Wirdum () is a village in

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 ...

municipality 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 ...

, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. 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 and ...

''". 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 precipitation (chemistry), precipitate out of water in ambient temperature, unheated rivers or lakes. hot spring, Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less ...

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 Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

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