Abbenfleth

Abbenfleth is located in Lower Saxony on the Lower Elbe about 60 km northwest of Hamburg and is now part of the city of Stade . In the south it borders on the villages of Bützfleth and Kreuel , in the north on the village of Barnkrug , in the east lies the Elbe and in the west the small village of Depenbeck .

history

The first written mention dates back to 1124, when Margrave Rudolf I gave the Harsefeld monastery a Hufe land in Abbenfleth. According to the latest findings, Abbenfleth was settled 1000 years earlier and is therefore 2000 years old. This is evidenced by objects discovered by chance in 2008. A well-preserved clay oven and the remains of household items were found: shards of water jugs or storage pots. The shards date from 0 to 375 AD, the Roman Empire in Northern Germany. So far, however, the common opinion has been that the Elbmarsch had only been settled since the 12th century. In the past centuries, the people in the small village usually made a living from seafaring or agriculture. In 1823 the place had 162 inhabitants, in 1939 323.

Before Abbenfleth came to Stade with Bützfleth on July 1, 1972 , it was formerly a separate village with an elementary school, the Abbenflether ferry house and a harbor. In the north-west of Abbenfleth belongs the Prussian fortress Grauerort, which, built in the 19th century as a strategic location on the Elbe, was never involved in acts of war. After the Second World War, ammunition was defused here; today it is being restored as a historical site and occasionally used as a venue for events.

The panorama restaurant “Klein Helgoland”, which was approached by excursion boats from Hamburg, existed for a long time on the fortress’s former Elba. It was dismantled and now serves as a clubhouse for the Bützflether shooting club. Swimming in the Elbe has only been possible again since the late 1990s. Until then, there was a bathing ban, the trigger for this was the constant pollution of the water by (chemical) companies based on the Elbe in eastern and western Germany and eastern Europe. In order to protect the dike, the Elbe beach was enlarged by flushing, today it is a well-attended excursion destination in summer. The port is used by traditional maritime history today mainly still sailors and boaters.

Infrastructure

The main part of the village lies on Hafenstrasse, which runs from Obstmarschenweg in the west to the harbor in the east. On half of this street the Schanzenstraße branches off to the north, it leads to the Schanze, the fortress "Grauerort", and to the south the field row.

At the harbor, just before the dike gaps, the Elbstraße branches off to the north, it finally leads along the dike towards Barnkrug and also passes the fortress "Grauerort", to the south the Deichstraße leads towards Bützfleth. In Abbenfleth there is a veterinarian, a riding stable, a café and a historical fortress, which is on the one hand a museum and on the other hand a venue for public cultural offers or celebrations in a private setting. Abbenfleth is primarily a residential area and still has a high proportion of agricultural land.

There is a bus stop on Obstmarschenweg , with buses going to Stade and Drochtersen about every hour . The next kindergarten and the primary and secondary school are located in the nearby Bützfleth, secondary school and grammar school in Stade.

Abbenflether ferry house

The Abbenflether Fährhaus, the only inn and shop in the first half of the twentieth century, was for a long time the only way to make phone calls and was also the meeting place for the village community. Abandoned in the 1960s, it was demolished in the 1980s. In 1989 a boat storage facility for pleasure craft was built on the former site at the harbor.

Grauerort fortress

The Grauerort fortress was built by the Prussians between 1869 and 1879 to protect against enemy ships on the Elbe. The high Altmarsch near the Elbe fairway was used to quickly provide effective protection for the port of Hamburg at a time when tensions with France increased. The fortress was already operational during the Franco-German War of 1870/71. However, the fortress was never engaged in combat.

Since the purchase of the site by the entrepreneur Helmut Wist in 1997, the Grauerort Fortress has been restored by the "Fortress Grauerort" eV association. It has been open to the public again since 1998 (on Sundays and public holidays between April and October and all year round for groups by appointment). Today it is used as a venue and museum.

The Hochwallfort Grauerort is a type of Prussian fortress architecture from the second half of the 19th century. With its rhombus-shaped hexagonal ground plan, which is formed by a 10 m high earth wall, the fort nestles against the Elbe dike. The walls are casemated towards the Elbe. On each of the two 68 m long flanks, five modern "breech-loading recoil guns" were set up.

Towards the Elbe, the fort is secured with a 3 m high Escarpe or Carnot wall, which can be defended with cannons and rifles from two throat bunkers. The remaining walls are secured by a 20 m wide trench. The entrance is formed by a bridge, it leads through a hollow passage into the interior of the fort and is secured by a rifle box and guard bunker. At the time, the bridge was designed as a drawbridge, and the tunnel was secured by an assault barrier.

Due to the further development of weapons, the fortress was removed from the list of active fortresses in 1895 and converted into a mine depot during and after the First World War. These subsequent fixtures are now being removed in order to restore the listed complex to its original state and to be able to use it as a modern museum.

Harbor and dike

After the severe storm surges in the middle of the 20th century, the Elbe dike, which borders Abbenfleth, was renewed and, above all, increased. The barrage protects the port and the Bützflether Süderelbe from high and low water. At the level of the barrage there is a children's playground with a barbecue area at the foot of the dike . The small outer dike area north-west of the Bützflether Süderelbe became unusable for agriculture due to sand washes to protect the dike. Today it is partly fallow and is a biotope for many species, partly it is still grazed by sheep. In the southeast, the area between the dykes merges into the Bützfleth industrial area .

Abbenflether harbor today

Individual evidence

1. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 246 .

Coordinates: 53 ° 40 ′  N , 9 ° 29 ′  E