Nienburg

Nienburg, the “new castle”, stands on a rise beside a bend of the Weser amid extensive marshes. First recorded in 1025, it guarded an important crossing between the Porta Westfalica and the city of Bremen. The counts of Hoya made the fortified town a residence, while its citizens and guilds acquired privileges and took part in governing their community.

Saint Martin's Church was completed in the fifteenth century, even while Count John V was held captive in Osnabrück. In the sixteenth century Countess Anna of Gleichen encouraged the Reformation, and crafts and trade prospered. After the Hoya line ended in 1582, Nienburg became a Welf fortress. The surviving Stockturm recalls the castle that had long protected the town and its river crossing.