Zweins ( fry, Sweins) is a village in

Waadhoeke Waadhoeke is a municipality of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It was established 1 January 2018 and consists of the former municipalities of Franekeradeel, het Bildt, Menameradiel and parts of Littenseradiel, all four of which were dis ...

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 116 in January 2014. Before 2018, the village was part of the

Franekeradeel Franekeradeel (; fry, Frentsjerteradiel) is a former municipality in the northern Netherlands. It was created in 1984 by combining an earlier Franekeradeel municipality with the city of Franeker and parts of the former municipality of Barradeel. O ...

municipality.

History

The village was first mentioned in the 13the century as Sueninghe, and means "settlement of the people of Sween (person)". Zweins is a ''

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 ...

'' (artificial living hill) village. The Dutch Reformed church was built in 1783 as a replacement of a medieval church, and was restored in 2000. The ''

stins A stins (Dutch, pl. ''stinsen''; from West Frisian ''stienhûs'' utch ''steenhuis''"stone house", shortened to ''stins'', pl. ''stinzen'') is a former stronghold or villa in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. Many stinsen carry the name ...

'' Kingma State was first mentioned in the early 17th century, but was of an earlier date. The van Beyma family who lived at the estate had tried several times to become ''

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 ...

'' (predecessor of mayor/judge) in multiple places by buying votes, but failed to get elected mainly due to opposition of the ''stadtholder''. Unable to get elected, Coert Lambertus van Beyma became a leader of the '' patriots'' in 1787. The ''patriots'' wanted to establish a democratic country, and abolished the ''stadtholder'' and noble privileges. The estate was demolished in 1864, and only a forest remains. Zweins was home to 113 people in 1840. Much of the ''terp'' was excavated.

References

{{Authority control Waadhoeke Populated places in Friesland