Bentheim acquired the Nordhorn Gogericht (regional court). They built a castle in the middle of the river Vechte on an island. Until 1912, parts of this castle were still maintained. Nowadays, the Catholic St.-Augustinus-Kirche (church) stands there. After building a milldam and two mills, it became possible to regulate the river's water flow, thereby also making it possible to settle the island. Other waterways were built – it is supposed under Dutch builders' influence – which, it is believed, divided the island into six smaller ones. Once two gateway bridges were built and the castle was protecting it, it became easier to defend the settlement against attackers than was so for the old settlement around the market church. Today's main street, which has now grown into an attractive buying and selling place, might have already passed over the island at that time. Merchants and shipowners put down roots here; a marketplace arose. The name Nordhorn was henceforth used for the newer settlement, now standing on the threshold of becoming a town, whereas the old settlement around the market church came to be known as the "Old Village", and is indeed still known as Altendorf ("Old Village"). Nordhorn had taken a key place on the Flemish Road, the area of today's Bundesstraße 213 and 403 crossroads. Goods from Scandinavia and the Hanseatic towns found their way through Nordhorn into the trade centres to the west all the way to Paris. The Vechte was navigable as far up as Schüttorf. The Vechte is roughly long and in the Middle Ages emptied directly into the sea: it flowed by Zwolle into the Zuider Zee, which at that time had not yet been cut off from the North Sea and was the centre of Dutch sea trade. Since modern land reclamation projects have been put in place, the river flows north of Zwolle into the Zwarte Water, which itself empties into the IJsselmeer, the lake that arose from the old Zuider Zee once the Afsluitdijk was completed. Already by 1160, the first loads of Bentheim sandstone were being shipped into the Netherlands. Up to 1,200 freight cranes, scows and barges lay each year at anchor and brought their goods to Holland. The Steinmaate (street) became a staple market. The like-named street still recalls today that Bentheim sandstone was shipped from here to many other countries. From it were built stately buildings such as the