Alter Postweg (district of Cuxhaven)
The Alte Postweg is today an approximately 80 km long cycle path in north-south direction through the district of Cuxhaven . The postal history significance dates back to the 18th century, when during the personal union of electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of England official mail of the English royal family was brought by horse and stagecoach to Cuxhaven to be shipped from there to England.
Today it is a cycle path that has been prepared for tourism. With the help of various sponsors, 20 information boards have been set up along the way.
history
On the edge of the Geestrücke Hohe Lieth through the district of Cuxhaven there has always been a distinctive path. Its historical significance goes back to the fact that the Electorate of Hanover and the Kingdom of Great Britain formed a personal union in 1714 .
“Due to its course on the sandy and dry ridge of the" Hohen Lieth ", the path was used as a safe trade and military route for many centuries . At that time, the sea level was even higher than it is today and large areas of the mainland, which is now protected by dikes, were flooded during storm surges. ... The sea channels were navigable and thus offered a good opportunity to transport various goods into the country and offer them for trade in sheltered places. At these points the "Alte Postweg" also crossed the gullies by fords and thus enabled a widely ramified trade network. "
In order to be able to govern the country properly, the service mail was brought from Hanover to Cuxhaven on the North Sea by riders and stagecoaches and from there shipped to England. The Alte Postweg was one of the most important routes in northern Germany.
However, the path obviously had a cultural significance before that, as evidenced by a number of ramparts and fortifications as well as prehistoric tombs. When Charlemagne advanced with his army as far as Altenwalde in the course of the Saxon Wars , the path also became very important as an army path.
In the middle of the 19th century, the route north of Bremerhaven lost its importance when local roads were built from Lehe to Langen, Sievern and Holßel. It was then mainly used as a farm road.
Since 2005 a working group under the leadership of the city of Langen and the district of Cuxhaven has formed a working group for the tourist revitalization of the path, if possible on the historical paths as a cycle path through the district of Cuxhaven. On August 14, 2009 the Alte Postweg - built with the help of EU funds - was inaugurated. Cyclists can use the Alte Postweg approx. 80 km away from the main roads on mostly well-developed cycle paths through forests, moors, heather and arable land. The areas passed through are explained on more than 20 information boards.
course
The Alte Postweg runs from Cuxhaven to the south of Hagen and currently ends at the border with the Osterholz district. In some areas it can no longer be determined historically. In the municipality of Nordholz , the route led via today's airfield and therefore had to be led around outside. The principle "as historical as possible - as deviating as necessary" was used.
In Bremerhaven, Ihlpohl , Langen and Midlum there had been streets for a long time that documented part of the route with the name "Alter Postweg".
The long-distance cycle path runs mainly on low-traffic side roads and farm roads and is easy to drive on with touring bikes. Some short sections lead over sandy sections or are unpaved. Riding with bicycle trailers is difficult on these sections.
Stations
1. Geestrandmoor To the east of Holte-Spangen there is a charming transition between the Geest in the west and the marshland at the mouth of the Elbe in the west. There is alternating wet grassland, reed beds and alder forests. When the water level is high, sedges , marigolds and cuckoo carnations can spread here.
2. Altenwalde military training area Military exercises in the Arenscher and Berenscher Heide took place as early as 1890. In 1913/14 the Altenwalde naval firing range was set up. In the 1950s and 1960s the Bundeswehr had the edges of the square reforested as "strategic groves". The Bundeswehr recognized the nature conservation value of the heathland and marshland, saved them from the practice operations and thus laid the foundation for nature to be able to recapture the area after the practice operations were abandoned.
3. Papenberghang In Gudendorf (south of Altenwalde / Franzenburg) lies the Papenberghang, on the crest of which a burial mound was designated as a natural monument in 1952 and which was named in 1991 as a "protected landscape component" by the district of Cuxhaven. At the time of the Postreiter there was a large heather area here, after too much wood was removed for dyke, ship and settlement construction as well as firewood in the Middle Ages.
4. Fish ponds in front of the Scharnstedter Geest The ponds north of Midlum were created in the years from 1880 onwards. Georg Elbrecht from Bremen began breeding trout here. In 1908, Wilhelm Holzapfel acquired the area, realized that fish farming alone was not profitable and expanded it into a farm. The many ponds that were once intensively used are now near-natural bodies of water that offer many animal and plant species a unique habitat.
5. Landscape history of the march The land of Wursten extends as a march 8 km wide and 30 km long between Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven. Here you can see many sausages on the edge of the path, artificially piled up mounds of earth on which individual farms or entire villages are built. So they should stick out of the water during floods. Today protection is guaranteed by dikes .
6. Midlumer Heiddeich The Midlumer Heiddeich was placed under protection as a natural monument in 1953. In the 14th century Such earth walls were piled up to regulate the flow of melt water and heavy rain. In the district of Ammerland there is another nature reserve with heather dyke areas.
7. Settlement history of the Geest The Geest between Bremerhaven and Cuxhaven was founded from 4,000 BC. Settled. The station board is on the Geschenberg, on which numerous graves from the Bronze Age can be found.
8. Kransburger Heide The area of the Kransburger Heide near Kransburg is a Heide nature reserve. Here an attempt is being made to convert a 10 hectare area of land back into heathland. After the soil was "hung up" by growing rye without fertilization, Schopper material, i.e. the top soil layer from heather areas, was applied. The aim is to develop a heather landscape with habitats for the typical flora and fauna.
9. Holßeler Bach lowland The Holßeler Bach rises in the Wurster Heide (Geest). The source swamp and the adjacent grassland and wooded areas through which the stream takes its way from the Geest through the marsh to the North Sea are considered to be particularly valuable.
