Oldendorf (meaning: "old village") is a village and Ortschaft in the municipality of Südheide in the northern part of Celle district in Lower Saxony, Germany. It lies on the western edge of the Southern Heath Nature Park, on the Lüneburg Heath, about 2 km south of the main village of Hermannsburg and currently has about 640 inhabitants. In 1973 Oldendorf was incorporated into Hermannsburg as part of the Lower Saxony regional and administrative reforms. History From the knapped flints that have been unearthed here, it can be concluded that the area around Oldendorf was settled as early as the Stone Age (8000 to 2000 BC). Oldendorf was first mentioned in the records in a document dating to AD 968 by the Saxon duke, Hermann Billung. At that time, a protective castle was built in Oldendorf, which was razed by the Wends in 959 and finally demolished in 1345. In 1620 the first school was established in Oldendorf. On 28 May 1785 a large fire broke out. As the houses of the time had thatched roofs and were built of wood, the fire spread very quickly. Within half an hour a total of 14 buildings fell victim to the blaze. On 20 April 1820 a second major fire broke out in Oldendorf. Nine farms and all their outbuildings burned down. The character of the village changed significantly as a result. On 10 August 1975 the largest forest fire in the Federal Republic of Germany broke out between Oldendorf and Eschede. Not until a whole week later, on 17 August 1975, was the fire extinguished. The River Örtze flows through the town in a north-south direction. The original village lies on the west bank of river. This is where the first three free farms in Oldendorf are supposed to have been. In the 1960s, a gravel works was built. First, only gravel from the old fish ponds on Schlüpker Weg was extracted, but later the operation was continually expanded towards Eschede. By autumn 2007, large-scale gravel extraction was under way. In 1986 a holiday home development of 32 small houses was established on the site of the first gravel pits to be exploited and subsequently abandoned. 400 houses had initially been planned, but were not approved. The gravel mines created large areas of water (the flooded gravel pits) which after a very short time provided a haven for many, sometimes rare, birds.