The Sülze Saltworks (german: Saline Sülze) was a 'saline', or

saltworks A saltern is an area or installation for making salt. Salterns include modern salt-making works (saltworks), as well as hypersaline waters that usually contain high concentrations of halophilic microorganisms, primarily haloarchaea but also othe ...

, on the

Lüneburg Heath Lüneburg Heath (german: Lüneburger Heide) is a large area of heath, geest, and woodland in the northeastern part of the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It forms part of the hinterland for the cities of Hamburg, Hanover and Bremen a ...

in Germany which was worked for centuries, from the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

to 1862. It had a considerable impact on the history of the village of Sülze and other heath villages in the area.

History

The saline is first mentioned in the records in 1381 and, from that time on,

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...

was extracted from

brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for br ...

in Sülze. The development of Sülze's salt spring was strongly encouraged by the dukes of the

Principality of Lüneburg The Principality of Lüneburg (later also referred to as Celle) was a territorial division of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg within the Holy Roman Empire, immediately subordinate to the emperor. It existed from 1269 until 1705 and its territory ...

who wanted to create a counterbalance to the town of

Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also calle ...

, which had largely succeeded in maintaining its independence from territorial lords as a result of the salt trade. This intent was never realised, however, because a glance at the quantities of salt produced demonstrates the overwhelming supremacy of the

Lüneburg Saltworks The Lüneburg Saltworks (german: Lüneburger Saline) was a saline in the German town of Lüneburg Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ' ...

. Whilst an average of 110,000 t of salt was extracted annually in Lüneburg, Sülze generated no more than 4,000 t. In addition, the salt content of the brine in Lüneburg was up to 25% whereas in Sülze it was a mere 5% and thus barely economical. The right to extract salt lay with the Lüneburg dukes, but was leased to the owners of the salt pans. SülzeSalineRöhrenltg

Over the course of the centuries the boiling houses had to be moved several times into the surrounding villages due to the lack of fuel. All the peat in the vicinity of Sülze had already been used up and productive operation in the village itself was no longer possible. From 1673 to 1678 the boiling houses were transferred to Bornrieth Moor, where there were two salt houses and a

graduation tower A graduation tower (occasionally referred to as a thorn house) is a structure used in the production of salt which removes water from a saline solution by evaporation, increasing its concentration of mineral salts. The tower consists of a wood ...

200 metres long and 7 metres high. A boring mill was also built here for the manufacture of water pipes from tree trunks. Brine was carried in wooden pipes from Sülze and peat delivered by boat using a canal excavated for the purpose. As early as 1719 there were discussions about moving the boiling houses again because

Bornrieth Moor The Bornrieth Moor (german: Bornriethmoor) is the remains of a raised bog in the German district of Celle and belongs to the Südheide Nature Park. It has an area of . The bog, which has had most of its peat extracted, was reflooded and placed unde ...

was exhausted. In the period from 1719 to 1725 the brine pipeline was relaid to the newly established village of

Altensalzkoth Altensalzkoth is a village in the Lower Saxon town of Bergen in north Germany. It belongs to the parish of Eversen in the district of Celle on the Lüneburg Heath. It lies 13 km north of Celle on the ''Landesstraße'' L 240 and currently has ...

in the "Scheuer Bruch" marsh. The existing pipes were moved from Lindhorst along the river

Örtze Örtze () is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. The Örtze rises north of Munster in the ''Große Heide'' (in the ''Raubkammer'' federal forest) and, after , joins the Aller southeast of Winsen. Source and course The Örtze valley is an old gl ...

eastwards past Eversen to the salt house at Altensaltzkoth. But because the brine had to be piped over a greater distance, other problems arose. At "Zuckenberg" the brine was pumped to a height of 5 m by a water-powered pump (''Zucke'') in order to achieve the required natural slope. Leaks and regular blockages in the pipes soon meant that economical production was no longer possible. This led finally to the boiling houses being relocated back to Sülze. To overcome the continued lack of fuel locally, an improved transportation system was established, enabling peat from the surrounding areas to be delivered to Sülze.

Sources

*August Theiss - Die Geschichte der Saline zu Sülze 1979

External links

Official Website of the Salinenmuseum Sülze
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulze Saltworks Lüneburg Heath Saltworks