[4] The name Großes Bruch meaning "Great Wetland" denotes the swampy area of a former glacial valley, stretching about 45 km (28 mi) from Oschersleben and the Bode River in the east to Hornburg in the west.

For centuries the inaccessible bog formed the border between the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the Bishopric of Halberstadt.

[5] Hamersleben was first mentioned in a 1021 deed and in 1111 became the home of an Augustinian Canons Regular monastery which Reinhard, Bishop of Halberstadt had established at Osterwieck three years earlier.

The Catholic monastery church of Saint Pancras is a Romanesque building which is known for its Baroque pipe organ built in 1688.

The village of Neuwegersleben features one of the few preserved stations of the Prussian optical telegraph line from Berlin to Koblenz built in 1833.