The Hümmling (''Homelinghen'', from ''hömil'' = small stone) is a

ground moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

landscape, up to , in the

Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems (river), Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer (district), Leer, Cloppenburg (district), Cloppenbur ...

region on the

North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland () is one of the major geographical regions of Germany. It is the German part of the North European Plain. The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's ...

in the western part of the German state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

Location

The wooded Hümmling, which is about 28 km long and only a few kilometres wide, is situated in the northern part of the region of

and the district of the same name, and the drainage area of Ems river. It is limited by the Ems valley in the west and the

Saterland Saterland (; Saterland Frisian: , ) is a municipality in the district of Cloppenburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated between the cities of Leer, Cloppenburg, and Oldenburg. It is home to Saterland Frisians, who speak Frisian in addi ...

in the east. It is located around the town of

Werlte Werlte is a town in the Emsland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. History Werlte was a host city of the 2008 Team Long Track World Championship; the championship was won by Germany. Economy Werlte is home to a factory of the Krone company. T ...

which is about 22 km northeast of

Meppen Meppen (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Möppen'') is a town in and the seat of the Emsland district of Lower Saxony, Germany, at the confluence of the Ems (river), Ems, Hase, and Nordradde rivers and the Dortmund–Ems Canal (DEK). The name stems from t ...

. Various streams rise in the Hümmling which discharge into the

Hase The Hase () is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ems, but part of its flow goes to the Else, that is part of the Weser basin. Its source is in the Teutoburg Forest, south-east of Osnabrück, on the north slope ...

to the south, the

Ems Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

to the southeast and the Leda to the north.

History

There are over 100 more or less well-preserved

dolmen A dolmen, () or portal tomb, is a type of single-chamber Megalith#Tombs, megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the Late Neolithic period (4000 ...

s of the

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

culture in the Hümmling hills. In times of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

, Hümmling region was the northern part of the

Prince-Bishopric of Münster The Prince-Bishopric of Münster (, or ) was a large ecclesiastical principality in the Holy Roman Empire, located in the northern part of today's North Rhine-Westphalia and western Lower Saxony. From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, ...

, called the '' Niederstift Münster'' (i. e. analogously "Lower Prince-Bishopric of Münster"), whereas in ecclesiastical respect the area was part of the

Diocese of Osnabrück In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. In those days, Emsland was a part of the region of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

. Clemens August,

prince-bishop of Münster A prince-bishop is a bishop who is also the civil ruler of some Secularity, secular principality and sovereignty, as opposed to ''Prince of the Church'' itself, a title associated with cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinals. Since 1951, the sol ...

ordered to build Clemenswerth Castle to be built as a summer residence for his hunting holidays. It became a main example of Westphalian

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

. When ge tried to use their soccage in order to build that castle, the peasants of the "Free Hümmling" fought a log successful trial at the

Imperial Chamber Court The ; ; ) was one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, the other one being the Aulic Council in Vienna. It was founded in 1495 by the Imperial Diet in Worms. All legal proceedings in the Holy Roman Empire could be ...

in Wetzlar that they were not enfeoffed to anyone. After short periods under the rule of the

Duchy of Arenberg Arenberg, also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg, is a former county, principality and finally duchy that was located in what is now Germany. The Dukes of Arenberg remain a prominent Belgian noble family. History First mentioned in the 12th c ...

(1803 to 1810) and then the French Empire (1810 to 1814), Hümmling hills as a part of northern Emsland region became the west of the

Kingdom of Hanover The Kingdom of Hanover () was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and j ...

(1814 to 1866). After the annexion of that state by the kingdom of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

it belonged to the

Province of Hanover The Province of Hanover () was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1866 to 1946. During the Austro-Prussian War, the Kingdom of Hanover had attempted to maintain a neutral position, alo ...

Culture

A typical Hümmling speciality is the ''Baukweiten Janhinnerk'', a pancake made of

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

flour with syrup, apple sauce,

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not t ...

