Approximately 15 x 18 km, 2,700 kmē
Province of Groningen,
Origin of name:
Named after the river
Relationship/similarities with other cultural entities:
The area is comparable to
Westergo in Friesland.
Characteristic elements and
several Cultural Heritage areas surrounded by former marine bays.
Winding ditches trace the courses of former mud flat creeks, and the
position of the long lines of dwelling mounds on the salt marsh
embankments also indicate the former coastline of the Wadden Sea.
2. Geology and geography
The oldest salt marsh area, which includes Middag-Humsterland, lay above the
Pleistocene sandy plains of the Westerkwartier. When the first people
arrived c.600 BC, the salt marsh was bordered by a broad coastal embankment
at the level of present-day Garnwerd and Zoutkamp. To the south of Garnwerd
the coastal embankment gave way to the raised left bank of Hunze. The salt
marsh area expanded northward in phases as the seaward salt marshes
developed. The gradual rise in sea level meant that the level of the
newly-formed salt marshes was always a little higher than the old ones. The
Niekerk-Zuurdijk salt marsh embankment was formed roughly between 550 and 50
BC. From 300 to 600 AD the embankment followed the line of Ulrum-Leens-Wehe,
while heavy sticky clay was deposited in the area behind it. In the
succeeding centuries the coastal area of the region underwent many changes.
The Hunze estuary silted up, while the marine bay of the Lauwers began to
develop. This dynamic coastal process, in which one bay became land as
another bay developed, is typical of the northern coastal area. Incursions
from the Lauwerszee from the 7th century, changed the salt marsh area into
islands and peninsulas, separated by streams. One of these streams reached
the lower reaches of the Hunze, which then, instead of flowing north, struck
off to the west. This part of the Hunze became known as the Reitdiep. Light
clay was deposited on the islands and peninsulas. The old mouth of the Hunze
was finally cut off entirely by the salt marsh embankment of Pieterburen and
2.2 Present landscape
Due to the dikes the Hunsingo landscape is now unaffected by the sea,
the area having lost its dynamism when the Lauwers was cut off. The dikes on
the Wadden coast were brought up to the delta level, and all tidal action
ceased. The open landscape is characterised by its many dikes and meandering
|Dykes in Hunsingo
||Landscape in Hunsingo
3. Landscape and settlement history
3.1 Prehistoric and Medieval Times
The salt marshes were first inhabited around 600 BC. Initially the farmers
living on the higher sandy land used the salt marshes as summer pasture.
Later people were drawn by the fertile clay soils to settle permanently on
the salt marshes, choosing the highest points for their farmhouses. The
embankments along the Hunze were the most suitable for settlement. The first
settlements were along a line running from Adorp, Winsum, and Baflo to
Warffum, and another from Dorkwerd, Garnwerd and Ezinge to Houwerzijl.
Around 500 BC the area suffered increased flooding. This heralded the first
phase of the raising of dwelling mounds, using household waste, manure and
salt marsh turf.
built on the flanks of the mounds, with the living area towards the centre
and the working areas lower down. This made it easy to move between the farm
buildings and the surrounding pastures. Sometimes an 'ox road' was created
at the foot of the village mound to connect up the different farms. A well
would be dug at the top of the mound to provide water for drinking and fire
fighting. The region of dwelling mounds - wierden - flourished in Roman
times, leading to population growth and increasing demand for land.
|Photo: Ox-road in Niehove
3.2 Early Modern Times
Until around 1000 AD the mound dwellers tried to
ward off the threat of flooding by increasing the height of the mounds.
After that date they began to build dikes, not just around the villages, but
also to protect the surrounding agricultural land from inundation with
seawater. But the dikes brought problems as well as benefits. They made it
more difficult to drain off excess water.
In Hunsingo the history of reclamation began with the construction of ring
dikes around the old agricultural villages. The first dikes were built
around the centres / core areas of Middag and Humsterland in the eleventh or
twelfth century. The Marne area, to the north of the Reitdiep, is also
thought to have had a ring dike. The oldest continuous sea dike along the
North Groningen coast dates back to around 1200. When the dike was built the
original mouth of the Hunze was already entirely silted up.
