Aller Canal

The nearly straight canal carries water from the Aller more quickly than the river itself can in its meandering course through this section of the old glacial valley.

The canal runs in an almost straight line through the wetland of the Barnbruch as far as Gifhorn where it passes the town to the south.

Its purpose was to control the spring floods in the Aller valley and to assist in draining the former swampland of the Barnbruch.

To appreciate the feat achieved by its builders it should be borne in mind that, at the time, there was almost no technical equipment and workers had to excavate the channel by hand using shovels.

It carries the following inscription: ...which means: "To commemorate the Aller Canal, built 1860-63 at a cost of 45,000 thalers, and the farmers of the Aller villages from Wolfsburg to Diekhorst who created it, hydraulic engineer, August Hess, in Celle, who designed it, and the men he oversaw."