Stamp point 192 / Historic plaster kiln

The historic gypsum kiln is located west of Neuhof on the nature trail around the Kranichteiche and was put into operation for the first time on October 21, 2006.

These mead­ows, which orig­i­nal­ly belonged to Sach­sa, were sold to the near­by Walken­ried Monastery in 1238.

The monks of the monastery cre­at­ed ponds here to pro­vide them­selves with fish, as they did not eat meat. The monastery rebuilt the vil­lage of Neuhof, which had fall­en into ruin dur­ing the pow­er strug­gles between the Counts of Klet­ten­berg and Hohn­stein, as a farm right out­side the gates of the monastery. 

Due to the decline in pop­u­la­tion in the 13th and 14th cen­turies, the num­ber of lay broth­ers also decreased and the agri­cul­tur­al land was farmed by farm­ers who paid rent to the monastery and lived in Neuhof.
After the monastery was aban­doned in 1668, the Duke of Brunswick inher­it­ed the monastery prop­er­ties and incor­po­rat­ed them into a foun­da­tion. Even today, many of the lands here still belong to the Brunswick monastery estate. 

The 3 km long crane pond nature trail leads from the start at the vil­lage com­mu­ni­ty cen­ter around and through the three inter­con­nect­ed ponds. The Priester­stein nature con­ser­va­tion mon­u­ment and the his­toric gyp­sum kiln are locat­ed along the route.