Kirche St. Georg

The former village of Groß Freden, founded on the west bank of the Leine in the area of a ford, forms with the manor of Esbeck and the hamlet of Rhönkrug the parish of St. Georg, one of the two parishes belonging to the parish of Freden. The church of this parish was first mentioned as „EKKLESIA FREDENON“ in a document of Henry IV in 1068. The landlord was the Bishop of Hildesheim, who maintained a „fixed house“ and the buildings of the „tithe barn“ on the hill behind the church and the corn mill at the Leine bridge. The church stands on a shell limestone ridge above the Leine floodplain. It is surrounded by the buildings of the old village centre of Groß Freden. The present church was built in 1820 from selterdolomite at a cost of 3178 thalers. It is 23.50 m long, 10.50 m wide and 6.75 m high. On the north side there are five large, slightly arched windows. On the south side, this row of windows is broken by a side entrance. The main entrance leads through the tower, which is still preserved from the old, originally smaller church and probably dates back to the Middle Ages. The tower clock with a mechanical 7-day movement was installed in 1928. An outside hanging clock bell indicates the half and whole hours. Inside the church is the classicist pulpit altar from 1818/19, the baroque baptismal angel restored in 1993 and two chandeliers from 1983. The ceiling is decorated with a ceiling painting from around 1900.