Schunter

Inflow of Lutter (right) at Beienrode

The Schunter is a river in Lower Saxony. From its source at Räbke on Elm ridge up to its confluence with the Oker between Great Schwuelper and Walle near Braunschweig it has a length of 58 km.

Name

781 the river is mentioned as Schuntra, 803 he is called Scuntra. The name could be due to the old - Slavic word Sukatora, which means: with many angles, probably a reference to the tortuous course of the river. Another interpretation of the name can be traced back to the Old Norse word scunda. This means as much as rushing, flowing rapidly and ranges name history back to 500 BC.

Geography

Schunterquelle

The source is located at the Schunter Nordostfuß the main dip of the mountain train Elm. You and the subsequent valley follows a road, southeast of those about a kilometer above Räbke in height of the house to Schunterquelle, several strong sources emerge in a holiday home park. The water enters here in a usually dry ditch and in a short tributary erdfallartigen rather unimpressive forth. Nevertheless, the bulk of emerging from the karstified limestone layers sources is so strong that after a few meters, the riverbed reaches two meters wide and the water supply was sufficient in earlier centuries to operate mills there. Clean, abundant spring water was especially important during the 18th and 19th centuries for the paper mills in Räbke.

Course

The Schunter flows from its source initially in an easterly direction through Räbke and buckled behind Frellstedt in the survey of the Elz to north-north- west. There she takes from the right to the coming of Warberg Laagschunter and reached Süpplingenburg where the springing on the western edge of the Lappwalds Long wave flows. She follows in a northwesterly direction to the course of Dorm behind which she receives the coming of Mariental Uhrau. From left Lutter and other streams of the northern Elmrands flow to. The Schunter passes through the scenic area Hasenwinkel on its west side, is complemented by the Scheppau and changes in Hattorf the flow direction west to Flechtorf. There it divides the old and Neudorf and wraps around with two arms, the castle camping.

From here it extends further to the southwest and teaching can lie to the south. Before Wendhausen it divides into a northern and southern branch, the flow around the historic center and the Wendhausen castle. Before Hondelage unite the two parts of the river, pass the town and in the further course Dibbesdorf and Querum. This river flows from the south, coming from the Reitlingstal honeycomb. The Schunter turns north, happened Sing, Bienrode, turns and passes under the Midland Canal. When Frick mill near Thune it changes its course to the west and passes Harxbüttel and Walle.

Between upper and Walle Schwuelper the Schunter opens a way of 58 km and a subdued height difference of about 114 m into the Oker. The mean gradient is 0.2%.

Catchment area

The Schunter is the longest tributary of the Oker. Its catchment area covers about a third of the Oker river basin and extended it east to the Lappwald. Your right tributary Laagschunter west of Warberg is this side of the watershed between the catchment area of ​​the Weser to the Schunter heard and the Elbe. The only little more than one kilometer east and also springing at Warberg Missaue flows over the Schöninger Aue direction Bode and ultimately to the Elbe.

Inflows

• Elmgrundbach ( Räbke )
• Schierpkebach ( Süpplingen )
• Vagina Wave Stream ( Schickel Home )
• Lutter ( Beienrode )
• Kuhspringbach ( Beienrode )
• Lauinger mill Riede ( ox village)
• Scheppau ( Glentorf )
• Pape Hoop Bach ( Hattorf )
• Salt Riede (Teaching)
• Sandbach ( Dibbesdorf )
• Honeycomb ( Braunschweig)
• Means Riede (Braunschweig)

• Laagschunter ( Frellstedt )
• Long shaft ( Süpplingenburg )
• Raven Beck ( Beienrode )
• Uhrau ( Beienrode )
• Neindorferbach ( Glentorf )
• Lüdjerforthsbach ( Holy Village )
• Holy Dorferbach ( Hattorf )
• Hagen Riede ( Hondelage )
• Beberbach (Braunschweig)

Water quality

The Schunter is regarding the water quality of the Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defence and Nature Conservation, NLWKN monitors, which they divided into two bodies of water: the 12 kilometer long headwaters, from the source to the confluence of the Long shaft with the ID 15059 is of type loess - lehmgeprägter lowland stream and the other 46 km to the mouth of the river Oker under No. 15051 are the type of sand and lehmgeprägter lowland river.

In the source area, a relatively near-natural history is found, but the Schunter dries out in summer. Throughout the course of the river, the structural quality is rated as " severely damaged ", which is due to numerous straightening, bank reinforcement and absence or inadequacy of riparian vegetation. Many defects can be rectified but quite. Since 1994, the Schunter between Wendhausen, Hondelage, Dibbesdorf and Querum steps have been taken on the restoration of water gradient in the course. In 2010, one of the city Brunswick, was the German Environment Foundation and other sponsors supported extensive restoration in the catchment area of ​​Sandbach estuary completed.

The chemical quality although the overall 'good' given with, for the benchmark phosphate there are exceedances. This is due to the fact that originate over 56 % of the chemical discharges from agricultural land, ie from fertilizers. The overall ecological potential, which includes the fish stock and the oxygen balance with, is given as of 2009 as " unsatisfactory".

Shipping

From the mid-18th century there were ongoing and at times successful efforts in the Principality of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel, to use the Schunter for rafting of firewood from the Elm and the Dorm and make navigable for the transport of other goods such as timber and stones - up for the construction of railways this economical way of transport.

In May 1746 tentatively firewood, which was scarce in Brunswick, located in the Dorm from east teaching Campen ( Rotenkamp ) schunterabwärts rafted to Brunswick; previously had been successful already an experiment with wood from the Elm of Süpplingen from. Duke Charles I then commissioned his court architect Martin Peltier de Belfort with the configuration of the continuous navigability of Schunter of Brunswick to the Elm, which was further approved in 1746. Between the opening into the Schunter means Riede bei Gliesmarode and the eastern city of Braunschweig the Schunterkanal was dug and created on the territory of today's Botanical Garden is a Holzfhof. The six -built for use on the Schunter ships were 11.50 meters long, 1.70 meters wide and 0.60 meters deep.

In January 1748 Schunter of Brunswick was expanded to Frellstedt to a width of 2.90 meters. 1758 the manor Beienrode was granted the right to maintain on the Schunter own ship without payment of customs and lock money; also received the Good as before further schunterabwärts located manor Hattorf its own stack space in Brunswick.

Shipping and rafting flourished until the 1770s and eventually ended 1788. During summer 1803, the effort was finally abandoned by the provincial government.

Castles and monuments

Along the Schunter several historical systems are demonstrated, such as at the height of King Lutter the place Süpplingenburg, headquarters of the Emperor Lothar von Süpplingenburg. Even just a few kilometers downstream location United Steinum on Dorm looks back on a history of vorfränkischer time and has achieved a large stone grave.

In Flechtorf in the 13th century originated in the Schunteraue between two arms of the river, the castle camping.

In the suburb of Brunswick Querum testifies the Borwall of the early settlement and attachment of the Schuntergebiets. At the mouth of the Schunter in the Oker at Walle are still remnants of the Scheverlingenburg to see. This is not only mentioned in 1091, but excavations have brought to light traces of pre-Roman times.

In the northern city area of ​​Braunschweig, the city district Schunteraue, was created in 1937 the Schuntersiedlung. It is a small neighborhood of about 15 streets near the Schunter.