Sülbeck
| Sülbeck | ||
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| Suburb of Einbeck | ||
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 Sülbeck
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| Coordinates: 51°46′30″N 09°55′10″E / 51.77500°N 9.91944°ECoordinates: 51°46′30″N 09°55′10″E / 51.77500°N 9.91944°E | ||
| Country | Germany | |
| State | Lower Saxony | |
| District | Northeim | |
| Town | Einbeck | |
| Elevation | 111 m (364 ft) | |
| Population (2010-10-00) | ||
| • Total | 484 | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) | |
| Postal codes | 37574 | |
| Dialling codes | 05561 | |
| Vehicle registration | NOM, EIN | |
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Sülbeck is one of the oldest villages in the city of Einbeck, district Northeim. The development of the village is connected to the saline springs. These were used to produce brine and salt for some hundred years.
Sülbeck lies in southern Lower Saxony between the Harz and Solling Mountains. It is located 1 km west of the river Leine, at the western edge of the Leinegraben in the Leine Uplands. The village is immediately west of the nature reserve that is located in the flood retention basin Salzderhelden.
Prehistoric settlements in the vicinity of the salt springs is proven: "From the Sülbecker mountain originate some tools that have been manufactured from Neanderthals resting there". During the development of a new housing area "Am Bohrturm" (At the Derrick) in the 1980s further archaeological investigations were carried out which showed that the settlements date back to about 5000 BC. The first written source is to be found in a deed of the monastery Amelungsborn from the year 1210. The deed talks about the "Salinis" at Siburgehusen. On 26 April 1686 the Elector Ernst August of Hanover Calenberg ordered, that in Sülbeck salt works including a graduation tower were to be built. The history of the salt works is the main difference between Sülbeck and its neighbor farming villages.
The Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was seeking possibilities for more income and therefore a proposal was made by the administrative head of the county of Salzderhelden, to which Sülbeck belonged, to build salt works in Sülbeck. The project was driven by Otto Friedrich von Moltke, the last resident of the castle Heldenburg, now ruined. Due to the high salinity of the brine with 9,4 % it was planned to boil the brine directly.
Yet exact calculations showed that the costs for the wood used as fuel would have been prohibitively high. So the project was greatly expanded to include a graduation tower to increase the salinity of the brine to about 20%. This first graduation tower was about 166 m long and stretched south from the current Sülbeck village square, Dorfplatz.
In 1686 the first main brine well was ready plus two smaller wells. To pump the brine out of the soil and supply the graduation tower pumps were needed. The only apparent source of power at the time was water, which was in short supply on site. Thus a canal had to be dug to provide water supply from the river Leine, some kilometers upstream from Sülbeck. Water was tapped off the Leine at Hollenstedt, about 6,5 km upwards and following the rim of the Leine valley around the villages Stöckheim and Drüber. At the edge of the current village square the canal made a 90° bend from south to east and the water flowed back into the river Leine about 1 km downstream. About 100 soldiers dug the canal, called "Salzgraben" (salt canal) by the locals at a total construction time of two years. A large undershot waterwheel, installed on the current village square, drove the pumps. A stylized water wheel is now an integral part of the local coat of arms. Also at the present village square in Sülbeck a brine supply tower was built, from which the brine flew onto the graduation towers. In 1689 the industrial plant started operation. Very soon more buildings were added such as a second graduation tower.
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Wikipedia