Knowable Kommern Open Air Museum -7
Further below, half-way down the slope, new houses were built. At first these new settlements consisted of a single farmstead. But soon the number of inhabitants in these new places also increased and additional houses were built: according to their needs, they constructed new farmsteads close to the existing ones. The houses did not stand in a row at a shared road, but grouped together randomly. These random collections of farmsteads are called Weiler (hamlets). Even when a Bergisches hamlet is large, consisting of 20 or more houses, it is still different from a village today. Namely, the church is missing, meaning that hamlets do not form their own parishes.
Knowable Kommern Open Air Museum -7
Further below, half-way down the slope, new houses were built. At first these new settlements consisted of a single farmstead. But soon the number of inhabitants in these new places also increased and additional houses were built: according to their needs, they constructed new farmsteads close to the existing ones. The houses did not stand in a row at a shared road, but grouped together randomly. These random collections of farmsteads are called Weiler (hamlets). Even when a Bergisches hamlet is large, consisting of 20 or more houses, it is still different from a village today. Namely, the church is missing, meaning that hamlets do not form their own parishes.