Valthe 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
Borger-Odoorn
Borger-Odoorn () is a municipality in the northeastern Netherlands in the province of Drenthe.
The local Hunebedcentrum Borger features several megaliths (or 'hunebeds') associated with the neolithic and mesolithic Funnelbeaker culture, as well ...
, and lies about 8 km north of
Emmen.
History
The village was first mentioned in 1217 as "in Valten", and probably means "cow shed". Valthe is an ''
esdorp'' which developed in the Middle Ages. It is possibly daughter settlement of
Odoorn
Odoorn () is a village in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Borger-Odoorn, and lies about nine km north of Emmen.
History
The village was first mentioned in 1327 as "Remboldus in Oderen". It is assumed it mean ...
. The village centre is called Oud-Valthe and did not have a church, but was encircled by five ''essen'' (communal pastures).
In 1621, the Valtherschans was constructed. It was
sconce
Sconce may refer to:
*Sconce (fortification), a military fortification
*Sconce (light fixture)
*Sconcing, imposing a penalty in the form of drink
*Sconce Point
Fort Victoria is a former military fort on the Isle of Wight, England (), built to ...
to defend
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 ...
against invasion. In 1665,
Christoph Bernhard von Galen
Christoph Bernhard Freiherr von Galen (12 October 1606, Drensteinfurt – 19 September 1678) was Prince-bishop of Münster. He was born into a noble Westphalian family.
Background, education and conversion to Roman Catholicism
Christoph Bernha ...
, the
Prince-Bishop of Münster, tried to take the sconce but failed. The sconce was later neglected and disappeared from the landscape.
Valthe was home to 226 people in 1840.
In 1930, the small Bethel church was built in
expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
style.
From 1942 until liberation in April 1945, there were 16 Jewish ''onderduikers'' (people in hiding) in an underground building in the forests near Valthe. They were never discovered. Between 2003 and 2004, the hut was restored and is open for public.
There were five ''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 ...
) near Exloo: D33 to D37.
D33 was totally destroyed and removed in 1955 for the construction of De Paploze Kerk in 1958.
D36 and D37 are twins which are located on the south side of the village. They are in a neglected state and the capstones of D36 have fallen off.
Gallery
Image:Valthe, Netherlands.JPG, Street in Valthe
File:Halteplaats Valthe.jpg, Former railway station
File:De Westhof, Hunzebergen - panoramio.jpg, Farm in winter
File:Hunebed D36 bij Valthe.jpg, ''Hunebed'' (dolmen) D36
References
External links
{{Authority control
Populated places in Drenthe
Borger-Odoorn