Hemmingen: Floodplain Landscape and History

Hemmingen offers appealing contrasts: wetlands and floodplain forests shape the landscape of the Southern Leine Floodplain, while archaeological traces and St. Vitus Church tell the story of the town. You can therefore choose different focuses for your stay: nature walks, insights into a Roman camp, or cultural and historical discoveries.

Discover the Floodplain Landscape and Nature

The section of the “Leineaue between Hanover and Ruthe” nature reserve located in Hemmingen encompasses diverse floodplain habitats. These include riverside forests and flood channels, as well as former river branches and bodies of water created by the former extraction of marl and gravel. These landscape features give the area its varied character. If you are particularly interested in river floodplains and their habitats, this is an ideal focus for your trip.

The Southern Leine Floodplain between Pattensen, Sarstedt, Laatzen, Hemmingen and Hanover also encompasses a variety of landscape types: ponds and oxbow lakes, wet meadows, reed beds and reed marshes, and remnants of floodplain forest. The different habitats show that the floodplain consists of more than just open water. Steinfeldsee is a nationally significant habitat for migratory and overwintering birds.

Walks Through Nature and Landscape History

You can explore the Southern Leine Floodplain on nature walks. Along the route, twelve stations provide information about the landscape’s history and its flora and fauna. The walk therefore combines nature observation with a look at how the floodplain was shaped. If you are travelling with children, the stations can provide conversation starters; topics range from landscape history to local flora and fauna.

Another way to get to know Hemmingen’s landscape is to follow the nature trail. It runs between the districts of Harkenbleck and Wilkenburg through a varied setting of meadows, ponds and protected biotopes. This gives it a different focus from the stations in the Southern Leine Floodplain: here, the emphasis is on the route between two districts and the variety of landscape features along the way.

Roman Traces and St. Vitus Church

The Roman marching camp at Wilkenburg in Hemmingen is a cultural monument. It covered about 40 hectares and extended over more than 500 × 600 metres. Archaeological investigations confirmed V-shaped pointed ditches and rounded corner boundaries, which are typical of Roman camps. These findings make the camp a distinctive subject for anyone interested in Roman history and archaeology.

St. Vitus Church in Hemmingen-Wilkenburg also has a long history: it was first mentioned in 1140 as part of a castle-like complex. Its furnishings include an altar, a baptismal font and a pulpit, as well as epitaphs and painted galleries. There are also heraldic panels above more than 40 historic tombs. These different features offer several ways to explore the church’s history and culture of remembrance.

Hemmingen Palace Park offers another, quite different kind of place: it has been freely accessible to the public since 1985. When planning a visit to Hemmingen, you can include this publicly accessible park in your day alongside nature walks.

Which focus suits your stay?

Discover more places: Wedemark, Seelze, Burgdorf, Altwarmbüchen, Dedenhausen, Garbsen, Lehrte and Langenhagen.

Back to the regional travel overview: Hanover Region.