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When there was no radio, television, newspaper, electric light or running water, the common pump served as a communication centre where the latest news was exchanged between neighbours. Neighbourhoods were formed from these pump communities with the purpose of supporting each other in the event of misfortune or hardship and providing assistance on happy occasions. This included, as noted in the statutes of the neighbourhood "Am Markt" from 1818: The neighbourhood from No. 3 to No. 11, from 119 to ..., again at the market, " promises to stand by each other in all cases, in particular in the case of births, deaths and other disasters, and buries its deceased." (Notnoaberschaft)

The neighbourhood at the market, headed by the elected wreath maker, also had the task of maintaining the pump, decorating the adjacent streets for the two processions and setting up the altar in front of the town hall. Point 3 reads: "Just as we lend each other a helping hand in times of suffering, we also share our joys jointly and fraternally."

Once a year, on St. John's Day, they enjoyed themselves "in common harmony through dance music and moral amusement". The costs for this neighbourhood celebration were covered by fees that were due when a house was purchased, by admission fees to the neighbourhood, by help in the event of birth and death, or at the wedding of one of the children.

Fines were also imposed for offences against the statutes. Official contributions were not levied. Instead, the fees and fines were paid in beer. The price for 1 tonne of beer was set at 5 daler. (According to an old Prussian measure, 1 tonne of beer = 114.5 litres). Today there are still a few neighbourhoods in Bocholt that have written mutual aid into their statutes.

The "head" of the neighbourhood is the Kranzherr or Kranzpaar, also called Gildemeister in some areas. He is responsible for ensuring compliance with the bylaws, must convene upcoming meetings and manages the treasury. In some neighbourhoods, especially those where several streets are represented, a representative is appointed for each street who collects the contributions and delivers them to the wreath master.

The duties of the Kranzherr and the Vertrauensleute are passed on to the next neighbour after the neighbourhood festival, so that in the course of time each neighbour has to perform this office once. In many cases, an entertainment committee is elected to take over the organisation of the neighbour's party.

Nowadays, however, neighbourly help is rarely called upon. In most cases, the purpose of the neighbourhood is limited to celebrating the neighbour's party and paying their last respects at the funerals of neighbourhood members.

Lit.: Oskar Reygers, From an old neighbourhood book. Münsterland, monthly magazine for local history, January 1916.

The Ringstrasse neighbourhood was founded on 18 July 1948 in Biemenhorst. Around 30 families belonged to the neighbourhood. Statutes and guidelines were drawn up. The neighbourhood was not only to be set up for socialising, families also wanted to help each other in emergencies and be there for each other, especially in the event of death. A fund was also set up into which each family paid.

Each person had to pay 30 pfennigs into the amusement fund. It was not permitted to bring strangers to the neighbourhood party. Whether brides could be brought along was decided four weeks before the festival by the Kranzherr and the entertainment committee. The guest then had to pay 3 DM. Mr Theo Theißen was elected as the first wreath master of the neighbourhood and was joined by four other people who also acted as treasurers. Accounts were kept of income and expenditure.

The cash register was audited annually by two people appointed for this purpose. The next neighbour automatically became the wreath master each year, so that everyone held the office once. The neighbours' party began with the respective wreath couple. The procession went through the streets accompanied by music, the families joined in and the procession ended at the Telake restaurant on Dingdener Straße (today "Neue Liebe"). The coffee table was laid in the banqueting hall, the girls received wreaths with colourful paper ribbons and the boys a folded paper helmet. The neighbourhood party came to an end with a dance evening at which the wreath couple of the following year were invited for the final dance.

In the meantime, the neighbourhood has grown to an average of 50 families, the festivities have changed and expanded, and the membership fees have had to be adapted to modern times. May birch trees are set up at the celebrations, with colourful ribbons cut and florets made beforehand to decorate them. While the women meet in the hallway of a small farmhouse for coffee and cake, the men have prepared surprises for the children.

