History
Historical overview of our community
The Neuenkirchen area was already settled very early, as findings from the Stone Age prove. However, the first documentary mention occurred relatively late. According to old traditions, Delmsen (formerly: Delmeshusen) was the center of the later parish.
Also some other villages like Tewel, Grauen, Ilhorn, Sprengel and Behningen are probably older than today's central village. The "Kerkspel Nyenkerken", as it was first called in old documents, initially included Söhlingen and Hemslingen in addition to the districts that belong to it today.
In the Middle Ages, Neuenkirchen was a "freehold", i.e. jurisdiction was not in the hands of the duke or bishop, as in all surrounding communities or associations of communities, but with the peasantry itself. Only a few farms - for example in Delmsen, Behningen and Brochdorf - delivered their "tithe" to the bishop's administrators in Schneverdingen and Visselhövede. The majority of the farms were free, their inhabitants were not bondmen or serfs.
According to a traditional legend, it was the church that helped the village of Neuenkirchen to flourish in the area of its present location by attracting craftsmen and merchants as well as organizations serving agriculture and forestry.
Then as now, agriculture in particular, but also forestry, characterizes this area. About three quarters of the 97 square kilometer municipal area are used for agriculture and forestry. Not least due to the concentration in agriculture and forestry and the industrialization in our area, today almost 40 percent of the working population earn their living from industry and crafts and only 20 percent from agriculture and forestry.
The municipality of Neuenkirchen was merged in its present boundaries in the course of the administrative and territorial reform with effect from 01 March 1974 to form a unified municipality from the former independent municipalities of Behningen, Brochdorf, Delmsen, Gilmerdingen, Grauen, Ilhorn, Neuenkirchen, Schwalingen, Sprengel and Tewel on the basis of the law on the reorganization of the municipality in the Soltau-Fallingbostel area of 13 June 1973.
From a historical-political perspective, the municipal boundaries essentially encompass the area that was assigned to the Duchy of Verden for decades until 1859, and then to the Principality or Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Future-oriented planning (land use plan and community development plan) should ensure that the former communities can continue to develop their own lives and that the main tasks of increasing economic efficiency, strengthening the infrastructure and improving housing conditions can be tackled or continued in a concentrated and purposeful manner. In October 1983, for example, we were able to inaugurate a reconstructed historic Lower Saxon farmstead with a stock of buildings from previous centuries, the so-called "Schröers-Hof". In the buildings, among other things, vacation guests are looked after by the Heide-Touristik Neuenkirchen, and the Heimatverein has set up a living museum of local history in one of the farmhouses.
The charming and varied forest and heath landscape, which is to be protected, is a good place to live. The plots in the newly planned building areas on the outskirts of Neuenkirche are very popular with young families as well as with citizens who are young at heart. In order to create new jobs and maintain existing ones, the municipality of 5600 inhabitants offers commercial plots in a convenient location.
The preferred residential location Neuenkirchen has modern school and recreational facilities (elementary and high school) as well as the daycare centers Tausendfüßler and Pusteblume in Neuenkirchen, and a branch Löwenzahn in Tewel.
In addition, a forest kindergarten group is offered in Delmsen and a nature group in Neuenkirchen.
The safeguarding of the high landscape potential with the emphasis on the preservation of the almost lost heath areas by a herd of heidschnucken finds recognition, especially since an association has taken on this task.
Large parts of the municipality area are under landscape protection. One of the largest heath-moor lake areas in the area of the municipality of Neuenkirchen (Stichter See) is also located in a landscape protection area.
The good air, the maritime climate and the existing tourist facilities helped the village of Neuenkirchen to receive state recognition as a "resort".
Neuenkirchen achieved national fame in the art scene through the initiative of the gallery owner Ruth Falazik (†) and the art association "Springhornhof in der Lüneburger Heide e.V.". Under the motto "Art - Landscape" annual summer exhibitions with preceding symposia with meanwhile about 30 art objects in the landscape take place since 1974.
The cultural and social life of the municipality and in the localities is essentially supported and shaped by the numerous associations and organizations.
In addition to the shooting clubs and the local volunteer fire departments, the sports clubs, the Stichter Heimatverein with its lively exhibition activities in the Heimathaus, and the Schäferhof Neuenkirchen association, among others, contribute to the preservation of the local community.
The legend continues, the chapel (in Delmsen) was dilapidated and should have been rebuilt in another place, namely on the Düwelshoop.....Man had also made a start with the construction, but at night the devil always tore down what was built during the day. When the builders were in the process of building, a stranger came along the way, to whom they complained of their suffering. He advised them to load the bell onto a wagon and harness a blind horse in front of it, but if they did not have a blind horse, they should blindfold a horse and point it towards the road to Delmsen and let it go; where it would then stop, they should build the church. This was done; the horse went away and through Delmsen, worked its way through the mire at the brook and stopped where it first had solid ground under its feet again. So the new church was built there and the place was called Neuenkirchen, because before there was nothing there.
from: "History of the parish Neuenkirchen" by W. Wittkopf, 1897