In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Dutch people lived in appalling conditions. During the course of the 19th century, this prompted citizens and workers to establish public housing associations.
In 1912, a committee was formed in Aalten under the leadership of Mayor Monnik to establish an association for the improvement of public housing. The establishment took place the following year.
Celebrations at Volkshuisvesting
In 1981, the Wisselink textile factory on the Dijkstraat moved to the industrial estate. On the vacated site, 120 homes were built, the current Driessenshof. However, before the former weaving mill was demolished, the ”Vereniging tot Verbetering der Volkshuisvesting’ (Association for the Improvement of Public Housing) organised an extensive programme of festivities there for the people of Aalten:
Polstraat-16-18, Aalten (photo: Google Streetview)Provinciale Geldersche en Nijmeegsche Courant, 18 March 1913Aaltensche Courant, 29 October 1913
De Woonplaats
In 1995, the associations in Aalten, Groenlo, and Winterswijk, which together owned 6,700 homes, decided to merge under the name De Woonplaats. A few years later, a merger followed with De Volkswoning in Enschede (5,100 homes). Two years later, the head office moved from Groenlo to Enschede. In 2022, De Woonplaats owned almost 17,000 homes, of which approximately 2,300 were in the municipality of Aalten.
Your contribution is welcome! We would appreciate receiving more (historical) information and photographs regarding traveller caravans, families, residential sites, and related matters within the municipality of Aalten. Can you help us? Please comment below or send us a message!
In 1928, the municipality of Aalten published an ‘Ordinance on Caravans’. This designated a site on Tolhuisweg as the only location where caravans were permitted to park.
Ordinance of 22 Dec 1927 regarding the designation of a site for caravans in Bredevoort
World Travellers in Bredevoort
De Graafschapbode, 22 February 1935:
“Our Gelderland Achterhoek region is currently enjoying the honour of a visit from two ‘world travellers’, who are housed in the pictured, very practically and efficiently equipped caravan. In the front section is the sleeping area for the pair, as is understandable primitive in design, yet just sufficient. They provide for their livelihood by selling postcards.
From a chat with the travellers, it emerged that they originate from South Slavia, one of the Balkan states. Since 1928, they have been busy completing their ‘Journey Around the World’. A large part of the mainland of the European continent has already been ‘covered’, while currently, the Dutch—in this case, Achterhoek—soil is the focus of their visit.
The living area in the wagon contains ‘furniture’ of, believe it or not, a table and two chairs. The wall decoration consists of an extensive and certainly noteworthy collection of postcards from almost most countries and larger cities in Europe. To the question: ‘How is travelling here in Holland?’ we received the reply in broken Dutch that it is far preferable here to most other countries. A police officer might come to your bedside at night, but they have had almost no trouble with raids by rowdy youths or, as sometimes happens, from bandits trying to make their move. We also learned that another four years will be needed before the trip can be considered finished as a whole.”
What to do with Travellers?
Graafschapbode, 15 October 1937
Nieuwe Winterswijksche Courant, 21 October 1964
1968 Caravan Act
In 1968, the national government prohibited the nomadic lifestyle of the Traveller community as a result of a new Caravan Act (Woonwagenwet). They were forced to relocate to large, regional caravan sites. On 1 May 1970, the regional camp ‘Dennenoord’ was opened in Winterswijk.
All Traveller families, from Winterswijk to Zevenaar, were obliged to live at this site. The site featured a primary school, a clubhouse, and a scrapyard. There were paved roads, and every caravan had its own toilet.
With the abolition of the Caravan Act in 1999, housing policy for Traveller communities became the responsibility of local municipalities. In the municipality of Aalten, there are currently only a few residential sites for caravans remaining on the Singelweg.
