Midlaren is a village in the Dutch province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

. It is a part of the municipality of Tynaarlo, and lies about 14 km southeast 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 ...

History

The village was first mentioned between 1298 and 1304 as "in Middelare". Mid (middle) has been added to distinguish between Noordlaren and

Zuidlaren Zuidlaren (Noordenvelds: ''Zuudlaoren'') is a village in the province of Drenthe in the Northern Netherlands. Zuidlaren has just over 10,000 inhabitants and is situated on natural heightened land which is called the Hondsrug. The village is part ...

. In the 12th century, "tribus Laribus" was recorded which means "the three Larens". "Laar" means "open forest". Midlaren is an '' esdorp'' without a church which developed in the Early Middle Ages. There are remains of two ''brinks'' (village squares). Midlaren was home to 73 people in 1840. Pavilion De Bloemert was built in 1935 in functionalist style in reinforced concrete. The summer residence Villa Meerwijk was destroyed by fire in 1945 and only the park remains.

Dolmen

There are two ''hunebedden'' (

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

) in Midlaren. and are a pair located next to farms on a public road. They are near complete: all the capstones are present and only two side stones are missing. They have never been restored, however some cracks have been filled in with concrete. They are photogenic dolmen due to the nearby farms and the

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

trees which overshadow the stones. One farm was purchased by in 2001, and in 2003, pottery and artefacts were discovered under the floor of the barn.

Gallery

File:20200520 Hunebed D3 en D4 te Midlaren.jpg,

Hunebed A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

in Midlaren File:20200520 Oal-Jobsstee1 Haasakkers Midlaren.jpg, Farm in Midlaren File:Midlaren - Huttenweg 2.jpg, Farm in Midlaren File:Meerwijk in Midlaren.jpg, Villa Meerwijk (1861)

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Drenthe Tynaarlo