Weidum is a village in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

municipality in the province of

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It had a population of 576 in January 2017.

History

The village was first mentioned in the 13th century as Wedum, and means "settlement on the pasture". Weidum was a ''

terp A ''terp'', also known as a ''wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt'' or ''værft'', is an artificial dwelling mound found on the North European Plain that has been created to provide safe ground during storm surges, high tides and ...

'' (artificial living mound) village from the Middle Ages. Around 1900, most of the ''terp'' was excavated. The tower of Dutch Reformed church dates from the early-12th century and was later enlarged. The church itself was built in the 13th century. Dekemastate was a ''

stins A stins (Dutch, pl. ''stinsen''; from West Frisian ''stienhûs'' utch ''steenhuis''"stone house", shortened to ''stins'', pl. ''stinzen'') is a former stronghold or villa in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Many stinsen carry the name ...

'' near Weidum which was first mentioned in 1199. In 1397, Sytse Dekema, the owner of the ''stins'' returned for Italy to discover that his estate had been destroyed by the Vetkopers. Dekema subsequently fought against the Vetkopers, and in 1399 against the

Count of Holland The counts of Holland ruled over the County of Holland in the Low Countries between the 10th and the 16th century. The Frisian origins While the Frisian kingdom had comprised most of the present day Netherlands, the later province of Friesland ...

. Dekemastate was rebuilt, but put up for sale in 1796 and subsequently demolished. A manor house was built in its place, however it was severely damaged in a storm in 1898, and in 1902 Dekemastate disappeared for good. In 1840, Weidum was home to 374 people. Before 2018, the village was part of the

Littenseradiel Littenseradiel () is a former municipality in the northern Netherlands, known in Dutch as Littenseradeel (). The municipality was formed on 1 January 1984 by a merger of the former municipalities Baarderadeel and Hennaarderadeel. On 1 January 201 ...

municipality and before 1984 it belonged to

Baarderadeel Baarderadeel is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Friesland, southwest of Leeuwarden. Since 1984, the area has been a part of the municipality of Littenseradiel.Schroor, Meindert (chief ed.), ''Nieuwe Encyclopedie van Fryslân'', De ...

municipality.

Notable people

* Nynke Laverman (born 1980), poet, songwriter * Hessel Rienks (1932–2014), politician

Gallery

File:Weidum.jpg, Street view Windmotor Weidum 27.JPG, Windmotor File:Kerk naar het noorden - Weidum - 20252819 - RCE.jpg, Church of Weidum

References

External links

* Leeuwarden Populated places in Friesland {{Friesland-geo-stub