Olst-Wijhe () is a municipality in the province of

Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the Episcopal principality of U ...

, eastern

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It borders the Overijssel municipalities of

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

to the north,

Raalte Raalte () is a municipality and a town in the heart of the region of Salland in the Dutch province of Overijssel. Population centres The municipality consists of the following towns and villages. Raalte is the main place of the municipality, ...

to the north and east and

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, ...

to the south; and the

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

municipalities of Voorst, Epe and Heerde to the west.

History and economic activities

Both of the municipality's main towns, Olst and Wijhe, are old towns. Olst, which is believed to have been founded in the 7th century, is first mentioned in

chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and ...

s in 947 (as "Holsto"), Wijhe in 960 (as "Wie"). Traditionally, agriculture (fruit and cereals), cattle, meat processing and the production of bricks in open-air

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for ...

along river IJssel were the prime sources of income in the area. Nowadays, Olst and Wijhe are mainly commuter residences for people working in

and

respectively; both towns have had a railroad station on the

–

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

main line ( route 3600) since 1866. The surrounding land still relies heavily on agriculture. There is some small industry in Olst ( machinery manufacturing) and Wijhe (meat processing).

Merger of municipalities

The present municipality was created on 1 January 2001 through the merger of the two former municipalities of Olst and Wijhe as part of a nationwide bid to reduce administrative overhead on the municipal level. The newly merged municipality retained the name of its largest constituent part, Olst, pending approval of a definitive new name. After proposed neutral names containing neither "Olst" nor "Wijhe" met with little enthusiasm, it was decided to simply name the municipality Olst-Wijhe as of 26 March 2002. A new town hall is being built on the southern outskirts of Wijhe.

Geographical features

Olst-Wijhe is dominated by river IJssel, which partly flows through it and partly forms the border between the provinces Overijssel and Gelderland. Although this border largely runs along river IJssel, there are two left-bank

exclave An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

s opposite the towns of Olst and Wijhe, in which the villages of Welsum and Welsumerveld (south exclave) and Marle (north exclave) are situated. There are

cable ferries A cable ferry (including the terms chain ferry, swing ferry, floating bridge, or punt) is a ferry that is guided (and in many cases propelled) across a river or large body of water by cables connected to both shores. Early cable ferries often ...

between Olst and Welsum and between Wijhe and Vorchten in the municipality of Heerde (there is no direct connection between Marle and the rest of Overijssel). Olst-Wijhe is part of the low-lying Salland region. The one metre above mean sea level

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional gr ...

runs roughly parallel to the river; the municipality's interior is characterised by flat or gently rolling grasslands and woodlands at about 10–15 metres above mean sea level. Apart from river IJssel, several more streams flow through the municipality's territory. They are called ''wetering'' ("drainage waterway") and are amalgamations of natural streams gradually channelised from the 18th century onwards and specifically dug canals . From west to east, these are Zandwetering, Soestwetering, Groote Vloedgraven, Oude Wetering and Nieuwe Wetering. All these streams flow in a south–north direction and come together at one point or other to eventually form the Zwarte Water river near the city of

. On the left side of river IJssel, near the exclave of Welsum, there are several more ''wetering'' streams, all but one of them on the Gelderland side of the border; the exception being the easternmost of these, the Terwoldsche Wetering, which forms the border between Olst-Wijhe and Voorst.

Population centres

The municipality consists of the following statistical areas (2010 population figures with difference from 2009 figures): * Boerhaar (765, +33) * Boskamp (1,265, +174, includes Hengforden) * Den Nul (890, +322, includes Fortmond and Duur) * Eikelhof (340, +45) * Elshof (765, +292) * Herxen (415, +95) * Marle (75, −1) * Middel (350, +137) *

Olst Olst is a town in the Dutch province of Overijssel, about 8 km north of Deventer. It is located in the municipality of Olst-Wijhe. History The village was first mentioned in 947 Holsto. The etymology is unknown. Olst is an '' esdorp'' wh ...

(5,225, +111) * Welsum (605, +/-0, includes Welsumerveld) * Wesepe (1,155, −51) *

Wijhe Wijhe () is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Olst-Wijhe and is situated about 12 km south of Zwolle on the banks of the river IJssel. Wijhe was a separate municipality until 200 ...

(5,690, −414)

Transportation

* Railway stations:

Attractions

General: mansions and windmills

* There are numerous mansions and country houses strewn around the municipality, most of them built in the 18th century. These include Groot Hoenlo, Klein Hoenlo, Nijendal, De Haere, Wijnbergen, De Hei and Nijenhuis. The mansions themselves are generally still inhabited or used for commercial purposes and so cannot be visited, but their grounds are open to visitors to stroll around. The mansion of Nijenhuis (near the border with

) has been converted into an art gallery (a.o. Permeke,

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

) with

sculpture garden A sculpture garden or sculpture park is an outdoor garden or park which includes the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaping, landscaped surroundings. A sculpture garden may be privat ...

(a.o. Zadkine). There are windmills at Welsum, Olst (two), Boskamp, Wesepe, Marle and Wijhe (two). Of these, the ones at Welsum, Olst (one), Marle and Wijhe (one) are still fully functional.

Eikelhof

* The murder cross, erected in

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

times to commemorate/atone for a highway murder and source of many apocryphal mythical stories. It bears the legend:

INT JAER UNSES HEREN MCCCC EN XCIII
STIERF HIER JOHAN LUCKENS
BID VOER DE SELE
(In the year of Our Lord 1493 , Johan Luckens died here , pray for the soul)

* A small museum of regional geology halfway between Eikelhof and Boskamp

Fortmond

* The Fortmond Natural Reserve along the IJssel river

Olst

* A Romanesque

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church completed in 1264, partly built from its predecessor's

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

, otherwise from brick * Het Baken van

("The Overijssel Beacon"), an installation of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

made of aluminium at the eastern bank of river IJssel, signifying the entrance to Overijssel province

Welsum

* Welsum has a saddle-roofed Protestant church (19th-century

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-typ ...

, 16th-century steeple)

Notable people

* Harmen Jansen Knickerbocker (ca. 1648 – ca. 1720) a Dutch colonist in

New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...

Jean Jacques Rambonnet Jean Jacques Rambonnet (8 March 1864, Wijhe – 3 August 1943, Rotterdam) was a Dutch naval officer and politician. Reaching the rank of vice admiral, he served as Minister of the Navy, Acting Minister of Colonies, and Acting Minister of War ...

(1864 in Wijhe – 1943) a Dutch naval officer, politician and Chief Scout * Gerrit Berkhoff (1901 in Wijhe – 1996) a Dutch chemist and academic *

Conny Stuart Conny Stuart (5 September 1913 – 22 August 2010), pseudonym of Cornelia van Meijgaard, was a Dutch actress, singer, and '' cabaretière''. Biography Stuart was born in Wijhe and grew up in The Hague, near the Peace Palace. Her father was the ...

(1913 in Wijhe – 2010) a Dutch actress, singer and cabaretière IMDb Database
Retrieved 20 September 2019 * Danique Kerkdijk (born 1996 in Olst) a Dutch footballer who plays for Brighton & Hove Albion WFC

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Authority control Municipalities of Overijssel Municipalities of the Netherlands established in 2002