Achim

Achim lies near the Weser between Bremen and Verden. It was recorded as Acheim in 1091, when a dispute involving the archbishop of Bremen was heard here. A local court served the surrounding district, and from the fifteenth century the Clüver family held the office of its judge. The church of Saint Lawrence stood at the centre of the parish. Fire destroyed almost all of Achim in 1573, sparing the stone church. A parish school was founded beside it in 1598. During the Thirty Years' War troops repeatedly passed through the district; in 1626 an exploding Danish powder wagon started another fire that again spared the church. Some inhabitants sought refuge behind Bremen's walls.