Benninghausen is a district of Lippstadt and was first mentioned in historical documents in 1124. In 1820, the Prussian province of Westfalen founded the Landarme- und Arbeitshaus, which developed into today's Westphalian Clinic for Psychiatry. In the Klostermersch near Lippstadt-Benninghausen, a section of the Lippeaue is transformed into a "new wilderness". Following extensive renaturation, vegetation, water and grazing animals now determine the development of the landscape.