Simmern-Trarbach. The [[Catholic Church|Catholics]] are members of Saint Michael's parish in Kirchberg.
==Politics==
===Municipal council===
The council is made up of 7 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.
===Mayor===
Hecken's mayor is Heinz-Jürgen Ströher, and his deputies are Rüdiger Henn and Winfried Berg. (2016) <ref>[http://www.hecken-hunsrueck.de/joomla/index.php/gemeinderat Hecken’s council]</ref>
===Coat of arms===
The German blazon reads: ''In Gold auf grünem Dreiberg, darin ein silberner Wendelring, ein grüner Heckenrosenstrauch mit einer blau besamten roten Rose.''
The municipality's [[Coat of arms|arms]] might in English [[Heraldry|heraldic]] language be described thus: Or in base a mount of three vert charged with a neck ring argent, issuant from the mount a rose stem embowed to dexter of the second with a rose gules barbed of the second and seeded azure.
The rose is a [[Canting arms|canting]] [[charge (heraldry)|charge]], as it is meant to represent what in [[German language|German]] is known as a ''Heckenrose'' (''Rosa corymbifera'', meaning “hedge rose” – similar to a dog rose), and thereby refers to the name Hecken. The “mount of three” in base, a charge called a ''Dreiberg'' in [[German heraldry]], refers in these arms to the barrow field in the nearby woods from the Hunsrück-Eifel Culture and [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times. The neck ring refers to the one unearthed, along with other artefacts, east of the village in 1953.
The arms have been borne since 1997.<ref>[http://www.kirchberg-hunsrueck.de/wappenbeschreibung10.html Description and explanation of Hecken’s arms] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002172951/http://www.kirchberg-hunsrueck.de/wappenbeschreibung10.html |date=2011-10-02 }}</ref>
==Culture and sightseeing==
===Buildings===
The following are listed buildings or sites in [[Rhineland-Palatinate]]’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:<ref>[http://denkmallisten.gdke-rlp.de/Rhein-Hunsrueck-Kreis.pdf Directory of Cultural Monuments in Rhein-Hunsrück district]</ref>
* Dorfstraße 32 – bakehouse; quarrystone building, marked 1873
* Im Kappesgarten 2 – former [[school]]; [[Timber framing|timber-frame]] building, marked 1878 (see also below)
From 1878 comes the timber-frame house known as the ''Haus Ursula''. This former school was thoroughly renovated in 1978 and is now used as a meeting house by a [[religious institute]]. The former school bell hangs in a separate belltower and is rung by hand each evening, and also on special occasions such as deaths and church services.
===Culture===
Community life expresses itself in many kinds of activities, such as club festivals and celebrations, as well as collaborative work to reduce costs throughout the year.
==Economy and infrastructure==
In Hecken, there are currently (2014) two full-time [[Agriculture|agricultural]] businesses. There is also one business in the building trade.
==Further reading==
* Wolfgang Grabe, Winfried Berg: ''Hecken. Äbbes funn friah bis houd. 1290–2006. Chronik einer Hunsrückgemeinde''; Hecken: Ortsgemeinde Hecken, 2006
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons category|Hecken (Hunsrück)}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190101110415/http://hecken-hunsrueck.de/ Municipality's official webpage] {{in lang|de}}
{{Cities and towns in Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district)}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis]]