, egg, cheese, bread or

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

. The 'national anthem' of the Hümmlings is the ''Hümmelske Bur'', a song, which typecasts the characteristics of the local population. There is still a local

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

, the ''Hümmlinger Platt'', which belongs to the

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in Standard German, Standard High German: ', also ', lit. ''North(ern) Low Saxon/German''; in Dutch language, Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West ...

group of

West Low German Low Saxon (), also known as West Low German () are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of the German-speaking minority). It is one of two di ...

dialects. Not until about 1975 were generations born that grew up speaking

High German The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...

. The Hüven Mill is a technological attraction in the Hümmling. It is the last fully preserved combined wind- and

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...

in Europe.

Religion

The Hümmling is 93%

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

there was a large number of refugees from the old eastern provinces of Germany and, since 1990 there have also been ethnic German immigrants from the former Soviet Union in the Hümmling who, in addition to the Catholic faith, also belong to the

New Apostolic Church The New Apostolic Church (NAC) is a Christian denomination, Christian church of the Catholic Apostolic Church, Irvingian tradition. Its origins are in 1863, in the split from the Catholic Apostolic Church during a schism in Hamburg, Ger ...

and other Protestant faiths (

Pentecostalists Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Elevations

The elevations and land cells in the Hümmling hill country and its near vicinity include (heights in metres above sea level (NN)):

Rivers and streams

The rivers and streams that rise in and near the hill country of the Hümmling, include the: * Loruper Beeke, rises in the Hümmling, southeast tributary of the Ohe * Marka, rises in the Hümmling, east of Werlte, right headstream of the Sagter Ems, which discharges into the Leda * Mittelradde, rises on the eastern edge of the Hümmling and passes it to the southeast, northern tributary of the Hase * Nordradde, rises in the middle of the Hümmling, near the ''Theikenmeer'', northeastern tributary of the Ems * Ohe, rises in the centre of the Hümmling, leaves it in a northern direction, left headstream of the Sagter Ems *

Sagter Ems Sagter Ems is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is formed at the confluence of the rivers Ohe and Marka west of Friesoythe. It is 28 km long. At its confluence with the Dreyschloot (a branch of the Soeste), the river Leda is formed. The ...

, results from the confluence of Marka and Ohe north of Friesoythe-Neuscharrel *

Südradde Südradde is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It flows into the Hase near Herzlake. See also *List of rivers of Lower Saxony All rivers in the German state of Lower Saxony flow directly or indirectly into the North Sea. A–Z A B D E F ...

, rises east of the Hümmling, northern tributary of the Hase

Settlements

The settlements in and around the Hümmling include:

Sources

* Matthias Bähr, Widerstand vor dem Reichskammergericht: Als die "freien Hümmlinger" nach Wetzlar zogen (1739–1768), in: Emsländische Geschichte Bd. 15. Hrsg. von der Studiengesellschaft für Emsländische Regionalgeschichte, Haselünne 2008, , S. 468-577 * Wilhelm Ludwig Heermann: ''Unser Hümmling, unsere Heimat. Gedichte und Erzählungen aus alten Zeiten''. Goldschmidt, Werlte 2002, * Werner Franke et al.: ''Der Hümmling mit Sögel, Werlte und Nordhümmling''. Reihe ''Landschaften im Emsland''. Emsländischer Heimatbund, Sögel 1995, * Autorenkollektiv: ''Der Hümmling. Ein Heimatbuch''. Herausgegeben vom Katholischen Kreislehrerverein des Kreises Hümmling. (Fotomechanischer Nachdruck der Ausgabe von 1929.) Goldschmidt, Werlte 1979 * Holger Lemmermann: ''Auf dem freien Hümmling. Ländliches Leben in vier Jahrhunderten (1530-1870)''. 2. Auflage. Emsländischer Heimatbund, Sögel 1995, * Lothar Riedel: ''Die Hümmlinger Kreisbahn. Die Verkehrsgeschichte der schmalspurigen Kleinbahn Lathen-Sögel-Werlte''. Röhr, Krefeld 1983, {{DEFAULTSORT:Hummling Forests and woodlands of Lower Saxony Emsland (region) Geest Regions of Lower Saxony