Steinheim, Westphalia

Steinheim is a town in Höxter district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.The middle centre of Steinheim forms the economic, cultural and social hub of the Steinheimer Börde, one of the main territories of the old Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn. This territory was known as Wethi-Weizengau in Saxon times. Particularly scenic are the foothills of the Eggegebirge.GeographyLocationSteinheim lies roughly 15 km southeast of Detmold.Constituent communitiesThe greater town of Steinheim consists of the main town of Steinheim and eight outlying villages: Bergheim EichholzGrevenhagen HagedornOttenhausen RolfzenSandebeckVinsebeckHistorySteinheim was granted town rights in 1275 by Simon I, Bishop of Paderborn.Main sightsThe Steinheim Catholic Parish Church of Saint Mary . The Town Hall, built in 1835, is a plain, two-storey plaster building in late Classicist forms.The rectory, a two-storey half-timbered house with a half-hipped roof, was built in 1729. The so-called Paradieshof was formerly the episcopal financial officer's seat. It was built in 1729 with a half-hipped roof. Renovated in 1995-96, the building has been used since that time as a kindergarten, daycare centre and shelter on the parental initiative Klabautermann e.V.The nearby Rentmeisterhaus presents itself as a late Baroque heptaxial plaster building with middle risalit and Mansard roof. It was built in 1767. It still has its original front door.In the town core after the renovations in the 1970s and 1980s, only a few older residential houses had been kept. As a rule, this usually meant plain half-timbered Dielenhäuser almost all of which had been built after the devastating town fire in 1729. Especially well preserved is Rochusstraße 22, a half-timbered Dielenhaus from 1729.Of the town wall, built beginning in 1280, one rather lengthy stretch has been preserved on the street "Hinter der Mauer" .