In the evening, there is dancing and on Mondays, the men prepare barbecued meat after a bike ride by the women. This brings the annual neighbourhood party to a close. For silver or gold weddings, a wreath is tied, decorated with roses and hung on the door of the celebrating couple with appropriate singing. In autumn, the dead are commemorated at a service in the parish church of St. Ewaldi, and there is also a meeting convened and chaired by the wreath maker, where ideas or requests for changes can be put forward.

This neighbourhood campaigned for the construction of the small chapel "Maria Königin", Am Waldschlösschen, in 1980. With great enthusiasm and voluntary help, this place of worship was built. To this day, it is looked after and maintained by certain members of the neighbourhood "Am Waldschlösschen, Birkenallee, Im Winkel".

Lit.: Chronicle of the neighbourhood from 20.9.1948

According to the criteria in the NRW Landscape Conservation Act, there are two trees in Bocholt that are natural monuments. These are a sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), 300 metres south of Schloss Diepenbrock in Barlo, with a height of 20 metres, a trunk circumference of 6 metres and a crown diameter of 16 metres.

The second tree is an English oak (Quercus robur) on the Büdding farm, Hamalandstr. 59, with a height of 27 metres, a trunk circumference of 7.50 metres and a crown diameter of 30 metres. In addition to these natural monuments, there are a number of award-winning trees: European beech (Fagus sylvatica "Purpurea") Adenauerallee 16 Two lime trees (Tilia) Im Tangerding, Hof Tangerding English oak (Quercus robur) Binnenheide Barlo (formerly Hof Schulte-Essing) Yew (Taxus baccata) Alte Aaltener Str. 45 English oak (Quercus robur) Sporker Ringstr. 33 Two sweet chestnuts (Castanea sativa) Reusenweg 3 Two bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) Yew (Taxus baccata) Suderwick, Kath. Kirche Box tree (Buxus sempervirens) Alfred-Flender-Str. 352 European beech (Fagus sylvatica) Zum Waldschlösschen 28 When the tree protection statute was repealed on 1 August 2004, the city of Bocholt had made an inventory of all trees worthy of protection in advance.

Almost all of these hundred or so trees were placed under protection in agreement with the owners and preserved as protected landscape features.

See also: Tree nature trail.

Lit.: Karl-Heinz Janzen, Nature and culture in and around Bocholt, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 57 (2006), H. 2, p. 80-86.

Source: Information from the Department of Civil Engineering, Transport and Urban Greenery of the City of Bocholt.

A nature reserve is an area in which plant and animal species are under special protection. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Act, all actions that could lead to the destruction of or damage to the animals or plants living there are prohibited in a nature reserve.

There are five nature reserves in Bocholt, which are managed by the Lower Landscape Authority of the Borken district:

Hohenhorster
• Berge (22.7 ha, inland dunes, dry sandy grassland, broom heath)
Holtwicker
• Bach (8.5 ha, watercourse, cultural-historical snow-capped trees)
Reyerdingbach
• (6.3 ha, near-natural watercourse, swamp forest)
Reyerdingvenn
• (58.0 ha, wet meadows)
Suderwicker
• Venn (61.3 ha, of which
• 26.3 ha on Isselburg territory, wet meadows)

The successful cyclist Jutta Niehaus, born in Bocholt in 1964, was one of the best European cyclists on the track and on the road. She celebrated her first success in 1978, four years after turning to cycling. Back then, she took third place in the schoolgirl class at the German Championships. This was the starting signal for a remarkable career: in 1981 she was already a member of the German national team, and in 1984 she took part in the World Championships for the first time.

Three years later she won a stage at the "Tour de France" (1987), two years later she wore the "yellow jersey". The then 23-year-old only just missed out on gold at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, but secured a silver medal at these Olympic Games! In the same year and the following year, she was voted German "Cyclist of the Year".

Her crash at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona signalled the end of her international career for the three-time German champion, so that she could devote more time and energy to her private life. Today she is married, her name is Jutta Tiemann and she works for Bocholt city council.

