History of the Oker in Wolfenbüttel
The Oker in Wolfenbüttel extends from Halchter in the south to Groß Stöckheim in the north. Outside the core city of Wolfenbüttel , the Oker flows in the original floodplain, which is predominantly characterized by arable farming, while the man-made course in the core city can be traced back to various phases of urban development and the building of bastions .
Two arms of the Oker enclose the historic city center of Dammfeste and Heinrichstadt. A ditch branches off from the southern arm at the school wall, which branches off at the main lock to the castle and in the opposite direction to the commissate, where it crosses the city center in a north direction as the Great Canal. These are the remains of a more extensive historical canal system from the 16th century, which was designed by Hans Vredeman de Vries during the expansion of Heinrichstadt. One of the most famous attractions of Wolfenbüttel can be seen on the Great Canal, the section called Little Venice , which is completely lined with houses .
The article deals with the current course of the Oker and the historical rift system, to which the numerous information boards of the urban project Wolfenbütteler Wasserwege indicate.
Today's Oker course
The floodplain above the city center
The Oker reaches today's city limits between Ohrum and Halchter at the height of the Bungenstedter Tower , where its original, meandering course to the confluence of the Altenau forms the border between Wolfenbüttel and the integrated municipality of Elm-Asse . Between Halchter on the left and the Okertal settlement on the right, it flows through the floodplain, which was initially used for agriculture, but then continues on through meadows and trees. It is crossed by steel railway bridges on the Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg and Wolfenbüttel – Schöppenstedt lines and further downstream by the Halberstädter Straße leading to Wendessen . The Lindenhalle, a sports facility and the Linden district are located on the east bank .
The further section is designed like a park, with the settlement on the east bank extending to the low terrace , while the western bank is wooded. The Oker is divided into its arm, which flows around the city center to the east, and the south arm.
Immediately behind the division, a park area is enclosed by the poor, in which the Stadtbad Okeraue, the former Wolfenbüttel waterworks with historical water tower, the city moat (duck pond) and other leisure and restoration facilities are available. Parallel to the pond, a narrow ditch connects both arms between the former telecommunications office and the Teichgarten street. It is a remnant of the southern fortification ditch and runs partly along the Harztorwall street, which it crosses under the Langen Straße leading to the south.
Eastern and northern moats
The east ditch is also called Stadtgraben or from 1599 also called Alte Oker . It essentially follows the last extension of the bastion, which can be seen in the angled sections at the correctional facility . There was a bastion there as well as above the Stadtgraben pond . The remains of another bastion can still be seen south of the rose wall. The Ravelin between the two bastions has been included in the Am Herzogtore development . The eponymous Herzogstor was located here from 1660 to 1820 and was demolished in the course of the wall demolition. The place was replaced by the classicist guard houses and the Rondellplatz on the Am Herzogtore street leading towards Braunschweig . As in Braunschweig, the fortifications were transformed into today's ramparts under the direction of Peter Joseph Krahe .
Another city gate on the Ostgraben was the Kaisertor, today the Trinity Church, which has been handed down since 1580 and also represented the eastern exit of Heinrichstadt towards Braunschweig. The route over the Oker today leads over Wallstrasse / Marktstrasse to Juliusstadt.
The Oker is dammed under the Kenosha Bridge and the course of the trench is directed to the west, takes up the Great Canal coming from the city center at the height of the Rosenwinkel and turns north to Friedrich-Ebert-Straße to the junction with the western flood ditch.
Southern and western trenches
The moat, which runs south of the core city, also essentially follows the old course of the bastion, but does not enclose the August city to the west. Coming from the south, it runs westwards along the Harz Gate Wall, is crossed by Bahnhofstrasse and passes a barrage with a fish pass . In Seeliger-Park, the inner-city ditch branches off to the main lock, while the flood limits the park to the south, turns to the north and reaches the weir on Schleusenstraße. The Oker continues northwards along Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse, the side of which it changes, to the confluence with the Alte Oker .
Inner city trenches
Main lock on the school wall
At Seeligerpark, a partial stream of the Oker flows to the main lock on the Schulwall, which dates back to the construction period of the canals under Hans Vredeman de Vries in the 16th century and regulates the flow of the Oker to the city center. Immediately below the lock, the river divides into two ditches: The castle moat, today the castle moat, turns to the north. The Schleusengraben or Kommissegraben, which flows to the Harz Gate, turns south.
Opposite the lock is the Great Zimmerhof, where from the Middle Ages to the construction of the railway, all the wood that was rafted to Wolfenbüttel on the Oker was landed.