Traveller site, Singelweg, Aalten
Newspaper clippings
Whenever Traveller families were mentioned in the Aalten news, it was often in a negative context. A search on Delpher yielded, among other things, the following reports:
Zutphensche Courant, 14 December 1904Aaltensche Courant, 23 October 1917Tubantia, 14 November 1951Tubantia, 28 June 1962
Arnhemsche Courant, 9 December 1912Nieuwe Aaltensche Courant, 6 July 1923Graafschapbode, 19 December 1924Tubantia 19 April 1960
De Telegraaf, 5 April 1917Zutphensch Dagblad, 14 April 1947Tubantia, 8 August 1961Tubantia, 19 October 1961
Aalten has a large number of farms with their own names. In the 1967 address book of the municipality of Aalten, about 480 are mentioned. Almost all of these names are unique. To avoid confusion, it was logical to give a farm a name that did not yet exist. However, one finds, for example, the Oude Loo and the Nieuwe Loo, Groot Kampe and Klein Kampe, even ‘t Paske, Groot Paske, Klein Paske and Nieuw Paske. These are often farms that previously formed a single homestead but were split into parts during division among children. Names with “Olde” or “Oude” then point to the original house.
When one examines those names, an interesting discovery is made. They can be divided into different groups. For instance, there is a group of names from which one can deduce what the vegetation around the yard used to be like and in what kind of environment the farm was established. Another group points to the trade that was practiced there in the past alongside agriculture and livestock farming. Many farmers, and especially the small-scale ones, had enough time to do something on the side to earn a bit extra, which was often necessary.
The practice of giving names to farms is very old. In the verpondingskohier (tax register) of 1647/50, the persons who had to pay the ‘verponding’ (a land tax) are recorded under Aalten, as well as under Bredevoort. But under the rural districts, the names of the farms are mentioned, followed by the names of the residents. Thus, we have a list of homesteads that existed at that time. Many of the current names already appear in it.
One must possess a very great imagination to be able to picture what the Aalten landscape looked like centuries ago. Nine-tenths of the land consisted of heath, forest, and swamp. The cultivable area was small and was only used for growing vegetables and a few cereal crops. Most farms were small: ‘stedekes’. Division of the common lands, artificial fertilizer, and better drainage put an end to the ‘prange’ and ‘marode’ (hardship and misery) of the farmer.
The following names require an explanation: Bokkel, called Buclo in 1284, beech forest. The Walfort was previously called the Waldenvort, a ford (through the Slinge) near the Wald (the forest). Similarly, Walvoort on the Haart, with a ford through the Keizersbeek.
’t Olde Brusse, Lintelo
The name Voorst (from forestis) was used for a forest in which hunting was not allowed; it was the private hunting ground of the king or the lord. The site of the Snoeijenbos was cleared in the forest. Brusse is formed from: Brusch, brushwood, ‘t Hagt and the Heegt: forest of low wood, perhaps consisting of hawthorn bushes.
The Slehegge may recall the blackthorn, ‘t Heggeltje: a small ‘hagt’. The Hakstege was located on a narrow path (stege) through the ‘hagt’. The Rieste owes its name to the brushwood (rijshout). The Heisterkamp was established on a site where much brushwood grew.
In 1386, the name Varenvelde appears, and later also the Verrevelt, which is now the Vervelde. The Veernhof also originated in a field full of ferns. The Tente owes its name to the ‘tente’, the common tansy. The Greute recalls the ‘gruit’, the bog myrtle, with which beer was fermented and which grew on marshy ground, as did the reed, which is found in the name the Riete. Waste uncultivated land, ‘vage’, is found in Vaags.
One should not have a grand conception of these heights. An elevation of half a meter was already called a ‘bult’, a ‘horst’, or a ‘heuvel’. These heights offered no protection whatsoever against the damp environment. The houses were very damp.
Names like De Bulte, Bultink and De Heuvel speak for themselves. De Brink (brinc) was a grass-covered elevation. De Bree (from bride) is considered a field on the ‘es’ (open field). Drenthel (originally Drenthelo): forest on an elevation. Haartman and Haartelink: a ‘haart’ is a high-lying heathland. Hengeveld (heng, slope), Hillen (hil, hill), Hoopman, the Klinke (hilly heathland with puddles and pools here and there).
