A "Head-Neck-Body farmhouse" ( nl, kop-hals-rompboerderij) or Head-Neck-Rump farmhouse is a typical
Frisian farmhouse.
[Vollmer, Manfred et al. (2001). ''Landscape and Cultural Heritage in the Wadden Sea Region'', Wadden Sea Ecosystem No. 12 - 2001, CWSS, Wilhelmshaven, p. 323. ISSN 0946-896X.] It consists of a
residence
A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside.
Residence may more specifically refer to:
* Domicile (law), a legal term for residence
* Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...
(the head) and a kitchen (the neck) placed in line in front of a big shed (the body). A striking fact is that the residence was never built in the centre front of the shed – this has to do with the origin of this type of farmhouse from a smaller type of farmhouse that has now disappeared. This original
Old Frisian longhouse consisted of a residence with a
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...
shed immediately behind it. The harvest was stacked in the attic or in open barns which were logically located near the livestock shed.
Due to the development of better harvesting materials at the beginning of the 16th century there was a need for more storage space for the harvest. This was solved by building a bigger shed behind the 'head and neck' of the original farmhouse.
These farmhouses can be found in
Friesland
Friesland (, ; official fry, Fryslân ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia, is a province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen, northwest of Drenthe and Overijssel, north of ...
,
Groningen and (in the northern part of)
North Holland. Although sometimes considered as typically Frisian, the origin of this kind of farmhouse is found in the
Het Bildt county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
where for the first time intensive agriculture flourished; the Bildt was especially suitable for harvesting large areas of land. Because harvest quantities became larger, the inhabitants, who were mostly of
South Holland origin, were some of the first who needed more storage and ordinary open barns gradually developed into large, enclosed sheds.
Although there is a distinct difference between the typical Frisian farmhouses in northern provinces and the
Bildts farmhouses, only the Bildts farmhouses have the feature whereby the sheds are placed at right-angles to the residential part of the house. These days both types can be found in the Bildt.
Image:farmhousedev1.jpg, Drawing of an earlier "longhouse type"
Image:farmhousedev.jpg, Drawing of an earlier "longhouse type" in evolution
References
External links
A German language book from 1885 on the Frisian Farmhouse, heavily illustrated.
{{European farmhouse types
Farmhouses
Vernacular architecture
Agricultural buildings in the Netherlands