Vrijhoeven (also Vrijenhoeven or De Vrijen Hoef) is a former hamlet and former municipality in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

. It is located about 2 km south of the village of

Ter Aar Ter Aar () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is located about 6 km northeast of Alphen aan den Rijn. The town had a population of 9,007 on 1 July 2006. The area of Ter Aar is ...

. According to historian

Abraham Jacob van der Aa Abraham Jacob van der Aa (7 December 1792, Amsterdam – 21 March 1857, Gorinchem) was a Dutch writer best known for his dictionaries, one of notable people and the other of notable places in the Netherlands. He was born in Amsterdam in 1792. ...

, Vrijhoeven was a part of the ''

heerlijkheid A ''heerlijkheid'' (a Dutch word; pl. ''heerlijkheden''; also called ''heerschap''; Latin: ''Dominium'') was a landed estate that served as the lowest administrative and judicial unit in rural areas in the Dutch-speaking Low Countries before 1800. ...

'' (manorial fief) of

Aarlanderveen Aarlanderveen is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, and lies about 4 km east of Alphen aan den Rijn. Aarlanderveen was a peat excavation settlement which developed in t ...

in the middle of the sixteenth century. In 1625 it became a separate jurisdiction. A gallows was located here, close to one of the mills of Aarlanderveen, which was named "Galgmolen" (''Gallows mill''). When the municipal system was introduced in the Netherlands in 1812, Vrijhoeven became a part of the municipality of

, but in 1817, Vrijhoeven became a separate municipality again. The municipality was very small: its area was 0.77 km². It consisted of the area between the Schoutenvaart and the current Korteraarseweg in Aarlanderveen. There were only five houses, and the population consisted of 40 people, mostly farmers. The municipality existed between 1817 and 1841, when it became part of Ter Aar again. In 1997 Vrijhoeven was still mentioned as a hamlet in the municipality of Ter Aar,''VUGA's Alfabetische Plaatsnamengids van Nederland'' (13th edition), VUGA, 1997. but it is no longer shown on more recent topographical maps.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005.

References

Former municipalities of South Holland {{SouthHolland-geo-stub