Augustgroden

Coordinates: 53 ° 28 '  N , 8 ° 20'  E

Augustgroden​

Germany

Crossing the salt marshes at Augustgroden into the watt

Marshland in Augustgroden

The Augustgroden is a Groden and a farming community from Seefeld , which belongs to the municipality of Stadland in the north of the Wesermarsch district in Lower Saxony .

history

prehistory

In 1362 the Lockfleth was created by the Second Marcellus Flood . The Jade Bay was thereby connected with the Weser ; Butjadingen became an island at the same time. The shallow arm of the Lockfleth was gradually re- diked from the south over the next three centuries . In the middle of the Thirty Years' War , Count Anton Günther von Oldenburg decided to wrest the northwestern part of the Lockfleth, the “Feld an der See”, also called “Hoben”, from the sea. After overcoming great difficulties with the soft subsoil, the approximately 6 km long Hobendeich from Reitlanderzoll to Stollhammer Ahndeich was completed in 1643. With the Hoben reeve Anton Günther had 1,736 Jück reclaimed land to the sea. He had eight outworks built on it and later small Kötter houses were built along the new dike path on the inner slope ( Kötter is the regional name for villagers).

Origin of the Groden

Augustgroden in a historical context

The silting process continued slowly in front of the new Hobendeich. In the course of the following two centuries, Junge Marsch was deposited over the soft silt of the former Hobens . The more solid areas in the south and north developed favorably, so that the dikemaster Anton Günther von Münnich believed as early as 1690 that at least 500 to 1000 Jück could be diked. But it would be another 150 years before one dared to realize such plans. The domain inspection took up the planning only in 1837 and in 1853 the dyke construction was approved with the provision of 128,000 Reichstalers.

Construction of the dike

At Himmelshörne in the south, 2160 m should initially be tackled, but only 840 m were completed because the soft subsoil caused unexpectedly great difficulties. Half of the building material that was brought in disappeared into the ground without any progress being made. In 1854, 5040 m had been planned and 800 workers were hired for it. But it rained for weeks and the thrown earth kept sliding down the steep inside. After the work dragged on until mid-November, shortly before Christmas and again on New Year's Day 1855, the fresh and not yet consolidated structure was severely damaged by storm surges.

From the experiences of the years 1853 and 1854, the lesson was drawn to build the dike in the last construction phase over its entire length, but initially only halfway up, so that the loose earth could settle and solidify better from the ground up. In 1855 the last piece of the dyke was brought to the intended full height. The construction costs had been estimated at 384,000 marks, but because of the many unforeseen work, an amount of 326,000 marks had to be approved. For the total amount of 710,000 marks, 480 hectares of fertile marshland were won.

Surname

In a final report on the dike work it was said that the new Groden had received the name "August-Groden" by decree of December 17, 1856 in memory of Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August, who died in 1853 , and that it was 28,000 feet from the Hobenbrake to Beckmannsfeld Length and 1,800 to 2,900 feet wide. The term Groden (cf. to grow = to grow, to grow on) refers to new land areas washed up by the sea.

Opening up the land

Until 1853, the outside lawn in front of the old Hobendeich had been leased to farmers from the near and far area. Here, the tenants harvested the grass, which is only found on the seashore , and is called Andel (puccinellia maritima) and, due to its high mineral content, is ideal as a supplement to cattle feed.

After the dike was dyed, the Andelwiesen were plowed and tilled with grain, which, apart from a few years when it was too wet or too dry, thrived well and produced rich harvests without fertilization until the turn of the century. The domain office had only taken 18,000 marks in lease for the Andelwiesen until 1853, but the amount has now increased to 75,000 marks per year and the capital invested in the construction of the dyke could already be removed by 1884.

Initially, the Hobendeich from 1643 was only partially removed and a path was laid on its outer slope, which was paved with slag in 1925 and only more recently with an asphalt surface. In the 1930s, the earth of the " sleeping dike " was again removed to fill in the lower-lying land and the last remnants were used to repair and strengthen the Augustgroden dike after the storm surge of 1962.

colonization

The first houses built in Groden were in the extreme south near Reitlanderzoll. For the many children who had to go from Hobendeich to the distant school in Seefeld , a one-class school was built in 1908 on the Kleiweg, which runs along the outer berm of the Hobendeich, and inaugurated in 1909. The school operated until 1965.

The Kötter in the row of houses on the land side of the old Hobendeich could acquire a plot of about 6 hectares if they had sufficient agricultural buildings. In this way they became independent farmers. From the purchase contract, which the farmer Johann Hinrich Wiggermann zu Esenshamm concluded in 1912 with the Grand Ducal Ministry of Finance, it emerges that 1665.89 marks were to be paid annually for 12.8145 hectares. The donation could be redeemed in whole or in part with 25 times the amount. The buyer had to undertake to build a house on the property by November 1, 1913 at the latest, to live in it himself and to provide it with the necessary utility rooms according to the domain inspection.

In 1938 the main customs office in Wilhelmshaven built a customs house in Augustgroden.

Modern

During the Second World War , the Seefeld heavy flak battery was located in Augustgroden . Due to the storm surge on 16./17. In February 1962 there was great damage to the dike. The water hit over the dike cap and destroyed considerable parts of the inner slope. Experience from this storm surge led to the dike being raised by 1.60 m and the embankments being flattened. The flatter slope is intended to prevent the dike cap from being flooded and thus landslides on the inner slope.

Demographics

year	Residents
1880	45
1885	5
1905	6th
1910	14th
1925	110
1933	105
1939	136
1946	307
1950	290
1961	133
1970	213

literature

• Christian Künnemann: Sea and people on the Jade Bay. Oldenburg 1936, DNB 574814701 .
• Adolf Blumenberg: Home on the Jade Bay. Nordenham 1997, ISBN 3-9805444-1-9 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ K.-H. Ziessow / S. Thalmann: Oldenburgisches Ortlexikon AK . Ed .: Albrecht Eckhardt. tape 2 . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2010, p. 52 .
2. ↑ K.-H. Ziessow / S. Thalmann: Oldenburgisches Ortlexikon AK . Ed .: Albrecht Eckhardt. tape 2 . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2010, p. 52 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} K.-H. Ziessow / S. Thalmann: Oldenburgisches Ortlexikon AK . Ed .: Albrecht Eckhardt. tape 2 . Isensee Verlag, Oldenburg 2010, p. 52 .