Castle moat and mill moat
The castle moat used to branch off from the dam ditch to the west, roughly where it now crosses under the school wall and bends towards the castle. It flows around the castle, on the north side of which there was a horse pond and has now been reconstructed. A few meters further on, he crosses under Lessingplatz and passes a weir system at the former dam mill mentioned in 1462. From here it is called Mühlengraben and today flows north to the western city moat. It used to bend as a powder ditch at the library level to the east in the direction of the dam ditch.
Schleusengraben and Great Canal
The lock ditch bends north at the Harz gate to the Kommisse, where it runs in a canal lined with ashlar. While several canals used to branch off to the east, the Schleusengraben, also known as the Kommissegraben, merges with the Great Canal immediately after the passage to the city market. This also flows in a stone channel, on the east bank of which a narrow path leads and the town hall stands. The west bank is built up right up to the canal. A short distance downstream it is bridged by the Krambuden street, which is built on on both sides. In the junk shops, the canal itself is not noticeable.
It reappears in Little Venice , where the buildings reach up to the canal bank. The view into this area is easily possible from the bridge on Stobenstrasse, on the other side of which the canal flows into the upper water of the weir of the Schünemannsche Mühle, designed as a large basin. The weir crash is directly in the entrance area of the mill, which is used by the Federal Academy for Cultural Education as a guest house and event area. In the past, there was a harbor in the lower and upper water, as the name Schiffwall indicates. From here it is only about 200 meters to the confluence of the canal in the northern city moat at the street Am Rosenwinkel.
The floodplain north of the city center
Both of the river arms encompassing the city cross under Friedrich-Ebert-Strasse (Landesstrasse 614) to the north of the Meeschestadion at the Sèvres Bridge, where they also meet. The wastewater treatment plant of the city of Wolfenbüttel is located directly behind the confluence on the east bank of the Oker. At Groß Stöckheim the Brückenbach flows from the left into an area characterized by meadows. The river follows the original course of the valley, which is given in the west by the foothills of the Thieder Lindenberg and in the east by the Schieferberg am Lechlumer Holz . Some sections have been straightened, whereby the original meanders are still recognizable in the map series through dead arms or pools. In the lower areas, the section is used for meadows, but for the most part intensively agricultural for wheat and beet cultivation.
The last prominent point in the Wolfenbüttel urban area is the former Schwedendamm , of which hardly any remains are noticeable. The Oker leaves Wolfenbüttel on the A 36 motorway and becomes Oker in Braunschweig .
Use of the Oker and the Okeraue
Outside the city center, agricultural use predominates, but there are hiking and cycling trails along the Oker in the Wolfenbüttel area.
In the city center, the parks are attractive recreational areas and places for cultural events. The historic Okerarme and of course the Schünemannsche Mühle are also included in cultural events. The historical canal system invites you to explore the half-timbered town, even if the flair of a canal town is no longer present to the original extent.
Historic moats and canals
Emergence
A canal system was built from 1542 during the reign of Duke Julius in the course of the expansion and new construction of Heinrichstadt. The landscape was probably a swampy oker floodplain that had to be drained. In addition, there was a sustained need for a solid water supply. In addition, waterways were the preferred transport routes in the past. Julius commissioned the Dutchman Hans Vredeman de Vries to plan the water-technical structures.
Ditch
The location of the castle and its nearby buildings is historically also called the dam fort . This was separated from the eastern Heinrichstadt by a wide river course, which was called Dammgraben and stretched from the main lock to Schünemannschen Mühle, which was then called Neue Mühle . Its length was 267 meters, it was filled in in 1806. In the city that had previously been converted into a fortress, it also represented a clear separation of the two parts of the city, which were only combined with the Auguststadt and Juliusstadt under the name Wolfenbüttel in 1747. The Dammtor stood at the crossing of the Dammgraben until 1803 - roughly at the current pedestrian crossing from Löwenstrasse to Schloßplatz.
Schleusengraben / Great Canal
The Schleusengraben and the Great Canal were the central watercourses created from 1588 parallel to the dam ditch, from which the ditches running in west-east direction branched off and which could be used independently of the dam ditch. Little is known about their structural engineering, only stone bridges have been handed down in 1602 over the Small Canal and in 1604 over the Great Canal in the course of the Krambuden. The Great Canal was an important transport route between the headwaters of the Neue Mühle and the Harz Gate or the Zimmerhof as well as to Heinrichstadt.
Small canal
The small canal branched off to the east at the Kommisse, about the passage to the city market and ran between and parallel to Reichsstrasse and Kornmarkt, i.e. in the middle of the undeveloped area. Its length was 214 meters. The fortification of the banks with stones has been handed down from 1754. The width was 1.30 and the depth 1.60 meters, it was navigable. Brewers and butchers resided on its banks. It was later also called Muddegraben, possibly it was heavily muddy. It was backfilled before 1867.