De Horst (an elevation covered with low wood), Leemhorst, Seinhorst, Stokhorst and Winkelhorst. Leeland (lee, hill, also a place of judgment), the Limbarg (loam mountain?). De Pol: a small sand hill that stood out like an island above the surroundings. Pikpolle (pec, poverty): a meager hut on a ‘pol’.
Tammel (in 1384 Tanbulen): pine forest on a ‘bult’? Hondorp: village, mound, elevation the size of a ‘hont’, a unit of area. The Westendorp also points to an elevation. Wierkamp: ‘wier’, ‘wierde’, elevation protruding above a wet environment.
Farms located in or near a swamp
The largest part of the municipality of Aalten used to be swamp. Only the Bocholt–Vragender ridge protruded above the marshes. These ‘broeken’ (marshlands) were created because the small rivers the Slinge, the Zilverbeekje, and the Keizersbeek could not sufficiently drain the water. That is why so many farms have a swamp name, such as Goorhuis, Goorman, Goorzicht, Moorveld, the Stroete (marshy wasteland), Veenemaat, Groot and Klein Veenhuis, ‘t Veentje, Wijnveen (‘winne’ farm, farm in the peat), Hagenbroek (a marshland with hawthorn bushes), Kortenbroek (a marshland with short grass and therefore infertile land), the Woerd (woert, low-lying land).
Bolandsweide (bol, soft, marshy, mud). The Nonhof (in 1281 den Honhof) and the Hennepe (in 1284 Honepe), both names formed from “hoen” and “huun”. Luiten, popularly Luten, was low-lying poor land, ‘lute’, while Maris represented much the same: swamp. Glieuwe: ‘gliede’, black shiny soil, peat. Somsenhuus: ‘somp’, marshy land. Pietenpol (in 1640 Pytenpoel): ‘pitte’, pit, hollow, thus a pool in a low place, De Put (hollow, pool. ‘t Slaa: ‘slade’, heath pool, swamp. Te Sligte (in 1384 Schlichte): flat swamp. Mager: poor, meager land. The Navis possessed a damp meadow; ‘nate’, wet and ‘vis’, Wisch, ‘wiese’, meadow. Near Amerongen, the medieval residential tower the Matewisch still stands.
Pietenpol, Haart
Camp names
Stapelkamp, Heurne
A number of names end in -kamp. Originally, the ‘kampen’ were small pieces of land that had been cleared of brushwood and trees in the forests, thus reclaimed forest. Later, the word ‘kamp’ acquired the meaning of field.
Only a few names recall the reclamation of wastelands. Nijland, Nijveld, Nijhof, Nieuwkamp, Nieuwe Weide. The Bijvanck, what was ‘caught’ or taken additionally. Te Brake also points to reclamation, the ‘breaking’ of the wasteland. Ruwhof: ‘rude’, ‘rode’, reclaimed land.
Farms that recall passes, gates, tolls, etc.
A ‘pas’ is a passage in a ‘landweer’ (defensive earthwork), a wooded bank. The resident of the nearby farm had to ‘oppassen’ (watch out), supervise the persons entering. Such a farm sometimes bore the name “Pasop”. Along the Romienendiek, for example, lie the Paske, the Pasop and the Paskerhut: the residents had to keep an eye on the persons who entered the ‘marke’ (common land) through the Wolboom and the Zwarte Veen. On the border with the Varsseveld area near the Varsseveldseweg, there is also a Pas. On the Varsseveld side, the Loerdijk and the Kijkuit are located here. The ‘marken’ were well protected.
Among those who also had to take the ‘marke’ under their care was the resident of the Markerink, formerly called March-ward-inck. A ‘werde’ was a watch post, a place where one had to supervise the intruding unsavory elements. A similar activity was expected of the Ligterink, which in 1435 was called Licht-werd-inck: the watching apparently felt rather light there. The duty of keeping watch also lay with the Kuier and the Kuierman: ‘koeren’, ‘kuren’ meant “looking out”.
