The village of Britsum is located in the municipality of

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

(province of

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 ...

), in the

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 ...

. Britsum was built on an artificial bank (''

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 an ...

'') running along the eastern side of the former ''

Middelzee The Middelzee (Dutch for "middle sea"; fry, Middelsee), also called Bordine, was the estuary mouth of the River Boorne (West Frisian: ''Boarn'') now in the Dutch province of Friesland. It ran from as far south as Sneek northward to the Wadden S ...

''. The church, built around 1300, is also located on this bank. It had a population of about 910 citizens in January 2017.

History

It was first mentioned in 944 as Bruggiheim, and means "settlement near a bridge". Britsum is a ''

'' (artificial living mound) village with a radial structure. It dates from the early middle ages and was built near the

. A large part of the mound was excavation around 1900. The western side of the Dutch Reformed church dates between 1180 and 1200. The

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-type ...

and

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

date between 1240 and 1260. The church received its present shape in 1875. In 1840, Britsum was home to 326 people. Britsum was served by a station on the

North Friesland Railway The Noord-Friesche Locaalspoorweg-Maatschappij (North Friesland Railway) was a railway serving the sparsely populated north of the Dutch province of Friesland. It was operated by the North Friesland Local Railway Company (Dutch: ''Noord-Friesche Lo ...

which opened in 1901 and closed to passengers in December 1940. The line finally closed in 1997. Before 2018, the village was part of the

Leeuwarderadeel Leeuwarderadeel (; fy, Ljouwerteradiel) is a former municipality in the northern Netherlands. Its capital was Stiens. History On 1 January 2018 it merged with the municipality of Leeuwarden. Population centres * Bartlehiem * Britsum * Cornjum ...

municipality.

Gallery

File:De âlde skoalle oan de Greate Buorren yn Britsum.JPG, Former school building File:Voorgevel nr. L 156 - Britsum - 20476696 - RCE.jpg, Farm in Britsum

References

External links

{{Authority control Leeuwarden Populated places in Friesland