Overall, Jutta Niehaus can look back on a remarkable list of successes, including three German championships, 13 runner-up finishes, two fourth-place finishes and two 6th places at the World Championships, as well as another stage win at the "Giro d'Italia" (1988) in addition to the Tour de France.

References: Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt of 25 and 27 July 1992 and information provided by Mrs Tiemann née Niehaus.

This company emerged from the original company Joh. Ruenhorst & Cie. founded in 1906. It was a contract weaving mill at Kurfürstenstr. 43. In 1919, the commercial register notes that Johann Ruenhorst died and Wilhelm Klaas joined the company. In 1920, it is noted that the heirs of Wilhelm Klaas have left the company and Bernhard Jungkamp has joined.

Since then, the company has been known as Nienhaus & Jungkamp. During the Second World War, the company was shut down in 1942 and the business was completely destroyed in 1945. As a resumption of textile production was not yet on the cards, concrete windows were initially manufactured after the war. In Bocholt, Nienhaus & Jungkamp was then called "Beton-Weberei". These windows as compensation goods then also made it possible to rebuild the weaving mill. In 1949, Wilhelm Jungkamp, born in 1921, became a personally liable partner as the son of Bernhard Jungkamp.

In the 1950s, the equipment of a clothing factory had to be taken over as a result of a transfer of ownership by way of security, and so a ready-made clothing factory was also started, but the company did not have the right clientele for this. By 1965, the weaving mill was slowly phased out and trousers etc. were only produced from bought-in fabrics by the metre. The company was then closed down completely in the 1990s.

Literature: Eduard Westehoff, Die Bocholter Textilindustrie. Unternehmer und Unternehmen, Bocholt1983, pp. 132-134.

As the area between Dinxperloer Straße and the River Aa in the west of the city became increasingly populated in the post-war years, there were also plans to separate this district from St George's parish and establish an independent parish in the Löverick district.

An initial plan to build a daughter church on Windmühlenplatz was dropped when the Capuchins agreed to run the new parish of St Laurentius. A location on Kurfürstenstraße in the immediate vicinity of the new school building was now chosen for the parish in the west. In 1962, graduate engineer Wolfgang Schwartz won first prize in a competition organised by the diocese of Münster with his plans to build a parish centre with a church, rectory, youth centre and kindergarten. The new parish was to be dedicated to the patron saint of St Norbert of Xanten. This goes back to the tradition that Norbert experienced his unusual conversion on the way from Xanten to Vreden.

It took until the spring of 1964 for the ground-breaking ceremony to take place, but in the meantime church services were already being held in the Norbert School's break hall (today's Klaraschule). The solemn consecration of the Norbert Church by Auxiliary Bishop Heinrich Baaken took place on 4 September 1965. However, it was not until 1973 that all the buildings of the parish centre were completed, when the youth centre was opened. The planned construction of a free-standing tower was not realised.

The unusual external appearance of the church soon earned it nicknames such as "Aircraft hangar", "Alleluja shed" or "Jumping hill". The interior of the Norbert Church was also characterised by a simple hall construction made of concrete and wired glass. At the time of construction, such sparse furnishings corresponded to the sober artistic understanding of sacred spaces in the post-conciliar era. Over the years, the desire for embellishment grew ever stronger.

In 1981, the artist Hermann Gottfried from Bergisch-Gladbach was commissioned to decorate the church. He created a large fresco "Jesus Christ, crucified and risen" and 12 apostle windows on the altar side. Finally, Hermann Gottfried created four windows with scenes from the life story of St Norbert, which are inserted above the entrances. To mark the 20th anniversary in 1985, a small silver shrine containing a relic of the parish patron saint was placed in the front of the altar.