Did the ‘schutte’, who had to seize (schutten) the livestock from another ‘marke’ that had intruded into their own ‘marke’, live on the Schuttenkamp, and did such a person also live on the Man-schot-weide? Recalling the tolls are Slotboom, the Stokkert, ‘t Bonte Hek, Klaphekke, ‘t Tolhuis, Tolkamp and Tolder (toll collector).
Memories of the church
De Pater, ‘t Klooster (named after the Schaer monastery), Kerkhof (a farm of the church), Kerkkamp, Neerhof (den Heerhof, inhabited by the monks), De Kloeze, hermit, perhaps also Klaus. Kosters custerie: the proceeds of this property were for the sexton.
Beestman (herdsman), the Scheper (shepherd), Sweenen (swineherd), Fukker (breeder), Peerdeboer (horse farmer), ‘t Villeken (where dead animals were skinned and the hides were tanned), Baten (‘beten’, the tanning of hides). The Brasse (brewery), Pakkebier (‘backe’, also brewery), Schenk (public house, tavern) and Slikkertap (a tap in the ‘slik’, swamp).
Brethouwer (should we interpret ‘bret’ here in the sense of board, thus someone who made boards?), the Klumper and Klompenhouwer (‘houwen’ is chopping or carving), Kolstee (place where charcoal was burned), Kuiper (cooper), Draaijer (turner), Kappers, Kleuver (recalling the chopping and splitting of wood), the Smid and ‘t Smees (formerly Smedeserve). Papiermolen, the Olde Mölle, ‘t Olde Mulder, the Görter (groat-maker, hulling miller), Te Roele (in 1640 ten Rule – ‘rullen’, hulling of grain, hulling mill).
Bouwhuis Wever, ‘t Klooster
Den Blauwen (blue-dyeing of linen), the Wever (weaver), Bouwhuis Wever, Weversborg, the Pellewever (weaver who wove finer goods, such as damask and table linen), Schreurs, Snieder and Snijdershuis (tailors). Kremer (peddler) and Klodde (ragman). Speelman (someone who cheered up the parties with a musical instrument) and the Piepert (piper, flute player). Krieger (inhabited by a soldier? In 1640, a soldaetencamp also occurred in Barlo).
Farm names ending in -ink etc.
About forty farm names end in -ink. These largely point to the possession, to the estate of a certain person. They are mainly composed of a personal name + -ink. Lists of proper names that occurred in the Middle Ages have been compiled from all possible archival documents, and based on these lists, a number of farm names can be explained.
Hoenink, Huinink and Hunink were located in a ‘hoen’, a ‘huun’, a swamp. Another explanation that we must take into account, according to the CBG Center for Family History, is that names like Hoenink and Huinink go back to the Germanic personal name Huno.
However, there are a number of names that cannot be traced back to personal names. They clearly refer to something else. These are: Bekink (located near a brook), Bultink (located on a ‘bult’), Doornink (located in or near a thorn forest), Eekink (located on a site with oaks), Essink (located on an ‘Es’), Heijink (located on the heath), Kempink (located near or in a ‘kamp’), Haartelink (located on a ‘Haart’). Rengelink can indicate a “rinc”, which was a place of judgment. On the Borninckhof, the Haartse Wetering originates, so there are springs there. On the former Richterink, the judge held his proceedings.
There was a time when the meaning of the suffix -ink was no longer understood. People then began to form names with “stedeke” and “goet”. Thus we find, for example, Heijnengoet, Goossenstedeke, etc. In later usage, the words ‘stedeken’ and ‘goet’ were omitted. Freriksgoet became Freriks, Rutgerstedeken became Rutgers. Here again many farm names formed from personal names: Freers, Freriks, Bullens (from Bullo), Ebbers (from Ebbo), Goosen (Goosen, Goos), Heinen (Hein), Lammers (Lammo), Lievers (Lieven), Lindert (Lindert), Lubbers (Lubbert), Reinders (Reinder), Rutgers (Rutger), Wiggers and Wiechers (from Wigger), Wubbels (from Wubbel), Wolters (Wolter) and Rikkert (Rico).
