Horschbach

Horschbach is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Kusel-Altenglan, whose seat is in Kusel. The municipality lies at the foot of the Herrmannsberg hill in the Western Palatinate. Through Horschbach flows the village's namesake brook, the Horschbach. The village lies at an elevation of some 220 m above sea level on the north side of the Herrmannsberg (563 m above sea level) in the Horschbach valley, with most of its houses on the brook's right bank. The summit of the Herrmannsberg lies within the municipality's limits. Along the brook's left bank stretches the woodland known as the Großes Mayen, which reaches an elevation of 352 m above sea level. The Reibelsberg between Horschbach and Gumbsweiler reaches 309 m above sea level. The Spenzelberg down the valley is 305 m high. The municipal area measures 705 ha, of which 93 ha is wooded. Horschbach borders in the north on the municipality of Glanbrücken, in the northeast on the municipality of Hinzweiler, in the southeast on the municipality of Oberweiler im Tal, in the south on the municipality of Eßweiler, in the southwest on the municipality of Elzweiler, in the west on the municipality of Welchweiler and in the northwest on the municipality of Sankt Julian. Branching away from each other in Horschbach's village centre are the roads to Glanbrücken, Welchweiler and Hinzweiler, each one of which is only loosely built up. South of this mesh of roads is a housing development whose streets climb up the Herrmannsberg massif. In the village's east end stands the church, while north of the village, at the side of the road leading to Glanbrücken, lies the graveyard. Within the village itself are found the village community centre with the shooting club's clubhouse and a fire station for the villages of Horschbach, Elzweiler and Welchweiler. In 1910, some Roman coins, some potsherds and the foundations of a Roman settlement were unearthed on the Herrmannsberg.