In 1994, a weekday chapel was set up in the small prayer room next to the southern entrance, which initially housed a Stations of the Cross. In 1996, the church received 15 Stations of the Cross reliefs designed by Walter Mellmann. On 15 April 2000, the new organ was consecrated by H.H. Auxiliary Bishop W. Thissen It is also worth noting that the women's cycling pilgrimage, which takes place every year on the Tuesday after Pentecost, was initiated in 1978 by an altar server from the parish and has been organised by the Norbert parish ever since. Parish priest of St Norbert:

Wilhelm
• Eismann 1965 - 1975
Heinrich
• Böcker1975 - 1990
Clemens
• Kruse1990 - 1997
Dieter
• Hogenkamp since 1997

Lit.: Elisabeth Bröker, Centre of a lively parish, in: UNSER BOCHOLT Jg. 16 (1965), H. 4, p. 97-98.
Festschriften of the Norbert parish Church calendar of the Bocholt deanery

At Easter 1964, the 18-grade system of the Ludgerusschule - catholic primary school on Kurfürstenstraße was split up. At this time, many children from the new housing estate Löverick attended this school, so that a separate school became necessary for this constantly growing area. 10 classes remained at the Ludgerusschule and 8 were transferred to the newly founded " Catholic primary school in the Löverick" housing estate.

In September 1964, the new school was given the name Norbertschule. It initially remained in the rooms of the Ludgerusschule. On 26 November 1965, the school moved into the first construction phase of its own building on Kurfürstenstraße. Rector Heinrich Wegmann became the first headmaster. The school was initially a Catholic primary school (grades 1-9), but then became a community secondary school as part of the reorganisation of the school system. An extension was completed on 20 January 1975.

In the following school year, the school swapped buildings with the Klaraschule, a municipal community primary school. Community Primary School, as the latter's building on Paul-Schneider-Weg offered better opportunities for expansion. Over the next few years, specialist rooms and workshops as well as a gymnasium were put into use.

An important step in the development of the school was its establishment as an all-day main school in the year under the then headmaster Heinz Kortenhorn. As the only all-day main school in the city of Bocholt, the Norbertschule now offers homework help, further school supervision and a wide range of leisure activities in addition to lunch.

Ref: Rolf Terörde, Speech on the 30th anniversary of the Norbertschule, Bocholt 2004.

Old patrician and later commercial building Investigations by the archaeological group of the Verein für Heimatpflege in 1989, 1994 and 1995 provided evidence that the building fabric of the cellar rooms from the 15th/16th century had been preserved. Excavations in the adjoining garden to the east brought to light impressive artefacts from a well: e.g. toys, household utensils and shoes. e.g. toys, household utensils and shoes from the 17th century.

The most valuable evidence of medieval settlement was a ditch from the 13th century, which uncovered pottery shards, an iron rim fitting from a wooden spade and well remains from the 13th/14th century.

The patrician house built in the 18th century - previous buildings are not documented - was of outstanding importance due to its history and its inhabitants: influential Bocholt merchant families and acting mayors lived here with their large families.

In the 19th century, a dye works, then a weaving room and a hand spinning mill were built in the annex. After the First World War, the building was converted into a commercial building. It was first owned by the Nientimp company and from 1936 by the Böckenhoff & Honsel bookshop. After its destruction on 22 March 1945, the building was only rebuilt on one floor; the bookshop remained there until 1992. In 1995, the building and the basement rooms that had been preserved until then were demolished as they were no longer viable for a planned new building.

After the introduction of the Reformation in the Netherlands in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Catholic inhabitants were forbidden to hold church services on Dutch territory. Prince Moritz of Orange took particularly strict action against the old faith.

In order to be able to celebrate church services as regularly as possible, it was decided to move all religious gatherings to Münster territory. The fathers of the Minorite monastery in Bocholt, in particular Fr Georgius Philippi, Fr Martinus Meinering and Fr Hugolinus, made a particularly valuable contribution in this respect. They made it possible for the Dutch parish priests and faithful to visit the newly built emergency churches close to the border. The Prince-Bishop of Münster, Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1650 - 1678), actively supported them in their endeavours.

