Langweer ( fry, Langwar) is a village 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 ...

in the municipality

De Fryske Marren De Fryske Marren ( nl, De Friese Meren) is a municipality of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It was established 1 January 2014 and consists of the former municipalities of Gaasterlân-Sleat, Lemsterland, Skarsterlân and parts of Boarnsterh ...

. The town was established in 1256, and has a population of 1,105 (as of 2017). Langweer has a rich

trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exchan ...

history, and it is located at a small lake ().

History

Langweer used to only be reached by water. It was backed by swampland. In 1856 it became connected to the outside world by the Brédyk via Sint Nicolaasga. Johan Vegelinsoord of Claerbergen organized this work which involved treeplanting and drainage. Before 2014, Langweer was part of the

Skarsterlân Skarsterlân (; nl, Scharsterland ) is a former municipality in the province of Friesland in the Netherlands. The municipality was created 1 January 1984 by merging the municipalities of Doniawerstal and Haskerland, the part of Utingeradeel cons ...

municipality and before 1984 it was the municipal seat of

Doniawerstal Doniawerstal was a municipality in southwest Friesland, south of Sneek. It consisted mainly of grassland and lakes. Its capital was Langweer. The municipality was dissolved in 1984; part went to Wymbritseradiel and part went to Skarsterlân Skarste ...

. In the 1990s Langweer has become a favorite town of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

s because of its picturesque streets and

watersport Water sports or aquatic sports are sport activities conducted on waterbodies, and can be categorized according to the degree of immersion by the participants. On the water * Boat racing, the use of powerboats to participate in races * Boati ...

opportunities. One of its main events is Skutsjesilen, a

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...

race that takes place every summer. The name Langweer derives from the Frisian name Langwar. ''War'' is an old Frisian term for a parcel of land (like English ''ward'') so the name meant long lots, for the shape of the paddocks. The village symbol which is found on the flag is a swan, possibly derived from the right of farmers to shoot swans.

Regions

The Weversstreek was a street where weavers lived. This is the oldest part of the town. The block between Weversstreek and Stevenshoek used to be full of one room workers cottages. Between Langweerder Wielen (the lake) and Weversstreek and the Buorren (a street) was a zone called De Greate Gaest. Originally this was a meadow. From 1907 to 1965 the Van Der Leij factory operated, drying grass, and pressing oil. This became the De Greate Gaest cafe, and later a service centre. The buildings were demolished in the 1990s to make way for a waterside housing development.

Buildings

Important buildings include the Hervormde Kerk (

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

) of Langweer built in 1777 on the site of three earlier churches. This church is unusually decorated compared to others from the 18th century, and has a swan on its spire. Inside is one of the best church organs in Friesland, constructed by Lambertus van Dam in 1784. A five paneled pulpit was preserved from the previous building. This dates from 1684 and made by Benedictus Jans. The earliest church was built around 1200, but deliberately burned down in 1517 by invaders. There was an unsuccessful attempt to rebuild from the remains. A successfully built half sized church appeared in 1663. The was built for Syts van Osinga,

grietman A grietman (from Old Frisian ''greta'' to accuse, to summon) is partly a forerunner of the current rural mayor in the province of Friesland, and partly the forerunner of a judge. The area of jurisdiction was the municipality or gemeente. In the j ...

(Mayor) from 1619 to 1652. It lies to the north of the church. It became the town hall for the municipality. In 1829 the last grietman to live there, Schelte Hessel Roorda of Eysinga locked up the building and left it for thirty years. In 1860 it was found to be untouched with clothes lying on the floor and cups on the table. But was demolished and rebuilt in 1939. Langweer is no longer the municipal capital, so there is no longer a town hall. The Orangerie was a farm house that featured exotic plants and flowers. It was on the side of the cross town Wymerts canal, which is now filled in. On the west side of the town was another farmhouse called Douma State. It dates from the sixteenth century. It included another two buildings, the Vechthuis (battle house) and the Douma Stins, which was burned down by Burgundian soldiers in 1517. The farm house was demolished in 1845, but rebuilt in part as an inn called Het Wapen van Friesland. It became a

dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or processing (or both) of animal milk – mostly from cows or buffaloes, but also from goats, sheep, horses, or camels – for human consumption. A dairy is typically located on ...

, which was later merged with the milk factory at St. Nicolaasga. The Herberg De Wielen is located here. De Waag was a

weigh house A weighhouse or weighing house is a public building at or within which goods are weighed. Most of these buildings were built before 1800, prior to the establishment of international standards for weights, and were often a large and representative ...

with market that was used up to 1906. Farmers brought cheese and butter to sell. A butter barrel industry and a

tannery Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...

developed in the town to make money off the farmers. After this it was used as a warehouse and then as a

hairdresser A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

. Regt Huys was a courthouse built around 1600. A judge sat there every Thursday. It was rebuilt in 1766 with original wood used to construct a holding cell in the tower. Later it was used as the town hall for

until 1940. During World War II it was a distribution centre for ration tokens. In the late 2000s the building operated as a library. Waag Langweer 01.JPG, Waag Sweachmermolen Boornzwaag 08.JPG, ''De Sweachmermolen'' LangweerMap.png, Map The

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

''De Sweachmermolen'' is a combined

corn mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

and

drainage mill A windpump is a type of windmill which is used for pumping water. Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The use of wind pumps became widespread across the Muslim world an ...

. It has been restored so that it can function as a drainage mill and is held in reserve for use in times of emergency. The mill is also used as a

holiday home A holiday cottage, holiday home, vacation home, or vacation property is accommodation used for holiday vacations, corporate travel, and temporary housing often for less than 30 days. Such properties are typically small homes, such as cottage ...

Amenities

The Openbare Basisschool (OBS) t'Swannestee is a public primary school at Bredyk 1.

External links

References

{{Authority control De Fryske Marren Populated places in Friesland