Meißendorf Lakes

The Meißendorf Lakes and Bannetze Moor (German: Meißendorfer Teiche mit dem Bannetzer Moor) are a nature reserve and bird reserve of national importance on the edge of the Lüneburg Heath in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. The special importance of this nature reserve is underlined by its recognition as a major federal nature reserve project. The area derives its name from the nearby villages of Meißendorf and Bannetze. The lakes were formerly a network of ponds established for fish-farming.

The Meißendorf Lakes and Bannetze Moor nature reserve lies about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) northwest of Winsen an der Aller, and about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Hanover. To the north is the Ostenholz Moor which comes almost right up to the edge of the reserve, the River Meiße running between the Ostenholz Moor and the Meißendorf Lakes. Several kilometres to the south of the area is the valley of the River Aller.

The Sunder Estate (Gut Sunder) had its origins in a freeholding (Freihof) of the St. Michaelis Monastery in Lüneburg, with the church acting as Lord of the Manor. In 1548 the Lüneburg Chancellor at the court of Celle (Celler Hof), Baltasar Klammer, was enfeoffed with the monastery's estates in Meißendorf by Abbot Herbold of St. Michaelis Monastery. He transferred his seat, however, from the village of Meißendorf to a separate location nearer his own estates. This is the origin of the name: the German word for 'separate' is gesondert which became sonder and then sunder. On a site surrounded by ditches and small ponds a manor house (Herrenhaus) was built in the characteristic style of a Celle town house. After ownership of the estate had changed hands several times, in 1752 it was acquired by the von Schrader family. In 1881 a family cemetery was laid out northwest of the estate, in the woods by the Meiße, which is still there today. In 1977 the von Schrader family had to sell the estate for financial reasons. In 1980 the German Society for the Protection of Birds (DBV) (today the German Society for the Conservation of Nature or NABU) and the Federal Government, with the financial support of IBM, purchased a large part of the land in order to ensure the preservation of this significant wetland habitat. The Lower Saxony branch of NABU maintains a regional nature experience centre which also runs seminars. Nowadays the manor house is a listed building and is one of the most beautiful secular buildings on the heath.

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Wikipedia