10. Height of the ship Until the march was dyed around 1000 AD, gullies and creeks led far inland. Ships could bring goods further into the country than is possible today. Trading places emerged at the ends of these shipping routes - as in the area of Schiffshöhe. A group of five burial mounds also shows that this area around Holßel was a settlement in the 8th / 9th centuries. Century AD was.
11. From the Pipinsburg to the Dorumer Moor. North of Sievern there are several large stone graves and remains of ramparts, which document a settlement since the 3rd millennium: Pipinsburg , Bülzenbett , Heidenstadt and Heidenschanze . The circular route "From Pipinsburg to Dorumer Moor " has existed since 2005. Along the Siebenbergsheide there are burial mounds and remains of nutrient-poor whistle grass and heather.
12. Bullmersberg The Bullmersberg (north of Debstedt) is today a cultural monument - with oak and birch forest. In the 9th century the mountain also had military importance because Emperor Otto III. from here secured its territory against Normans and Vikings . Navigable channels led into the interior of the country until the march was dyed around 1000 AD. Here the post and army route survived such a channel.
13. Langer Berg The Alte Postweg runs largely along the Geestrücke Hohe Lieth . In Langen there is the Langen Berg, an originally 90 m long dam-like burial mound, in which graves from different eras were uncovered during excavations as early as 1909.
14. Pond bat waters On the Lune south of Bremerhaven there is still the pond bat , which is threatened with extinction . In FFH areas of the European Union, areas are defined for the conservation of natural habitats as well as wild animals and plants. This also includes the "pond bat waters south of Bremerhaven".
15. Brickworks on the Lune Around 1850 there was a building boom because numerous public buildings and port facilities were being built. In 1878 there were 21 brickworks between Wulsdorf, Stotel and the Alte Luneschleuse. The bricks were brought to their destination by ship across the Lune.
16. Stoteler Straße The road between Stotel and Nesse is still cobblestone today. It's one of the oldest streets in the area. There was also a castle right next to the Luneschleife. In 1350 it passed from the Count of Stotel to the Archbishop of Bremen and in 1851 it was nothing more than a looted ruin. Napoleon used Stoteler Strasse as Heerstrasse and Poststrasse. The street "Im Zollenhamm" that branches off from Stoteler Straße is a reminder that the peat boatmen in particular had to pay customs here on the Lune. Around 1820 the "Alte Chaussee" was the only connection between Bremen and the port of Bremen at the mouth of the Geeste.
17. Hahnenknooper Moore The nature reserve of the Hahnenknooper Moore (Stoteler Moor, Plackenmoor, Königsmoor near Schwegen) covers 496 hectares. In addition to many endangered species ( Crane , Viper , pond bat, short-eared owl , deer and wild boar ) are also rare plants ( cotton grass , sundew , cloudberry ).
18. Geest natural area
The area around the Bramstedter Wasserwerkswald is assigned to the Geest . In the history of settlement in Northern Germany, the Geest was taken by humans before the march because it was protected from storm surges. The most important extraction points for drinking water can be found in this natural area. Clean water is stored in the pores between the grains of sand.
19. Wall hedges Wall hedges were created in the middle of the 19th century when the previously jointly managed arable and grassland areas were divided up among the farmers. At the beginning of the 20th century, the barbed wire replaced the function of petting. Wall hedges have been protected by the Nature Conservation Act since 1935 in order to preserve structures that characterize the landscape. In them there is a diverse flora and fauna.
20. Drepte The Drepte river has its source in the Osterholz district , and flows 34 km through the Cuxhaven district from east to west. The areas on either side were sandy soils on which heather was eaten by sheep. There were mills along the stream. After the river was straightened and expanded, dikes were partly built. In Drepte siel the river flows into the Weser. The Sielbau protected the land from the flood, which reached into the Weser.
literature
- Peter Raap : The old post route and its history. An ancient transport connection from Bremen to Ritzebüttel . Niederdeutsches Heimatblatt 770 (February 2014). PDF file
- Brochure Alter Postweg -… on historical traces through the district , available from the communities along the way, z. B. at the Sievern Tourist Office, 27607 Langen-Sievern, 2010
- In the footsteps of royal riders , the old post route has been reconstructed as a long-distance cycle route ", report by the Nordsee-Zeitung on August 15, 2009
- Already important in the Stone Age , article in the series "Streets in the village of Langen and their importance" in the Nordsee-Zeitung on February 4, 2010
Web links
- Holßeler Bach lowland
- Königsmoor (Moor)
- Hagener Königsmoor
- Alter Postweg / Bremerhaven
- GPS data for the long-distance cycle path in the district of Cuxhaven
Individual evidence
- ^ Report of the opening of the old postal route in the Nordsee-Zeitung
- ↑ Press release from the district of Cuxhaven on the planning of the old postal route
- ↑ The Altenwalde shooting range at www.relektiven.com
- ↑ "Barkenkuhlen im Ipwegermoor" is a nature reserve with heather dyke areas. ( Memento from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Explanation of the term "haggle" ( memento of the original of August 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Explanation of the technique of plaguing and shoveling in heather areas
- ↑ Holßeler Bach-Niederung on "Experience nature in Lower Saxony" ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ In the area of Heidenstadt and Heidenschanze, the place Fabiranum is located at the intersection of the Sieverner Aue, which was still navigable in the 1st century AD, and the old trade route.
- ↑ see Langer Berg von Langen
- ↑ The Chronicle of Fleeste reports on the brickworks on the Lune.
- ↑ Drepteniederung viewing platform at www.natur-erleben.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
