Dwingeloo (Drents: Dwingel) is a village in the municipality of
Westerveld in the Dutch province of Drenthe. On January 1, 2020, the
village had 2425 inhabitants, excluding surrounding hamlets.
It is located northwest of Hoogeveen between Diever / Dieverbrug and
Lhee / Lheebroek. Until the municipal reorganization of January 1,
1998, it was an independent municipality, which also included the
neighborhoods Westeinde, Eemster, Leggeloo, Lhee and Lheebroek and
parts of Geeuwenbrug and Dieverbrug.
The large green brink in
the center of the village is a protected village view. Dwingeloo was
voted 'greenest village in Europe' in September 2011.
The first mention of the village dates from a deed
from 1181, from the archives of the monastery of Ruinen, describing
the purchase of a tenth of land in Twingelo. The name comes from Old
Saxon. The name could thus be some sources or derived from thingan
(restraint) and lauha / loo (forest) or from thwangi (belt) or from
force (district of law). The first possibility then refers to a
clearing in the forest. The second possibility refers to a narrow
piece of land covered with forest. The third possibility refers to a
compulsion forest.
Initially Lhee was the largest village in
the schultambt, but due to the presence of nobility in Dwingeloo, it
slowly became the main town in the 11th-12th century. In the French
era, the Dwingeloo schultambt was transformed into a municipality,
to which the hamlets Eemster and Leggeloo were added, which
previously belonged to the diever schultambt. The new municipality
existed unchanged until 1998.
The St. Nicholas Church
The
St. Nicholas Church dates from the early 15th century, replacing a
single-aisled church with a separate tower. After the collapse of
the previous spire, the current spire was placed in 1631 on the
initiative of Rutger van den Boetzelaer, resident of the manor
Batinge and drost of Drenthe. A large part of the church interior
went up in flames in the village fire of 1923. Portraits of Van den
Boetzelaer and his third wife Batina van Lohn are in the church. The
chapel at the church is privately owned.
The damsel of
Batinge
The saga of the damsel of Batinge is linked to the
construction of the Sint-Nicolaaskerk in Dwingeloo. This lady drove
past every day during the construction of the church, because she
would have an eye on the builder of the church. This builder was not
insensitive to her beauty and became so confused that he could no
longer perform his work properly. By intervention of the drost of
Drenthe and her father, Mr. van Batinge, the lady was sent on a
journey, but not after she had told her lover what shape the spire
of the new church should take in her opinion. The architect was then
able to realize her dream image. This is the reason for the
different architectural style. After completion of the church, both
would still be married.
Every year on January 17, the name day of Saint Anthony, the twelve brothers of the Saint Anthony guild gather in Hotel Wesseling on the brink. The guild was a charity that collected rent (partly in kind) from the chiefs in the village and thus supported the needy residents. Nowadays the guild also supports social projects. One lease in kind still exists: for example, the occupant of the former debt house in the village of Dwingeloo has to pay sixteen packages (eight pounds) of butter to the guild every year on 17 January.
To the south of the village is the Dwingelderveld National Park, a
large woodland and heathland area where a flock of sheep is still
present. Here is also a large radio telescope and the Planetron on
the edge of the area. More focused on tourism, this area also has a
forest pool and a number of campsites.
Southwest of Dwingeloo
is the estate of the Oldengaerde house, a well-preserved Drenthe
manor from the fifteenth century (renovated in 1717). The avenue and
canal system also dates from that time. In the garden behind the
manor is a 'Grand Canal', a narrow rectangular pond.
Just
west of the village are the houses of the manors Batinge (demolished
in 1832) and Entinge (demolished in the 18th century). The
seventeenth-century canal and avenue systems are still recognizable
in the landscape. The manor Westrup is located on the north side of
Dwingeloo. From 1843 to 2019 it had the function of a notary's
residence. Westrup's estate was moved in 1783 to a farm on the other
side of the street (Entingheweg 8), so that Dwingeloo had five
manors.
A characteristic building on the Brink is the
Schultehuis (Brink 12). This official residence of the schulte
(mayor) of Dwingeloo was built around 1675 by order of Jan Coerts
Prins.