Rethen is a former municipality in the district of Gifhorn, Lower Saxony. The village was probably founded during the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne. In the Middle Ages, Rethen was a border town between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim and Diocese of Halberstadt. In 1974 Rethen and Eickhorst were incorporated into the municipality of Vordorf, which belongs to the Samtgemeinde Papenteich. Today the village has about 1200 inhabitants.
Geography
Geographical position
Rethen is located in middle Germany, in relatively short distance north of the city of Braunschweig and not far from the major cities of Salzgitter and Wolfsburg. The village lies south of the Lüneburg Heath and three kilometers northwest of Vordorf, the seat of the municipality. Rethen is located directly on the Lower Saxony L 321. Nearest major traffic routes are the B 4 (4 km to the east), the B 214 (6 km to the west) and the A2 (6 km to the south). Nearest middle centers are Gifhorn, Peine and Wolfenbüttel.
Geology
The village is centrally located on the sandy-loamy plateau of the Papenteich approximately 75–82 m above sea level. The landscape around Rethen is predominantly characterized by arable farming and individual wooded areas. The various soils of the district are of medium to good quality. Flat soils over calcareous marl are better rated, in the village also called "unser Klei". Sands and loams are glacial-post-glacial depositions. Isolated boulders near the surface, small boulders and flints are boulder deposits of the Elster- and Saale glaciation.
A special feature are the near-surface limestone marl layers of the so-called "Rethen-Meiner Upper Cretaceous basin" in the Rethen area as well as in Meine and Vordorf, formed in a shallow sea about 80 million years ago. The limestone marl contains fossils from this Cretaceous period, such as sponges, sea urchins, and mussels. Until the beginning of the 20th century, a commercially used lime pit south-east of Rethen was a rich finding place. Today the pit is no longer opened up, however, even today isolated finds are made in the course of soil excavations such as construction pits.
Waters
Rethen used to be known for its very productive water springs, which were used equally by Rethen residents and the inhabitants of neighboring villages. For decades, a spring near the village pond has been available to the public and is still regularly used by farmers today. In the Rethen district there are also two creeks with historical significance: Vollbütteler Riede (also: Mühlenriede, Mönchsgraben) The Mühlenriede was a boundary marker between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hildesheim and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Halberstadt around the year 1000. At that time, the stream bore the name Druchterbiki, which later gave rise to the name Druffel-Bach. According to old border maps, the creek rises north of Rethen and flows past the villages of Algesbüttel, Klein Vollbüttel, Druffelbeck and Ribbesbüttel into the creek Hehlenriede and finally into the Allerkanal. Rötgesbütteler Riede (also: Dingbanksriede) The name of this small creek derives from the old dingbanks near Rötgesbüttel, before they were moved to the Schierenbalken in the 16th century. The historic dingbanks are located about 3.5 kilometers northeast of Rethen on Rötgesbüttel territory.
Natural Reserve Maaßel
In the north of Rethen, the soils become increasingly wet and the predominantly agricultural area is increasingly interspersed with tree cover. This tree cover then turns into an Oak-hornbeam forest. The forest area extends between Rethen, Rötgesbüttel and Vollbüttel. The area belongs to the new Naturschutzgebiet (nature reserve) Maaßel since 2019.
People
Demographic development
It is not possible to find any exact population figures for the time before the year 1821. The only reliable dates are sporadic documents, mentioning the number of different farms and buildings in Rethen. In 1489 a document listed 3 Hufner (full farmers), 4 smallholdings and 13 Kötner (small Prussian house owners). This didn't change much until the next notification in 1773 with 6 Hufner, 14 Kötner and 4 Brinksitzer (lowest level farmers). An enlargement of the village started after the end of the 18th century. As a result of these sparse notes, scientists believe that between 200 and 250 people were living in the village during the middle ages.