Terp
A terp, also known as a wierde, woerd, warf, warft, werf, werve, wurt or værft, is an artificial dwelling
These mounds occur in the coastal parts of the
Terpen in the province of Friesland
In the Dutch province of Friesland, an artificial dwelling hill is called terp (plural terpen).[1] Terp means "village" in Old Frisian and is cognate with English thorp, Danish torp, German Dorf, modern West Frisian doarp and Dutch dorp.
Terpen were built to "curb natural influences" such as floods by being a part of a network of terpen that rerouted large-scale flooding.[1]
Historical
Wierden in the province of Groningen
In the Dutch province of Groningen an artificial dwelling mound is called a wierde (plural wierden). As in Friesland, the first wierde was built around 500 BC or maybe earlier.
List of artificial dwelling mounds
Place names in the Frisian coastal region ending in -werd, -ward, -uert etc. refer to the fact that the village was built on an artificial dwelling mound (wierde). The greater part of the terp villages, though, have names ending in -um, from -heem or -hiem, meaning (farm)yard, grounds. There are a few village names in Friesland ending with -terp (e.g.
Some 1,200 terpen are recorded in Groningen and Friesland alone. They range from abandoned settlements to mounds with only one or a few farmhouses, to larger villages and old towns. A few of them are listed below.
Friesland
- Aalsum (West Frisian: Ealsum)
- Bolsward (Boalsert)
- Britsum
- Cornwerd (Koarnwert)
- Dokkum
- Ee
- Ferwert
- Ginnum
- Hegebeintum
- Hitzum
- Jannum
- Jouswier
- Leeuwarden (Ljouwert)
- Metslawier
- Wijnaldum
Groningen
Northern Germany
- Loquard (East Frisia)
- Rysum (East Frisia)
- Eckwarden (Butjadingen)
- Itzwärden (Land Wursten)
See also
Literature
- ISBN 978-3-8042-1182-7
- Moritz Heyne (1899): Das deutsche Wohnungswesen. Von den ältesten geschichtlichen Zeiten bis zum 16. Jahrhundert, Bremen 2012.
References
- ^ OCLC 52849131.
External links
- Warften/Wurten (page of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History)
- Webseite zu den Warftendörfern Ziallerns und Rysum (private site)
- Historical site of Wüppel in the Wangerland
- Water supply in the North Frisian Marshland (private site)
- Manual making a Terp in 12 Steps (post of the Frisia Coast Trail)
- Vereniging voor terpenonderzoek (Foundation for terp research, the Netherlands)