Sackwald

Sackwald
Sackwald
	The Sackwald near Alfeld as part of the Sackmulde (B)
Highest point
Peak	Ahrensberg
Elevation	374 m above NN
Geography
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Hildesheim district
Range coordinates	51°58′00″N 9°55′00″E / 51.9666667°N 9.9166667°E
Parent range	Leine Uplands
Geology
Rock age	Cretaceous

The Sackwald is a ridge, up to 374 m above sea level (NN) high, in the Lower Saxon Hills in the district of Hildesheim in the North German state of Lower Saxony. It is named after the village of Sack in the borough of Alfeld, the name meaning "Sack Forest".

The Sackwald is part of the geological structure of the Sack Basin or Sackmulde along with the Sieben Berge and the Vorberge.

Geography

The Sackwald lies on the eastern edge of the Leine Uplands in the Lower Saxon Hills. It is located between the town of Alfeld on the River Leine to the northwest and the rather more distant town of Bad Gandersheim to the southeast.

The Sackwald is surrounded by the ridges of the Vorberge to the north, the southeastern foothills of the Hildesheim Forest to the north-northeast, the Sauberge to the northeast, the Harplage to the east-northeast, the Heber to the east, the Helleberg to the south and southwest, the Selter (on the other side of the Leine valley) to the southwest and the Sieben Berge to the northwest. Topographically it transitions into the last-named ridge seamlessly. Several streams rise within or on the edge of the Sackwald, whose waters eventually empty into the westward-running Leine or the northeast flowing Innerste; the ridge thus lies on the watershed between the two rivers.

The unpopulated Sackwald is crossed by several forest tracks and hiking trails, which enable the densely forested landscape to be explored. They include the Rennstieg path that runs through the forests and the Hohe Schanze Historic Educational Path (Historische Lehrpfad Hohe Schanze). The ridge may be reached over winding state roads (Landesstraßen) branching off the B 3 and B 64 federal roads, and link, for example, Alfeld, Freden and Lamspringe with one another.

Hills

Amongst the hills in the Sackwald are the following (heights in metres above sea level (NN)):

Ahrensberg (374 m) – southwest of Woltershausen and northeast of Everode
Paradiesgarten (336 m) – north of Everode
Teufelskirche (330 m) – north of Everode
Saurenberg (321 m) – north-northwest of Everode
Hohe Schanze (326 m) – east of Winzenburg, site of the ruins of a Frankish mission station
Gehlenberg (ca. 315 m) – west-southwest of Lamspringe
Hainholzberg (ca. 300 m) – southwest of Adenstedt on the boundary with the Vorberge
Kratzberg (ca. 300 m) – north of Alfeld-Hörsum
Menteberg (300 m) – east of Alfeld
Rüstiberg (288 m) – east of Everode
Mullenberg (278 m) – north of Everode
Winzenberg (272 m) – northeast of Winzenburg, site of Winzenburg Castle
Buchenberg (270 m) – north-northwest of Everode
Feldberg (267 m) – west-southwest of Lamspringe
Horstberg (ca. 250 m) – east-southeast of Alfeld-Hörsum
Tiebenberg (ca. 240 m) – north of Winzenburg, site of the Tiebenburg cultural monument

Waterbodies

Amongst the streams in or on the Sackwald are:

Gande, rises in the southeastern part of the Sackwald, eastern tributary of the Leine
Leine, passes the Sackwald a few kilometres away to the southwest, southern tributary of the Aller
Riehe, rises in the southeastern part of the Sackwald, southwestern tributary of the Lamme
Winzenburger Bach, rises in the southern part of the Sackwald, eastern tributary of the Leine

Villages

Amongst the villages on the edge of the Sackwald are:

Adenstedt in the catchment area of the Riehe, north-northeast of the Sackwald
Alfeld on the Leine, northwest of the Sackwald
Bad Gandersheim on the Gande, a few kilometres southeast of the Sackwald
Everode in the catchment area of the Leine, west of the Sackwald
Freden on the Leine, south-southwest of the Sackwald
Lamspringe on the Lamme, east of the Sackwald
Sack (Alfeld) the village the forest was named after, northwest of the Sackwald
Winzenburg on the Winzenburger Bach, south of the Sackwald
Woltershausen in the catchment area of the Riehe, east of the Sackwald

Points of interest

Apart from the forested landscape itself, the points of interest in the Sackwald include the ruins of a Frankish mission station on the Hohe Schanze, the ruins of Winzenburg Castle on the Winzenberg and the cultural monument of Tiebenburg on the Tiebenberg. Also worth seeing are the ruins of the Schulenburg Chapel, which stand northeast of Langenholzen and north of Sack (both in the borough of Alfeld) at about 185 metres above sea level on the southwestern edge of the neighbouring Vorberge.

Sources

Ernst Andreas Friedrich: Naturdenkmale Niedersachsens. Hanover, 1980, ISBN 3-7842-0227-6.