The Hildesheim Forest (german: Hildesheimer Wald) is a range of hills up to in the district of
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
in the German state of
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
.
Geography
![HildesheimerAussichtsturm](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/HildesheimerAussichtsturm.jpg)
The Hildesheim Forest is located in the
Innerste Uplands, part of the
Lower Saxon Hills The Lower Saxon Hills (german: Niedersächsisches Bergland) are one of the 73 natural regions in Germany defined by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN). Geographically it covers roughly the same area as the Weser Uplands (german: Weserb ...
, between the valleys of the
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, ...
to the west, the
Innerste
The Innerste is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine river and in length.
Origin of the name
The river name is not related to the German word ''innerste'' meaning innermost. ''Innerste'', in earlier times c ...
to the north and the
Lamme to the east. These densely forested hills, which are bordered to the east by the
Sauberge and lie a few kilometres west-southwest of the
Vorholz, fill an area south of
Hildesheim
Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the L ...
, northwest of
Bad Salzdetfurth
is a town on the banks of the River Lamme in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Geography
The municipality includes the town itself, and 12 civil parishes (''Ortsteile'') which were incorporated in 1974:
* Bodenburg
* Brein ...
, north of
Sibbesse and southeast of
Nordstemmen
Nordstemmen is a village and a municipality in the district of Hildesheim, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Leine, approx. 10 km west of Hildesheim, and 25 km south of Hannover.
Subdivision
Besides Nordstemmen pro ...
.
Description
The Hildesheim Forest, which attain a height of 359 m in the
Griesberg, are crossed by numerous
waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other languages. A first distinction is necessary b ...
s,
hiking trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. The ...
s and forest tracks, but only by one state road, the
L 485, which links Hildesheim via Diekholzen to Sibbesse. In its northwestern part is the
Beusterburg, whose
circular rampart
A circular rampart (German: ''Ringwall'') is an embankment built in the shape of a circle that was used as part of the defences for a military fortification, hill fort or refuge, or was built for religious purposes or as a place of gathering.
The ...
s are suggestive of a
New Stone Age
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
settlement. In the vicinity of the village of Betheln there is a
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
burial site (''Hügelgräberfeld''). Further away from the village there is also a number of brine springs. At the northern end of the Hildesheim Forest is the
Heyersum Saltworks (''Saline Heyersum''). In addition there is a
transmission tower
A transmission tower, also known as an electricity pylon or simply a pylon in British English and as a hydro tower in Canadian English, is a tall structure, usually a steel lattice tower, used to support an overhead power line.
In electrical ...
on the Griesberg and several
observation tower
An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...
s.
A section of the
Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway
The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending at Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it i ...
runs through the Hildesheim Forest through three tunnels (see the section on ‘hills’), over bridges and on stretches of open line.
Hills
Amongst the
hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
s and
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...
s of the Hildesheim Forest are the following:
(the tunnels mentioned through 3 of the hills belong to the Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway
The Hanover–Würzburg high-speed railway was the first of several high-speed railway lines for InterCityExpress traffic that were built in Germany. While technically starting in the village of Rethen and ending at Würzburg Hauptbahnhof, it i ...
)
Waterways
These are some of the
streams that rise in the Hildesheim Forest:
* Despe (eastern tributary of the
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, ...
)
* Gehlenbach (western tributary of the
Lamme)
* Kalte Beuster (right and southeastern source stream of the
Beuster)
* Klusbach (western tributary of the Lamme)
* Warme Beuster (left and northwestern source stream of the Beuster)
The following waterways flow past the Hildesheim Forest:
*
Alme (tributary of the Riehe)
*
Innerste
The Innerste is a river in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Leine river and in length.
Origin of the name
The river name is not related to the German word ''innerste'' meaning innermost. ''Innerste'', in earlier times c ...
(tributary of the Leine)
*
Lamme (tributary of the Innerste)
*
Leine
The Leine (; Old Saxon ''Lagina'') is a river in Thuringia and Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Aller and the Weser and is long.
The river's source is located close to the town of Leinefelde in Thuringia. About downriver, ...
(tributary of the
Aller)
*
Riehe (tributary of the Lamme)
*
Trillkebach (tributary of the Innerste)
Settlements
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s and
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
s in and around the Hildesheim Forest:
{{Coord, 52, 5, , N, 9, 54, , E, type:mountain_elevation:359_region:DE-NI_dim:10000
Forests and woodlands of Lower Saxony
Hildesheim (district)
Hill ranges of Lower Saxony
Natural regions of the Weser-Leine Uplands