For centuries, Romienendiek formed part of a Hessian road, an important trade route linking the Achterhoek with Germany, the Hanseatic towns on the River IJssel and the trading centres of Holland. Carts laden with grain, salt and other goods travelled along this road.
Romienendiek only received its official name in 1967, when roads in Aalten’s rural hamlets were given street names. In everyday speech, however, the name had been established much earlier; it already appeared in an article in the Graafschapbode in 1924.
It is sometimes thought that the name refers to Roman armies that supposedly marched here, but there is no historical evidence for this. Two colourful folk tales do circulate about the origin of the name. Remarkably, both revolve around a woman with the same nickname: ‘Rooie Miene’.
Rooie Miene, the onweerswief
Seventeenth-century records describe a severe storm that swept from Halle across Heelweg towards the Vennebulten, bringing heavy rain and violent thunder. Suddenly, a whirlwind touched down and hurled haystacks into the air. Amid the chaos, local people saw a strange woman being driven along the sandy road by the storm. Moments later, she had vanished without a trace.
A few weeks later, turf cutters in the Vennebulten found a hut made of branches and straw. Inside sat the onweerswief, or ‘storm woman’. People called her Vennemiene, Bultenmiene or Bosmiene, but because of her fiery red hair she was most often known as Rooie Miene. According to the story, the road past her hut was thereafter called Romienendiek.
Rooie Miene of the Slikkertap
Another, rather more risqué explanation refers to the inns along the Hessian roads. Travelling merchants who stayed overnight could expect not only a meal and a pot of beer, but sometimes also the company of women offering sexual services. According to tradition, a woman nicknamed Rooie Miene worked at the inn known as the Slikkertap. Could this have been how the road acquired its name?