Lazy digging
Before crossing under the Krambuden, i.e. on the north side of the city market, the Kanzleistraßen Canal branched off from the Great Canal and flowed parallel to Kanzleistraße and Langer Herzogstraße. It was probably narrower than the Little Canal and was called Fauler Graben, which may indicate its smell. It was backfilled between 1730 and 1796.
Bruchgraben and Altes Tor
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At the northern end of the Great Canal, that is, at Stobenstrasse, the Bruchgraben, where mainly tanneries and dye works , opened from the east . Since these caused a lot of water pollution, they were settled in the Middle Ages at the lower reaches of a river, while drinking water was taken from the upper reaches. The Bruchgraben merged into the Lange Graben in the east, around today's Okerstraße.
The canal was bridged at the street Am Alten Tor. A stone cobblestone bridge existed until 1910. The old gate itself was built before 1542 and was the most important gateway to Heinrichstadt until 1614. It was replaced by the Kaisertor, which was built from 1589 onwards.
Langer Graben and Harztor
The west-east canals all ended at the Lange Graben, which, coming from the Harz Gate, wound south around Heinrichstadt along Krummen Strasse, turned north at Fischerstrasse and led to the Bruchgraben. Presumably it was the fortification ditch for the old Heinrichstadt.
At the Harz Gate, which was built in 1603, the Schleusengraben branched off to the Graben leading in the direction of the Kommisse and the Lange Graben. The gate secured the important route to the south and was only demolished in 1834 when the railway connection to Harzburg was created.
Hygienic grievances
Almost all cities were faced with the problem that the drinking water supply came partly from deep wells, but to a large extent also from open waters, i.e. the rivers. These were also used as sewers for faeces and tannery water. The pure use of process water for washing clothes could also lead to the spread of germs and epidemics. In the 19th century at the latest, this became a life-threatening circumstance due to the cholera epidemics together with the exploding population growth. As in neighboring Braunschweig, it was decided to either fill in or cover as many open channels as possible and only use them as sewers. The drinking water supply in Wolfenbüttel was converted to groundwater that was extracted from the Oker gravel in front of the city.
In addition, the Heinrichstadt canals had a tendency to become extremely silted up earlier, which could be attributed to a low flow rate and the heavy input of sedimentable substances such as excrement and dirt. As a result, there is not much left of the canals and bridges, which are sometimes architecturally sophisticated.
"Wolfenbüttel Waterways"
In 2008, the city marketing company Wolfenbüttel, together with some sponsors, had 19 bilingual information boards set up in the city center under the project name “Wolfenbütteler Wasserwege”, which refer to historically interesting points. These are structures and streets, but also backfilled and now no longer visible sections of the canal system. The boards and the corresponding information flyer have been upgraded with work by the illustrator Margret Rettich .
Literature and Sources
- Stadtmarketinggesellschaft Wolfenbüttel mbH & Co. KG (Ed.): Culture route Wolfenbüttel waterways. Wolfenbüttel, 2nd edition 2008. With texts by Hans-Henning Grote, Thomas Scheliga and Lore Schönberg as well as graphics by Margret Rettich. OCLC 248834201 , download from the city of Wolfenbüttel tourism website. Retrieved January 11, 2015 .
- Dieter Matthes, Nds. Landesverwaltungsamt (Ed.): Map of the residential city and fortress Wolfenbüttel with surroundings 1741. Supplement to the map, Hanover 1994. Available as a free download in the LGN Internet shop .
- Ludwig August Faber: PROPORTIONAL ground plan of the Princely Residence City and Fortress Wolffenbüttel including the districts adjacent to them. Scale 1: 3000, Lower Saxony State Archives Wolfenbüttel K 170. A low-resolution image file can be downloaded free of charge from the LGN Internet shop .
- Stadtmarketinggesellschaft Wolfenbüttel mbH & Co. KG: Information board Wolfenbütteler Wasserwege. Panels 1 to 19, Wolfenbüttel, 2008.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stadtmarketinggesellschaft Wolfenbüttel mbH & Co. KG (ed.): Kulturroute Wolfenbütteler Wasserwege , Wolfenbüttel, 2nd edition 2008. All figures are taken from these texts.
- ↑ AK on Geolife.de Navigator. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 19, 2015 ; Retrieved January 5, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. There the ditch is called Fauler Graben , which is actually passed down for the historic canal parallel to Long Herzogstraße and Kanzleistraße.
Coordinates: 52 ° 9 ′ 40 ″ N , 10 ° 31 ′ 58 ″ E