Vierde is a village within the borough of

Bad Fallingbostel Bad Fallingbostel (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bad Fambossel'') is the district town (''Kreisstadt'') of the Heidekreis district in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1976 the town has had a state-recognised Kneipp spa and has held the title of ...

in Soltau-Fallingbostel district in the Heidmark (southern part of 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 the 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 ...

Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

Geographical location

The village lies on state road 163 northeast of Bad Fallingbostel.

History

The first recorded mention of the village was around 1337. The name Vierde is derived from the four (''vier'') full-sized farms (''Vollhöfen'') that once formed the village of Vierde. Vierde was an agricultural village for centuries and, for the most part, still is today. Until the 19th century the keeping of ''

Heidschnucke The Heidschnucke is a group of three types of moorland sheep from northern Germany. Like a number of other types from Scandinavia and Great Britain, they are Northern European short-tailed sheep. The three breeds of Heidschnucke (in order of popu ...

n'' (moorland sheep) was the main source of income for the heath farmers. Only once the hardpan could be dealt with it was possible to cultivate crops, like grain and fruit trees, in order to generate new sources of income. Long established families are closely linked to the history and development of the village. The oldest surnames include: 1379: Ghogeue, 1438: Bode 1438: Niegemeiger, 1438: de rode Cordesche, 1438: Metteke, 1438: Detmer: 1438: Eggerdeschen stede woste, 1528: Hans Lethsemann, 1528: Cordt Pruschhagen, 1528: Cordt tom Kampe, 1528: Dirick 1528: Enmers, 1899:

Oelfke is a German surname and a Low German (Plattdüütsch) masculine given name. Origin and meaning The name Oelfke, name of farmers from the "Hohe Heidmark" of the administrative district Heidekreis in Lower-Saxony, Germany traces back to Ol, Oel=A ...

. Large farms still bear witness to the development of these families today.

Culture and Landscape

As well as farming, the woods and the

River Böhme A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

, the ''Böhmeschlucht'' campsite, which is sited in the gorge of the same name, also stamps the character of Vierde. Vierde is located in the Heidmark, which was once the most beautiful part of the Lüneburg Heath. Large parts of the Heidmark were turned into a military training area in 1935/36 (nowadays the largest of its kind in Europe, the

Bergen-Hohne Training Area Bergen-Hohne Training Area (German: ''NATO-Truppenübungsplatz Bergen'' or ''Schießplatz Bergen-Hohne'') is a NATO military training area in the southern part of the Lüneburg Heath, in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany. It covers a ...

), and numerous villages disappeared from the map. The people of Vierde make an effort to work together to achieve cohesion, something which is seen as very important. The successful Adolphsheide-Vierde Shooting Club plays a significant role in bringing folk together.

The legend of the Hexenberg

The legend of the Hexenberg in Vierde has been passed down for generations. According to the legend:

A witch used to live in the ''Papenhaus''. One day she died. She was to be buried on the hill. So her coffin was loaded onto a cart. The horses sweated under the load. At ''Leitzmann's'' they could go no further. Suddenly something moved in the coffin. It was opened quickly and... a sow jumped out.

Since then the hill has been called the Hexenberg ("witch's hill").

Media

* Walsroder Zeitung

Culture and places of interest

* Bronze Age gravesites

Literature

* Hans Stuhlmacher: ''Der Kreis Fallingbostel.'' Walsrode 1935

References

{{authority control Villages in Lower Saxony Heidmark