History
The name of the village first occurs in a charter from 1286 and was written Brocberge back then. Its name is cognate with the English terms brook and barrow and indicated a region with small mounts along a stream. This name once referred to a larger area along the Oste between Gräpel and Burweg.
In 1141 a charter from count Rudolf of Stade mentions the three brothers Dudo, Adiko and Ricbert, who founded the Marienkloster in Stade and who also got Brobergen as a fiefdom. At that time the whole region along the Oste river was meant. Only in 1286 a descendant of the three brothers, Otto de Brocberge, and his borch to brogberghen (castle in Brobergen) is mentioned. This castle was probably build a few years before 1286. Close to the position of that castle another castle had existed before, but its existence is only known from old documents and no evidence of it has been unearthed so far.
In 1364 a chapel, the Chapel of the Holy Cross, is first mentioned. A charter from 1525 mentions a statue of Roland that existed in Brobergen. This Roland was re-erected in 2007.
The noble family von Brobergen resided on the estate Hollander Höfe until they were forced to sell it in 1618.
Before the Thirty Years' War a drawbridge existed over the Oste river. Tilly's troops destroyed it around 1628 to prevent a Danish attack. Shortly afterwards people began to use prams to reach the farmland across the Oste river.
Ownership over the land changed between several owners, most of them Hamburg merchants until in 1837 local farmers collectively purchased the land they had cultivated since generations.
In the 19th and early 20th century there were many brickyards along the Oste river which made bricks from the marsh clay.
The estate Hollander Höfe existed until 1941 when it was demolished because it was in an out of repair condition. The current house at the estate's site was constructed in 1956 as a living place for the ferry operator and the operator of the Mehe river barrage.
With the local government reorganization in 1972 former municipalities Brobergen and Kranenburg formed a new municipality under the name Kranenburg.
Read more about this topic: Brobergen
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