Roxheim

Roxheim lies on the Katzenbach north of the Nahe.

Clockwise from the north, Roxheim's neighbours are the municipalities of Gutenberg and Hargesheim, the town of Bad Kreuznach and the municipalities of Rüdesheim an der Nahe, Mandel, Sankt Katharinen, Sommerloch and Wallhausen, all of which likewise lie within the Bad Kreuznach district.

Also belonging to Roxheim are the outlying homesteads of Rollars Mühle and Schauß Mühle.[2]

The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected by proportional representation at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman. The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:[5]

Roxheim's mayor is Reinhold Bott, and his deputies are Dietrich Braun (FWG), Klaus Niemann (CDU) and Alfred Heil (SPD).[6]

The municipality's arms might be described thus: Chequy of sixteen azure and Or, on a chief party per pale Or a bunch of grapes slipped and leafed of one gules and Or three arrows, two per saltire and the third surmounting them in pale of the first.

The bunch of grapes in dexter chief refers to the village's winegrowing and the “chequy” main field is a reference to the village's former allegiance to the Counts of Sponheim, while the three crossed arrows symbolize Saint Sebastian, who was martyred by being shot through with arrows. Indeed, this actual image can be found on Roxheim's old court seal with the circumscription Gericht Roxheim (“Roxheim Court”).[7]

Panorama of Roxheim

The following are listed buildings or sites in Rhineland-Palatinate’s Directory of Cultural Monuments:[8]

• Evangelical parish church, Hauptstraße 24 – quire tower towards 1300, belfry floor and hip roof possibly from the 18th century, Baroque nave, 1738
• Saint Sebastian’s Catholic Parish Church (Pfarrkirche St. Sebastian), Hauptstraße 71 – Romanesque Revival sandstone-block building, 1869–1871, Building Master Himpler, Wallerfangen
• Hauptstraße, graveyard – warriors’ memorial 1914-1918, steles, 1920s
• Hauptstraße 69 – Catholic rectory; Late Baroque building with hip roof, 1740; Late Baroque Crucifix, marked 1788
• Obere Kirchgasse 1 – Late Baroque timber-frame house, partly solid, late 18th century
• Untere Kirchgasse 2 – Evangelical rectory; Late Baroque plastered building, about 1750

The following clubs are active in Roxheim:[9]

• CDU Ortsverband — Christian Democratic Union of Germany local chapter
• Deutsches Rotes Kreuz — German Red Cross local chapter
• Drachen-und Gleitsegelclub Nahetal e.V. — hang gliding club
• Evangelische Zunft Von 1864 Roxheim[10] — Evangelical “guild” (see below)
• Förderverein Roxheimer Kinder und Jugend e.V. [11] — child and youth promotional association
• Freiwillige Feuerwehr[12] — volunteer fire brigade
• FWG Freie Wählergemeinschaft — Free Voters association
• Katholische Zunft Von Roxheim[13] — Catholic “guild” (see below)
• MGV “Frohsinn” — men's singing club
• Musikverein Musikfreunde — music club
• “Roxemer Theäterche” — amateur theatre group
• SPD Ortsverein — Social Democratic Party of Germany local chapter
• TUS 1906 Roxheim — gymnastic and sport club
• VfL 1976 Roxheim — exercise club

The two “guilds” mentioned in the list are associations that lend aid and comfort to the bereaved at their time of loss. The Evangelical one is in fact the village's oldest club or association of any kind, having been founded, as its name suggests, in 1864. It has stood at the ready without interruption since then, making it older than the modern, united German state itself (Unification came about seven years later, in 1871).

Roxheim has a municipal library.,[14] five playgrounds, one of which has a climbing wall,[15] grilling pavilions in the nearby woods,[16] a riding stable,[17] a small ninepin bowling alley with two lanes,[18] a hang gliding club,[19] a beach volleyball court,[20] a network of hiking trails,[21] a cycling circuit built on an old narrow-gauge railway's right-of-way[22] and a skatepark.[23]

Roxheim lies at the junction of Landesstraße 237 and Kreisstraße 51. The former also meets Landesstraße 236 in the village's east end. Both this road and Kreisstraße 51 lead southwards to a common interchange onto Bundesstraße 41, leading to Bad Kreuznach’s northeast end and the Autobahn A 61 (Koblenz–Ludwigshafen) not far beyond. Landesstraße 236 also leads northwards to meet the same Autobahn at Waldlaubersheim. Serving neighbouring Bad Kreuznach is a railway station. Branching off the Nahe Valley Railway (Bingen–Saarbrücken) here is the railway line to Gau Algesheim. From Bingen am Rhein, Regionalbahn trains run by way of the Alsenz Valley Railway, which branches off the Nahe Valley Railway in Bad Münster am Stein, to Kaiserslautern, reaching it in roughly 65 minutes. Running on the line to Saarbrücken and by way of Gau Algesheim and the West Rhine Railway to Mainz are Regional-Express and Regionalbahn trains. The travel time to Mainz lies between 25 and 40 minutes, and to Saarbrücken between 1 hour and 40 minutes and 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Unlike many other villages, Roxheim has retained responsibility for its own primary school. With the exception of a few children who come from surrounding villages, all the pupils there are from the village itself. Hence, there is no school bus service.[24] Roxheim also has a daycare centre[25] and a municipal library.[26]

Roxheim has a grocery shop, a butcher’s shop and a bakery. There are also two inns, one of which is at a winery.[27][28]

The following wineries can be found in Roxheim:[29]

• Weingut Heil
• Weingut Karl Weiß
• Weingut Merz
• Weingut Werner Hartmann
• Weinhaus Weingut Siegmar Weinsheimer