In addition to the farms classified in the groups above, there are a few others that deserve special mention: the Tuunte was surrounded by a ‘tuun’, a woven fence, as were the Vreman and the Vreveld. The Zigtvrede had some preferential rights in the annual distribution of the ‘marke’ lands. One of these farms was called Seegvreden in 1640, named after the ‘seege’, the goat. The Hegge was surrounded by a hedge. The Sonderen also had rights; a part of the common land could be used for private use. That part was separated (afgezonderd) from the ‘marke’. The Meijnen was also part of the common ‘marke’.
The Haverland and the Haverkamp had the duty to supply oats (haver) to the lord or church, etc. On the Hemelmaat, justice was administered; a ‘hegemael’, a ‘heimael’, was a space surrounded by a hedge where a ‘mael’, a court session, was held. The Akkermaat owes its name to a meadow that could be mown in one day, and the Maandag to the piece of land that could be plowed in one day with the shared livestock. A former name would therefore have been: Mendag. The Hogewind should actually have been called the Hogewend, because this was the high end of the land where the plow was turned (gewend).
The Grotenhuis provides information about the size of the house and the Nieuwenhuis (in 1640 Nijenhuis) points to a then newly built dwelling, just like Nijboer. The Lankhof and Scheel indicate the shape of the land: long and crooked. The Korten (in 1640 Kortenstedeken) had only a short piece of land. The Heurne had the shape of a horn, a tapering piece of land, as did the Timp and the Timpert. Sad was the state of the Prange, the Marode and the Drommelder, which three names can all be translated as misery.
The Smol was “small and insignificant”. Could the Huikert have been a hay meadow or is it a distortion of the popular name Huik for Hugo? The Botervat: butter meadow? The Westendorp, the Oosterbosch, the Oosterhoeve and the Oosterman derive their names from the cardinal directions towards which they are oriented. Agriculture is indicated by: Bouwlust, Bouwhuis and the Bovelt (building field). Is the Hillo (Heiligelo?) a memory of paganism or was it a ‘lo’ on a ‘hil’ (hill)? The Leste Stuver was formerly an inn near Bredevoort where traveling people could squander their last penny.
Boerkoel, G.A.W., The names of the Aalten farms, published in the Oostgelders Tijdschrift voor Genealogie en Boerderijonderzoek (1984, no. 2, p. 1), edited and supplemented by Remco Neerhof (Oud Aalten). Some farm names occur multiple times in the municipality of Aalten; the added hyperlink in those cases usually refers to the oldest known farm.
Deze website gebruikt cookies voor een optimale ervaring en analyse van bezoekgegevens. Ga je hiermee akkoord? Zonder toestemming werken sommige onderdelen van de site mogelijk minder goed.
Functioneel
Always active
De technische opslag of toegang is strikt noodzakelijk voor het legitieme doel het gebruik mogelijk te maken van een specifieke dienst waarom de abonnee of gebruiker uitdrukkelijk heeft gevraagd, of met als enig doel de uitvoering van de transmissie van een communicatie over een elektronisch communicatienetwerk.
Voorkeuren
De technische opslag of toegang is noodzakelijk voor het legitieme doel voorkeuren op te slaan die niet door de abonnee of gebruiker zijn aangevraagd.
Statistieken
De technische opslag of toegang die uitsluitend voor statistische doeleinden wordt gebruikt.De technische opslag of toegang die uitsluitend wordt gebruikt voor anonieme statistische doeleinden. Zonder dagvaarding, vrijwillige naleving door je Internet Service Provider, of aanvullende gegevens van een derde partij, kan informatie die alleen voor dit doel wordt opgeslagen of opgehaald gewoonlijk niet worden gebruikt om je te identificeren.
Marketing
De technische opslag of toegang is nodig om gebruikersprofielen op te stellen voor het verzenden van reclame, of om de gebruiker op een site of over verschillende sites te volgen voor soortgelijke marketingdoeleinden.
