Elmlohe

Elmlohe is a village and a former municipality in the district of Cuxhaven, in Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2015 it is part of the town Geestland. It was a component municipality of the former Samtgemeinde Bederkesa.Toponomy and Coat of ArmsElmlohe derives from the homonymous elm tree and lohe, which corresponds to the Old English lea, in place names written leigh in today's spelling, or to Dutch loo, and signifies a glade or wood of glades. Elmlohe uses a canting coat of arms, showing three elm leaves on a blue ground.HistoryElmlohe emerged at the beginning of the 14th century, when the Bailiffs of Bederkesa erected a castle at the Quabben-Bach beck, a tributary of the Geeste (river). A co-founder of the castle, Werner von Bederkesa, is mentioned in a deed of 1308, issued by the Neuenwalde Nunnery. On the Free Dam, a seigniorial immunity, leading to the castle, the esquires of Elmlohe settled handcrafters and peasants subject to their patronage. The Esquires von Elme and von der Lieth prompted the construction of a church in 1346, consecrated to Saint Mary of Nazareth. The church was originally affiliated to the church in Debstedt (a part of today's Langen bei Bremerhaven) but soon became a parish of its own, due to conflicts between the Frisians there and the Saxons in Elmlohe.