Nienover

Municipality of Bodenfelde

Nienover and castle in 1215

Coat of arms

Nienover

Coordinates: 51°40′50″N 09°31′18″E / 51.68056°N 9.52167°ECoordinates: 51°40′50″N 09°31′18″E / 51.68056°N 9.52167°E

Country

Municipality

Elevation

175 m (574 ft)

Population

• Total

Time zone

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

Postal codes

D-37194

Dialling codes

(0) 5572

Nienover is a rural housing estate which is part of Bodenfelde. It is located in the Solling and contains one of the largest deserted medieval towns in northern Europe.

The area was used by Mesolithic hunters and gatherers. During the Neolithic period, the area was farmed. Later, during the Bronze and pre-Roman Iron Ages, there was scattered settlement. Permanent settlements came during the 8th and 9th centuries. Hethis, the site of what later became the Frankish Corvey Abbey, was founded in 815.

The Counts of Dassel founded their castle in Nienover ca. 1100. About 1200, they chose the castle as their main residence and a town was founded to the west of it. The town was destroyed twice, first in 1220, probably by the Bishops of Paderborn and then by the Guelphs in 1270. Under pressure, the Counts of Dassel sold the rights of way to the House of Welf in 1270 and the castle was sold to the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1303. The castle was later destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648.) The Guelphs then built a new castle, today owned by a horse breeding farm.

Archaeologist Hans-Georg Stephan and his research team discovered an abandoned village, near the castle in 1992. No one in the neighboring towns had had any idea of the lost medieval village and the news caused a "sensation". The land was untouched, the medieval town having never been rebuilt, which made it an excellent site for archaeological exploration. The site has now become a large medieval archaeology project, at times involving some 90 archaeologists and assistants at once a total of several hundred over the years of the work.

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Wikipedia