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    Stadtrundgang Lage

    Medium
    3,5 km
    1:45 h
    10 m
    10 m
    102 m
    96 m
    Round Tour
    City tour
    Best Season
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    Startpoint

    Town hall

    A tour through the history of the town of Lage with 34 stops.

    A look into the past

    The exact origins of Lage are still unknown today, but urn graves and runic signs found during the construction of the Lage-Lemgo railroad (1897) and the old goods station (1874) lead to the assumption that people lived here around 4,000 years ago in the Stone and Bronze Ages.

    Lage originally meant "in der Lohge". "Loh-orte" used to be settlements surrounded by woodland with a large clearing, usually near sacred sites. This could be a reference to the St. John's Stones, as St. John's customs have been passed down from Germanic mythological culture to this day. A reference to the market church, which is dedicated to St. John the Baptist, also seems likely. There used to be a St. John's house on the market square in Lage and the oldest fair in Lage took place on St. John's Day.

    Today's town of Lage comprises the three old parishes of Lage, Stapelage and Heiden, which were founded between 800 and 1000 AD. Each parish has its own interesting history. The parish of Lage originated around 900 AD.

    Lage as a parish village was the spatial and economic center from the very beginning. Here in the Werre valley, the valley roads intersected with the military roads from the passes of the Teutoburg Forest (Dörenschlucht, Stapelager Schlucht and Oerlinghauser Schlucht). The old Roman military road under Drusus, which was built when the Romans set out from the Rhine to the Weser (from the Dörenschlucht gorge via Lage to Herford), is repeatedly mentioned under the name Hellweg.

    In 1231, "dat Kerkspel tho der Lohge" included the villages of Oberdissen (Ohrsen), Wissinctorp (Wissentrup), Stadenhusen, Otenhusen and Potenhusen.

    In 1390, the village "with the customs there" was pledged by the sovereign Count Simon III to a wealthy Lemgo merchant family. In return, the pledge holder had to build a stonework for Count Simon III, which was to be a "house of protection and need". It is assumed that this house was the castle in Lage, which was demolished by order of the Bishop of Paderborn during the Evenstein feud in 1409. The old field names and place names "Burgkamp", "Schlüsselburg" and "Burgstraße" provide further evidence of the old castle.

    In the 16th century, the village developed into a "freyen Weichbild" with a market town. While in 1533 there is still talk of the "Dorpe" Lage, the "freye Weichbild" of 1559 already emphasizes the recognition of its full "equality with the town of Detmold", i.e. the existence of early municipal privileges such as market justice, customs there, mayor, council, electors and a marksmen's corporation.

    At the time of the 30 Years' War, there was a rampart with a moat around the round village. One indication of this today is the Rhienstrasse, which probably ran along the inside of the rampart. Only 28 burgher houses, a small dairy, a mill yard and the market church survived the 30 Years' War.

    First Lage was a church village, later a "Flecken" with a town-like administration. As long as Lage was a "Flecken", spinning and weaving at home was the only secondary occupation of the farming community. Farmers were citizens who lived in the town but had their fields outside the town boundaries. During the heyday of the linen trade, Lage had the largest number of looms in Lippe. 612 master weavers and 473 assistants laid the foundations for the fame of Bielefeld linen on 808 looms. In 1609, this led to the envy of the merchants of Lemgo, who wanted to ban the "linen merchants" of Lagens from selling their goods.

    Economic hardship and a convenient location turned the town of Lage into a brick-making town from the end of the 18th century. The brickmakers' messengers were based here. On certain days from December to February, brickmakers from all over Lippe gathered on the market square to be recruited by a master brickmaker for one of the work groups. They left here to earn a living abroad, working in the Ruhr region, the Rhineland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and even Russia. Today, the small local museum in Lage and the Beermann steam brickworks in Lage-Hagen, which has been restored by the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, are reminders of this time.

    Around 1850, the invention of the mechanical loom led to the decline of the industry that was so important for the employment of the people of Lage. A misguided social policy of the Lippe prince - the setting up of mechanical looms was banned in Lippe to prevent unemployment - resulted in the loss of Lippe linen to the competition. In addition, other trades - with a few exceptions - were not allowed to establish themselves, as this right was reserved for the townsfolk and Lage was only elevated to town status in 1843.

    The decisive change from a farming town (the coat of arms still shows the plow in the field of ears) to an industrial town began at the end of the 19th century when the first railroad lines (Herford-Lage-Detmold 1880; Lage-Lemgo 1896; Lage-Bielefeld 1904) were built. Lage developed into the transportation hub of the Lippe region. The need to migrate ceased to exist as the new factories (1889 Lippische Zuckerfabrik; 1889 Lagenser Molkerei) created more and more jobs. The food and luxury food industry, which found an ideal location in Lage, should also be mentioned here. The local textile industry also became very important and was able to develop favorably despite the lack of raw materials, as Lage had a large supply of jobs and a favorable transport location. A third important branch of industry was the timber industry, especially the furniture industry.

    Today, there are a wide variety of medium-sized industries (wood industry, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, etc.) in Lage.

