the very little town klein-lengden is located in the middle of germany, 10 km south of goettingen, at the small river lengde, in the valley gartetal. north-east of it is the hill lengderburg.
the area around klein-lengden is suitable for farming., and has used so for hundreds of years.
below is its coat of arms, referring to the tower of the church in klein-lengden.
for a long time the number of residents was very small, a few hundred. yet in recent decades modern residences were added to the traditional farm buildings, and nowadays about 1200 people live in klein-lengden.
/// klein-lengden was founded around 800
/// first mentioning in a medieval document: 822
/// there are speculations that it was linked to an 'long-ago' mini-castle on the hill lengderburg
/// east of klein-lengden in 1596 "gartetal" was founded, first papermill then spinning workshop
/// south of klein-lengden in 1800 (?) a mill, "steinsmuehle", was set up
/// 1897-1957: station of the gartetal railway (which connected goettingen and duderstadt)
/// end of klein-lengden's independence in 1973 - it became part of the town gleichen.
here are two views of klein-lengden, a very early and a newer one. the hill lengderburg is in the background.
two examples of historic timber-buildings. many of them are still standing nowadays.
in the center of the village is the church with a mighty tower.
in front of it is the modern school.
near to klein-lengden two industrial facilities were set up:
"spinnerei gartetal"
founded in 1596, this was first a mill, then paper recycling, then a spinning factory. it is now a museum, presenting its former technologies.
"steinsmuehle"
a mill for wheat and rye, was erected in the 19th century. it was linked to klein-lengden by road and rail, has been both, a mill and a farm. it was served by trucks and had its own railway connection.
in 1897 a railway line connecting goettingen and duderstadt began, usually called "gartetal railway", for both passengers and freight. it was closed down in 1957.
here is one of the restored former railway "stations".
yes, there is a significant personal context - after world-war-2, my family lived in steinsmuehle!
in 2009, meaning: very much later, i decided to visit this place, as well as klein-lengden. its mayor, klaus hanelt, was exceptionally helpful in this enterprise.
before going to these venues, a map was prepared, which presents their location. the distance between the center of klein-lengden and steinsmuehle is about 4 km.
the explorations were done both by driving and by walking. the outcomes:
<> steinsmuehle:
the mill-plus-farm, for more than 100 years owned by my family, has meanwhile been closed and sold. it is now the location for several private residences.
<> village:
klein lengden has this century become much larger, mainly because of several new residential settlements.
<> school:
it was possible to visit the historic building, now privately owned, which had after the war for some years housed the local school.
and in this small room worked the teacher - just one - with about 10 pupils! to see it now brought many memories back to life.
going from steinsmuehle to school and back was indeed walking across the fields (see marks in above map), as there were no busses - not easy on days of bad weather or in winter!
herewith the gallery about klein-lengden is ending.
is it worthwhile to visit this little (ex-)village? no - lots & lots & lots of places are more exciting
yet klein-lengden has still character, certainly for someone who lived there for several years, trying to overcome all the impacts of a wild war!
---===<<< auf wiedersehen >>>===---