The construction of the dike in turn led to the development of new
settlements, which were not on mounds, and owed their existence to the
proximity of the dike itself, a drainage sluice, or a road. It was not
unusual for roads to be built on the remains of an old dike. Villages built
beside discharging sluices (zijlen) include Schouwerzijl, Houwerzijl,
Munnikezijl, Kommerzijl, Lauwerzijl, Niezijl en Pieterzijl. Dike villages in
the region include Den Andel, Den Ham, Kleine Huisjes, Kloosterburen,
Molenrij, Pieterburen, Den Hoorn, Westernieland/Kaakhorn and Zuurdijk.
|Village of Niehove
||Village of Houwerzijl
The Medieval period saw the development of the settlement pattern which
still characterises the landscape today. Only a few villages and
neighbourhoods have been created since then, in response to new reclamation
works. In the eighth century the Ommelanden (the surrounding area) of
Groningen was converted to Christianity. This led to the building of a
church in the centre of many of the mound villages, often in the place of
the former source of drinking water, the dobbe (well). In a number of cases
a small ditch was dug around the churchyard of the mound to replace the
well. The well could only be replaced once the villagers had secured another
adequate source of fresh water. Thus the construction of the churches and
the disappearance of the wells must have been after the dikes were built,
when there was enough fresh water in the ditches.
The advent of Christianity also brought monasteries to the region:
Selwerd, Kloosterburen, Nijenklooster and Aduard. Of these, the Cistercian
Aduard monastery, founded in 1192, was the most influential. The monks and
lay brothers worked on the surrounding land and introduced water management.
It is thought that the monks contributed to the dike building around Middag
|Monasteries in Humsterland
||Map of Humsterland
A new dike
required good drainage, and the Aduarderdiep was dug to drain off the excess
rainwater in Hunsingo, it discharged through a sluice into the Reitdiep. It
was the Aduard monks who took the initiative to set up the zijlvesten or
sluice committees: fourteenth and fifteenth century water boards run by the
Little is known about medieval agriculture in the region, but we can assume
that the farms throughout the region were mixed (livestock and arable).
Presumably the low-lying areas like Middag and Humsterland were more suited
to livestock farming, whereas in the north, particularly on the fairly high
salt marsh embankments, there would be more arable. Production was
intensified in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
|Photo: Farming in Middag-Humsterland
3.3 Modern Times
From around 1700 the accretion process was
accelerated by land reclamation works. The Noordpolder was drained in 1811,
followed by the Uithuizerpolder (1827), the Eemspolder (1876), the
Lauwerpolder (1892), the Julianapolder (1924) and finally the Linthorst
Homanpolder (1940). In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries several areas
were reclaimed around the estuary of the Reitdiep in the Lauwerszee, such as
the Zuurdijkster polders and the Old and New Ruigezandster polders.
|Photo: The Noordpolder (Middendijk)
which provided access from Groningen to the sea, is the most important
waterway in Hunsingo, but its meandering course proved difficult for
shipping. To improve the situation some of the more extreme meanders to the
west of Winsum (1629) and Sauwerd (1669) were cut off. The old riverbed,
called het Oude Diepje, is still recognisable in the landscape as a channel
with a continuous broad ditch.
Many of the old fortified houses (borgen) have disappeared. Some estates are
still recognisable in the shape of canals and planting. Sometimes there is
now a farm of the same name in place of the former estate house; for example
de Aldringaheert at Feerwerd, and de Englumheerd and Jensema at Oldehove.
Surviving borgen include Verhildersum at Leens, Allersma at Ezinge and
Piloursema at Den Ham.
|Map of fortified houses (borgen) in
||Photo: Fortified house Allersma
commercial levelling works between 1840 and 1945 left practically none of
the dwelling mounds intact. The fertile soil from the mounds was used to
fertilise agricultural areas elsewhere. The existing waterway access was
used to transport the soil, although in one instance a new waterway was dug
especially. Some of the mounds were completely levelled, others only
partially. In the latter case clear differences in height became
increasingly apparent between the dug and undug elements.
The brick industry grew up around the Reitdiep and is typical of the region.
The heavy, lime-free claypan soil deposited between 300 and 600 AD was the
ideal raw material for the typical red Groningen brick.
From the start of the 19th century the ?agriculturalist?s method? was used
for reclamation, whereby pits were dug in the salt marsh to collect silt.
During the mass unemployment in 1935 land reclamation work was stepped up:
dams were built of wicker and posts to enclose areas of 400 by 400 metres.
The farmers on the seaward side had a legal right to take possession of the
first 300 metres of the newly-reclaimed land, and the first option to buy
the next. The main aim was to obtain extra land for agriculture. Polders
formed by land reclamation in recent centuries include the Negenboeren,
Juliana and Hornhuister polders. Changing economic requirements and
increasing environmental concern for the Wadden Sea have brought land
reclamation to a halt.
4. Modern development and planning
4.1 Land use
The land was predominantly used for agriculture.
