Thunum brings together the history of St. Mary’s Church and a landscape divided by compass direction. The “Old Geest Villages and Churches” cycling route also takes in several settlements and leads all the way to Wittmund Forest. Local architectural and natural features thus sit alongside a ride that places the town in a broader regional context.

St. Mary’s Church and historical references

The Protestant St. Mary’s Church is a simple brick hall church dating from 1842. A free-standing bell tower of the closed type, dating from the 13th century, stands southwest of the church. Their locations and dates distinguish the two structures: the tower is independent and several centuries older than the church. The term “brick hall church” describes both its material and its architectural form, while “simple” characterizes its design. Those looking at the building history can therefore view the church and the older, separately standing tower as distinct historical points of reference.

Two 17th-century oil paintings, the gravestone of chieftain Edo Reentzen (d. 1394), and two funerary shields belonging to the von Glan family, dated 1771 and 1780, come from the predecessor church. The items differ not only in age but also in form: the paintings, gravestone and funerary shields each make their own contribution. The year 1394 is Reentzen’s year of death; 1771 and 1780 are the dates on the funerary shields. Their origin in the predecessor church should be distinguished from the construction date of the present church.

Warf settlement and soil profile

Thunum is a Warf settlement founded on plaggenesch soil, with gley beneath it. To the east, north and west, the settlement is surrounded by a Knickmarsch area with a fen subsoil. This area lies 0.6 to 0.7 m above sea level. To the south, pseudogley-podzol soil with a plaggen layer adjoins the area and extends farther southwest. These details distinguish the soil on which the settlement was founded from the surrounding areas. The elevation figure also has a limited scope: it describes the Knickmarsch area, not the entire settlement. The compass directions help locate the different soil types.

Copper beech as a natural monument

One specifically named natural feature adds to the description of the soils: in Thunum stands the natural monument “Copper Beech in Thunum,” with the designation ND 4. This places a specific natural monument alongside the spatial division of the subsoil as two different ways of experiencing the landscape.

Cycling route through historic settlements

The “Old Geest Villages and Churches” cycling route heads inland through Thunum and very old settlements such as Esens, Stedesdorf and Warnsath, continuing as far as Wittmund Forest. Its total length is approximately 47.6 km. This figure refers to the entire route, not to a section within Thunum. Check the route before setting out.

For trip planning, the difference between a local focus and a tour through several places allows for a practical comparison: the church, historical objects and copper beech are named points of interest in Thunum; the cycling route extends beyond them through other settlements and into the forest. Those primarily interested in architecture and local history will therefore have a different focus from those who take in the entire route.

Discover more destinations: Stedesdorf, Bensersiel.

For the wider travel overview: Esens.