Groot Wetsinge ( English: ''Big Wetsinge'') and Klein Wetsinge (English: ''Small Wetsinge'') are two villages in the municipality of

Het Hogeland Het Hogeland is a municipality in the north of the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. History The municipality of Het Hogeland was established on 1 January 2019 by merging the municipalities of Bedu ...

in the Dutch province of

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. The villages are less than half a

kilometre The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is now the measurement unit used for ex ...

apart and are often referred to together as Wetsinge. The closest village, at a distance of less than a

to Wetsinge is Sauwerd. The name ''Groot Wetsinge'' is a rather confusing name, because there are fewer houses in Groot Wetsinge than in Klein Wetsinge. In this context, ''Groot'' means high. This is because of the wierde on which the village lies. Klein Wetsinge is not situated on a wierde. The first occupation of the mound of Groot Wetsinge dates from the 3rd century BC. Several discoveries have been made in the wierde, including an earthen lamp from the first century BC. The wierde is part of a cluster of wierdes along the eastern bank of the Hunze. Wetsinge was part of the area controlled by the family Onsta, which also built the Onstaborg to the northeast of Wetsinge.

Church of Wetsinge

The aisleless church of Wetsinge was built in the 11th or 12th century BC. The detached

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

clock tower, which appears on the map of Joannes Baptista Regemortes from 1643 or 1644, was probably built in the 13th or 14th century southeast of the church, when more detached church towers were built in

. Shortly after 1645 the tower was demolished. Because the clay was strong enough the tower had no foundation, so that nothing of the tower is left. Between 1616 and 1630, a new tower was built on the west side of the church which replaced the old one. Early 19th century the church fell into disrepair and in 1840 it was, together with the church of Sauwerd, demolished. It was replaced the same year by a church built halfway between Wetsinge and Sauwerd. The site of the new church was then popularly called Klein Wetsinge. This church has a simple neoclassical facade. The

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

probably came from the former church of Sauwerd. Also the bell, dating from 1609, probably came from Sauwerd.

Gallery

File:Wetsinge - oude kerk.jpg, Drawing of the old church which was demolished in 1840 File:Groot Wetsinge - kerkhof.jpg, View of the upper side of the mound. In the grass the contours of the former church. File:Wetsinge - provincialeweg 40.jpg, Little house in Wetsinge File:Groot Wetsinge - dorpsgezicht.jpg, Street view of Groot Wetsinge

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Groningen (province) Het Hogeland