Bears (

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

: ''Beers'') is a small village in the

province of

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

.''VUGA's Alfabetische Plaatsnamengids van Nederland'' (13th edition), VUGA, 1997. It is located in the municipality

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

, about 8 km southwest of

.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005. Bears has a population of about 133 in January 2017. The official name of the village is in Frisian ("Bears"), like all villages in Littenseradiel. "Beers" is the Dutch name.

History

It was first mentioned in 1305 as Beerse, and means "fenced off hunting area". Bears 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 and ...

'' (artificial living hill) village. The Protestant church of Bears dates from the 13th century. The Uniastate was a ''

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 ...

'' of the Unia family. The estate was demolished in 1756, and only the gate house has remained. A steel framed replica of the estate was built in the 1990, and has an observation tower in the middle to view the landscape. Before 2018, the village was part of the

Littenseradiel Littenseradiel () is a former municipality in the northern Netherlands, known in Dutch as Littenseradeel (). The municipality was formed on 1 January 1984 by a merger of the former municipalities Baarderadeel and Hennaarderadeel. On 1 January 201 ...

municipality.

Notable buildings

* The Protestant church of Bears

Gallery

File:20190419 Uniastate2 Bears.jpg, Sculpture of the former Uniastate File:20190515 Zicht op Bears2.jpg, View on Bears File:20190419 interieurMariakerk2 Bears.jpg, Inside the Maria Church File:Beers Poortgebouw 0177.JPG, Gate house of Uniastate

References

External links

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