Wirdum ( fry, Wurdum) is a village in

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 ...

municipality in 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 ...

, 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 ...

. It had a population of around 1,060 in January 2017.

History

The village was first mentioned in 1335 as Weerdum, and means "settlement on the ''

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 ...

''". Wirdum developed on the ''terp'' (artificial living mount) in the Middle Ages. It used to be only accessible by water until road connections in the middle of the 19th century. St-Martin's village church was a

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine. ...

building in the 12th century. In the 13th century the nave was enlarged and since then it has been a brick building. In the 14th century a tower was added on the south side. The nave was altered in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style, the tower in the 19th century.Dutch inventory of national monuments on St-Martin's Church
/ref> In 1840, Wirdum was home to 665 people. In 1891, a dairy factory opened in Wirdum and remained open until 1964. In 2014, a treasure of 96 coins dating between 850 and 860 were discovered in the ''terp''.

Gallery

File:Wirdum, dorpszicht vanaf weg van Idaerd 2007-10-14 17.39.JPG, Village view File:Tjaard.jpg, Farm in Wirdum File:Wurdum, Swichumerdyk 11, eardere grifformearde tsjerke (oant 1925).jpg , Old Reformed Church turned into a car dealership File:Soldaat Barrahus - panoramio.jpg, Soldier on guard

References

Leeuwarden Populated places in Friesland {{Friesland-geo-stub