The following emergency churches were located in Bocholt:

the
• emergency church in Suderwick: In 1682, Wessel Rodespieker from Suderwick and his wife Anneken te Berge donated their house and land for the construction of an auxiliary church. Under the patronage of St Michael the Archangel, the house was initially converted into a chapel. The chapel was soon replaced by a small church on the same site where the present church still stands. A few years after the death of Bishop Bernhard von Galen, the chapel became the parish church of St Michael Suderwick. Until the middle of the 19th century, when the religious restrictions were lifted, it served as a place of worship for the Dutch Catholics.
• The
• emergency church in Spork General von Post, an army commander of Prince-Bishop Bernhard von Galen, is said to have received the Emsinck estate in Spork as a gift for his services in the military conflicts over the Borkulo dominion in the Netherlands. Probably at the bishop's suggestion, he set up a house chapel in the manor house, where services were held not only for the servants and neighbouring farmers but also for the Catholic inhabitants of the neighbouring Dutch parish of Heurne. The pastoral care was temporarily taken over by the priests of the Minorite monastery in Bocholt.
Further
• the Chapel of the Cross in Hemden (see there!).

Lit.: Bernhard Lensing, Notkirchen an der holländisch-münsterischen Grenze, in: UNSER BOCHOLT, 3. Jg. (1952), H. 8, p. 127 ? 130.

On 22 March 1945, St. George's Church with its "Päperbüsse", the baroque spire, was reduced to rubble along with Bocholt's city centre. The British soldiers who marched into Bocholt at the end of March 1945 allowed the parish administrator, Chaplain Josef Schmitz from St. Georg, to resume pastoral care of the parish of St. Georg in April 1945, before Parish Priest Hermann Aertker received his ordination as the new parish priest of St. Georg in Bocholt in June 1945.

Chaplain Schmitz built an emergency church for the parish of St. Georg in a storage room provided free of charge by the furniture factory/carpentry shop Johann Böwing (later Bocholter Laborbau) at Weidenstraße 42, in which the new parish priest Aertker was also introduced on 19 August 1945. In addition, so-called " pastoral care centres" were set up in the outlying areas of the parish of St. Georg. The chronicle of Pastor Aertker in the St. Georg parish archive reports: "Chaplain Schmitz worked quite diligently to establish pastoral care. The only pastoral care centre within the parish was the chapel in Hemden, 5 km from Bocholt.

Dr Ingendoh conducted the service there. On the first Sundays after the collapse, services were held in various farmhouses in Lowick and Holtwick. A few weeks later, the emergency parish church was built in a hall of the Böwing carpentry workshop on Weidenstraße.

The Holy Sacrifice was offered there 4 times on Sundays. Religious teacher Hackfurth provided a pastoral service in the Saale Quartier and Chaplain Schumacher in Lieder in an old school that had previously served as a youth centre for the Nazis. The Capuchins held services in the cellar of their burnt-out convent. And the Sisters of the Poor Clares, who had initially found accommodation in farmhouses after the destruction, moved into the Efing house, where a small chapel was even built."

At the end of October 1945, the emergency parish church in the Böwing carpentry workshop was moved from St. Georg to the gymnasium of the preserved St. Georg Grammar School, where services were held again on 11 November 1945. From there, it was moved to the assembly hall of the grammar school on 19 May 1946, where it remained until December 1950. On Christmas Eve 1950, the congregation celebrated the first Holy Mass in the rebuilt St George's Church. The emergency church in the Böwing carpentry workshop was also used by Catholics in the west of the city for services with priests from St George's until 1950, even after the parish of St George had moved out again.

Source:

Ursula Rüter, Extract from the Aertker Chronicle 1945-1963, in the St. Georg Bocholt parish archive, p.4 f.
Mdl. Information from Ludwig and Silvia Schmeing, Bocholt, June 2008, and Ursula Rüter and Wilhelm Schmeinck, Bocholt, July 2009.
Hans-D. Oppel, text for the photo of the month July 2009, Stadtarchiv Bocholt 2009.