Warnau is a river 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 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The Warnau is a right-bank tributary of the River Böhme and part of the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports of Bre ...

basin. It is about long and has a catchment area of , mostly in the

Heidekreis Heidekreis ("Heath district") is a district (''Landkreis'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Harburg, Lüneburg, Uelzen, Celle, Hanover, Nienburg, Verden and Rotenburg. History Hist ...

district. The Warnau rises in the area of Behningen near Neuenkirchen, flows generally southwards from the village of

Ottingen Oettingen in Bayern (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Eadi'') is a Town#Germany, town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen. Geography The town is located on th ...

, passes , ,

Benefeld Benefeld is part of the municipality of Walsrode in the Lower Saxon Heidekreis district in north Germany. Benefeld has a population of 2,232, although its parish covers just 2 km² (as at 2008). Geography Location Benefeld lies in the so ...

and Cordingen and discharges into the Böhme south of in the municipality of

Walsrode Walsrode (; nds, Wasra) is a town in the district of Heidekreis, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The former municipality Bomlitz was merged into Walsrode in January 2020. History Middle Ages 986 Foundation of Walsrode Abbey by Count Walo. The first ...

. Near Ottingen the Warnau is also called the ''Schneebach'', which comes from the fact that the stream once formed the border (

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

: ''Sneede'') between the Bishopric of Verden and the

Duchy of Lüneburg A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a Middle Ages, medieval country, territory, fiefdom, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or Queen regnant, queen in Western European tradition. There once exis ...

, now the district boundary between Heidekreis and

Rotenburg Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, ...

. Between Cordingen and Benefeld it forms a charming, narrow, wooded valley with a restored mill, the ''Cordinger Mühle'', that hosts events. Downstream to its mouth the meadow valley is accompanied on one side by a picturesque bluff with narrow footpath. At its southern end the path meets the Bomlitz Archaeological Trail (''Archäologischen Wanderpfad Bomlitz''), which runs through 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 pri ...

burial site on a rounded hilltop in the recreation area of ''Eibia-Lohheide'' and continues south to the street ''Vogelparkstraße'' to the impressive system of ramparts belonging to the

Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...

fort of ''Hünenburg'' at the confluence of the Warnau and the Böhme. The site is linked by legend to the founding of the oldest Lüneburg Heath's monasteries, the nearby

Walsrode Abbey Walsrode Abbey (German: ''Kloster Walsrode'') in Walsrode, Germany, is one of the historic monasteries of Benedictine nuns on the Lüneburg Heath in North Germany which are collectively known as the ''Lüneklöster''. Today it is a Lutheran wome ...

. The Walsrode–Visselhövede railway follows the Warnau valley, which has now been dismantled north of Cordingen (with its old station of ''Jarlingen''). The section south of Cordingen is now the

Bomlitz–Walsrode railway The Bomlitz–Walsrode railway is a railway line in the German state of Lower Saxony that is operated by the Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen (OHE). Route *Bomlitz–Gleisdreieck (triangular junction)–Cordingen (old Wolff Walsrode industrial sidin ...

which is worked by goods trains to the factory of and the in Bomlitz. This line crosses the Warnau on a high bridge between Cordingen and Benefeld.

Sources

* Topographische Karte 1:25.000, Blatt 3123 „Walsrode“. (Hrsg.: Landesvermessung und Geobasisinformation Niedersachsen), Hannover 2002 (1. Auflage);

References

{{Reflist Rivers of Lower Saxony Heidmark Walsrode Rivers of Germany

See also

Sources

References