    As a result of the municipal reorganization in 1970, the large municipality of Lage was formed from 14 villages. The result was a town with an area of 76 square kilometers and around 37,000 inhabitants. Today, Lage is known as a brick-making town, a sugar town (because of the sugar factory) and a town of sport. Many regional, national and international sporting events take place here.

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    Stadtrundgang Lage

    32791 Lage
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    The Lage city tour starts at Lage town hall (stop 1) and takes you from there to Lage market church (stop 2). Via the Stauffenbergstraße parking lot you reach the Volksbankkugel (Station 3). From here you can already see the West Gate straight ahead of you (stop 4). The old castle used to be on the other side (Station 5). From the West Gate, follow Lange Straße in the direction of Marktplatz and turn left into Hellmeyer Straße. Follow this street for about 500 meters and you will reach the Twete at the old district court on the right-hand side. In the middle of the Twete is the "Münzbaum" sculpture (Station 6). Follow the Twete, then turn right into Gerichtsstraße and reach stations 7 (Altes Amtsgericht) and 8 (sculpture "Die große Sitzende"). On the corner of Gerichtsstraße and Lange Straße is an urban ensemble consisting of the half-timbered houses at Lange Straße 63 (Hirsch Pharmacy), Lange Straße 62 (Drüke House) and Lange Straße 64. Opposite the Hirsch Pharmacy is the "Old Cellar" (stop 12). On the market square, you can already see your next stop, the Zieglerbrunnen fountain (stop 13). Your tour now takes you further along Bergstraße (pedestrian zone) to the 1st street on the right-hand side. Turn into this street and you will reach the community center on Clara-Ernst-Platz (stop 14), with the Clara-Ernst bust (stop 15) and the fountain "Der Weg" (stop 16). Behind the Bürgerhaus, you will reach the City-Center parking lot, where you turn left to reach Rhienstraße. Follow this road in a left-hand direction and you will reach the half-timbered house at Rhienstraße 16 (Station 17). Continue along Rhienstraße until you reach the pedestrian zone again, into which you turn right. After a few meters, you will see the half-timbered house "Kleiner Schröder" on the left (stop 18) and the half-timbered house "Seppmann" opposite (stop 19). At the end of Bergstraße, turn right into Hindenburgstraße, where after a few meters you will see the house of the "Grotebrune" family (recognizable by the golden balls on the gable, stop 20). Cross the street and turn right into Schulstraße, where the former Kantorschule is located on the left-hand side (stop 21). On the opposite side, follow Pattweg (Wörthstraße) and you will reach Rhienstraße again, which you follow to the left. Following the street, you will reach stations 22 (Rhienstraße 30/32) and 23 (Rhienstraße 39). Now turn left into Friedrichstraße, which you follow until you reach Sedanstraße (2nd street on the right-hand side). Cross Sedanstraße to Sedanplatz, where you will see the Bürgerschule school in front of you on the left-hand side (Station 24). Cross Sedanplatz and you will reach Lage station (Station 25). Here you will also find two stops on the art city tour. From the station, you will see the former factory of the Elsbach company at Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 4 (stop 26). Now walk back across Sedanplatz, where you will see sculptures by the Academy for Art and Creative Living (stop 27) on the left-hand side. From Sedanplatz, follow von-Cölln-Straße and turn right into Schulstraße. This will take you back to Friedrichstraße, which you turn left into. After a few meters you will reach Rhienstraße, where you keep left. At the corner of Friedrichstraße and Rhienstraße you will find Lage's oldest inn (Station 28). A few meters behind it you will reach stops 29 (Rhienstraße 43) and 30 (Haus Trimmel, Plaßstraße 2). On Plaßplatz square you will see the "old prison", which is now the headquarters of the Lippische Heimatbund - Ortsverein Lage (stop 30). You follow Plaßstraße and reach Friedrichstraße, where you turn left and reach stops 31 (Brinkmann family house) and 31 (half-timbered house at Lange Straße 103). Via Heidensche Straße and von-Cölln-Straße you now reach the Technikum cultural center (stop 32) and the rainwater tree on the green area behind the Technikum (stop 33). You can reach our starting point by following Lange Straße in the direction of Marktplatz. Before doing so, you will pass your last stop, the eaves house at Lange Straße 89.

    Clothing adapted to the weather

    Visit to the market church of St. Johann.

    From the Bielefeld-Zentrum highway exit, take the B66 in the direction of Lage. Follow the parking signs to the Stauffenbergstr. parking lot.

    Parking lot Stauffenbergstr.

    From the train station Lage you can reach the center on foot (approx. 10 minutes).

    Flyer city tour Lage

    City map

    The free "Lage city tour" flyer is available from the tourist office.

    Town hall

    Stop at an Inn
    Loop Road

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    Author

    Wolfgang Thevis

    Organisation

    Stadt Lage

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    Wolfgang Thevis
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    Source: Wolfgang Thevis destination.one

    Organisation: Stadt Lage

    Last changed on 03.12.2024

    ID: t_100233927