In recent decades more land has been required for nature development, and
the area around the Lauwersmeer has many hectares of new nature reserves.
4.2 Settlement development
The settlements have remained small. There has
been only limited expansion, except the places Winsum and Zuidhorn. The
village Pieterburen has become a tourist centre because of the seal centre
and as a starting point of a long distant footpath called Pieterpad.
4.3 Industry and energy
The closure of the Lauwerszee in 1969 meant the
end of the fish auction in Zoutkamp. The harbour activities have moved to
Lauwersoog. Groningen is known for natural gas extraction. The largest
natural gas deposit in the region is at Grijpskerk. Gas extraction has led
to subsidence, particularly in the east, where more water now has to be
Many roads are built on the winding routes of the old dikes and connect the
'wierdedorpen'. Due to its isolated position the area has no major roads.
5. Legal and spatial planning aspects
The Legal and Spatial Planning Aspects are described here in a generalised
way, as they are relevant to all the cultural entities in the province of
Groningen. Due to the scale of the entities (which cover more then one
municipality), the focus is on regional policy and management. However, the
goals of the regional policy and planning strategy are taken into account by
the local sector planning policy. The regional goals and strategies are
formulated after discussion with a wide range of stakeholders and
The regional spatial plan for the province of Groningen, the Provinciaal
Omgevingsplan II, is an important document in terms of the integrated
management of the landscape and heritage. It details the objectives for
regional and local policy, and issues relating to landscape and heritage.
Part of the Groningen regional plan, the Karakteristiek Groningen, covers
the main goals for integrated landscape and heritage policy. The actual (historical)
landscapes must be taken as the starting point for new developments and the
diversity of landscapes must remain recognisable. These main goals are
subsequently incorporated into other plans, dealing with specific parts of
Regioperspectieven (long term perspectives for a region) are drawn up for
the sub-regions. These perspectives culminate in gebiedsuitwerkingen (development
plans for specific sub-regions). For example, the
Landschapsontwikkelingsplan Noord Groningen (Landscape Development Plan for
N. Groningen) deals with protection of the landscape and heritage and the
integration of new developments. These plans are drawn up in consultation
with the main sectors and various local and regional organisations (public
bodies and NGOs).
Following the destruction of many of the dwelling mounds during the large
scale levelling programmes from the 1840?s through to 1945 the few surviving
dwelling mounds need to be carefully protected.
Agricultural pratices have resulted in the loss of structures such as the
old fortified houses and the destruction of many earthworks, in particular
dwelling mounds through levelling and ploughing. Cultivation continues to
place buried archaeological remains at risk.
6.3 Nature conservation
The new areas of nature reserves such as around the Lauwersmeer can cause
damage to cultural heritage assets if these are not considered at an early
stage in the management plans for the reserves.
6.4 Industry and energy
Gas extraction has led to subsidence in some areas and this will cause
erosion and damage to cultural heritage assets.
7.1 Spatial planning
The regional spatial plan for the province of Groningen, the Provinciaal
Omgevingsplan II, is an important document in terms of integrated management
of landscape and heritage and should be used to both promote and manage the
cultural heritage assets of Hunsingo.
The varying pattern of the historic villages and towns is mostly intact and
protected. However there is the opportunity via planning requirements to
promote the historic environment through careful development in the
appropriate style for each settlement.
|Photo: Village of Garnwerd
Nature conservation offers opportunities to integrate conservation of the
natural environment and historic landscape to provide further attractions to
cyclists, walkers and riders. The areas cultural heritage is well-suited for
increasing the local resident?s sense-of-place and for strengthening
Hulsingo?s image for marketing purposes.
|Photo: Dwelling mound (terp) village
Management of cultural heritage
Hulsingo has a rich archaeological heritage from the prehistoric period
onwards with the large number of dwelling mounds fortified houses and
estates, villages and dykes, mostly now surviving only as below ground
archaeological deposits, or visible in the layout of the landscape.
The surviving small dwelling mound (wierde) villages (some of which have
protected status) like Eenrum, Winsum, Obergum, Oostum, Garnwerd, Ezinge,
Saaksum and Niehove, in particular those with old Romanesque churches set
amongst lakes, are ideal for promoting the cultural heritage of the region.
Marrewijk, D & A.J. Haartsen, 2002, Waddenland Het landschap en cultureel
erfgoed in de Waddenzeeregio, Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuurbeheer en
Visserij / Noordboek, Leeuwarden
Provincie Groningen, 2000, Provinciaal Omgevingsplan, Koersen op Karakter,