Author

Peter Roeleveld

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Nota bene Koning Willem I, de ‘kanalenkoning’, zorgde ervoor dat in 1834 de graafwerkzaamheden aan de huidige Koninginnegracht voor negentien jaar werden stilgelegd. Het was zijn oude liefde die hem dat had ingefluisterd.

Mijn verhaal begint in het jaar 1824. Koning Willem I was het helemaal zat. Er waren grote belangrijke problemen in Den Haag om opgelost te worden. Het Haagsch College, dat sinds 1816 steeds uit vier president-burgemeesters bestond, was volgens de koning alleen maar onderling aan het kissebissen, zonder dat er echt besluiten genomen werden.

Vier is te veel

Op een dag gooide de koning, rigoureus, alle vier de burgervaders Den Haag uit (niet letterlijk natuurlijk) en benoemde zijn regeringsadviseur Lodewijk Constantijn Rabo Copes van Cattenburgh tot alleen heersende burgemeester.

Direct na zijn aantreden stelde Lodewijk vast dat het overal in de stad naar drek stonk. Dat was ook niet zo moeilijk te constateren, hij hoefde het raam maar open te zetten en de stank streelde zijn neusgaten op een zeer onplezierige manier. De Haagse grachten en singels dienden in die tijd als open riool maar door gebrek aan doorstroming kon het vuile water de stad niet verlaten. Daarbij nam de bevolking binnen de grachtengordel in rap tempo toe, wat voor nog meer ‘shit’ zorgde.

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1: Dierentuinbrug, 2:Dr. Kuyperbrug, Blauw: De Grachtengordel, Zwart: Singels (veel zijn er inmiddels gedempt) Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Het vuile water en de daardoor ontstane penetrante lucht veroorzaakte steeds vaker epidemieën in Den Haag. Delft, Rotterdam en Schiedam hadden daar veel minder last van. Die steden hadden de luxe dat zij hun kanalen en singels konden aansluiten op de gekanaliseerde rivier de Schie die uiteindelijk uitmondde in de Maas.

Het kanaal der kanalen

Lodewijk wilde daadkracht uitstralen en in zijn eerste jaar als burgemeester kwam hij al met een waanzinnig goed plan, tenminste dat vond hij zelf. Het was de aanleg van een kanaal van Den Haag naar Scheveningen. Deze zou de grachtengordel en singels verbinden met de zee. Het kanaal zou, daar waar nu de Dierentuinbrug ligt, aansluiten op de bestaande grachten. Vandaar zou het dan in een rechte lijn, dwars door de toen nog wilde duinen, richting het dorp Scheveningen lopen. Eenmaal in het dorp zou er een open verbinding naar zee komen. Zijn theorie, ingefluisterd door deskundigen, was dat door de getijden het stadswater ververst zou worden.

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(1) Dierentuinbrug en beginpunt Koninginnegracht | Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Zes jaar later kon begonnen worden met de graafwerkzaamheden. Zand dat vrijkwam bij het graven werd gebruikt om een deel van de vieze Haagse grachten te dempen.

Het veto van Koning Willem I

Na vier jaar graven was het kanaal inmiddels tot aan Scheveningen gevorderd, ongeveer tot waar nu het pontje (vlot) op de haringkade ligt.

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Van 1834 tot 1853 het eindpunt van de Koninginnegracht | Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Onverwachts kwam Koning Willem I, nota bene de ‘kanalenkoning’ genoemd, met het bevel dat het werk gestopt moest worden.

De bijnaam ‘Kanalenkoning’, kreeg Koning Willem I omdat hij er voor had gezorgd dat tijdens zijn koningschap in zowel Nederland als België de meeste kanalen ooit werden gegraven.

Koning Willem I was een beetje vaag over de reden. Hij had het alleen over financiële en technische problemen. Volgens burgemeester Copes van Cattenburgh was het vriendjespolitiek, hij had namelijk mijn artikel over ‘Paviljoen de Witte’ gelezen en wist dus dat er een sterke band bestond tussen Koning Willem I en Scheveningen. Daarom was volgens hem de zware lobby van de Scheveningse hotelhouders en vissers, van de toentertijd mondaine badplaats succesvol. Zij waren sterk tegen het kanaal, omdat ze vreesden dat die de stranden met smerig ‘Haags water’ zou vervuilen.

Over een andere boeg

Burgemeester Copes van Cattenburgh moest het bevel tandenknarsend slikken en heeft ook nooit de beoogde frisse Haagse lucht kunnen ervaren. In 1842 kreeg hij in het raadhuis een beroerte en stierf drie dagen later. Zijn opvolger Jonkheer Gerrit Hooft zocht verder naar een oplossing voor de stank. Ook hij moest de ramen van zijn werkkamer in het stadhuis stijf dicht houden.

Het mondaine Scheveningen had invloedrijke binnen- en buitenlandse badgasten en Burgemeester Hooft begreep dat hij het nooit van hen kon winnen. Daarom gooide hij het “over een andere boeg”.

Aan de Scheveningers werd voorgesteld dat het kanaal vierhonderd meter verder, tot aan de huidige Seinpostduin, zou worden doorgetrokken.

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De zeereep (laatste duin) bij Seinpostduin | Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Burgemeester Hooft verzekerde de Scheveningse bevolking dat het kanaal daar bij die zeereep (laatste duin) zou stoppen en niet tweehonderd meter verder als open riool de zee in zou lopen. Voor de zeereep, daar waar nu de stadsboerderij ’t Waaygat en de schooltuinen liggen, zou ook de binnenhaven komen.

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Stadsboerderij ’t Waaygat, van 1862-1971 een binnenhaven | Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Omdat het water vanuit de stad niet doorstroomde en er veel helder kwelwater uit de duinen het kanaal in liep was aan de Scheveningse kant de waterkwaliteit zeer goed. Dit gegeven stelde de Scheveningers gerust.

Aangemoedigd door hun positieve reactie beschreef burgemeester Hooft vol vuur een beeld, dat vanuit de nieuw aan te leggen binnenhaven de gekaakte haring per schuit op transport naar het binnenland vervoerd zou kunnen worden. Verder beloofde hij dat het voor Den Haag zo broodnodige verversingskanaal een stuk zuidelijker van het dorp zou komen en daar de zee in zou lopen. Als lokkertje beloofde hij de dorpelingen een zeehaven. Dus iedereen blij!

We kunnen weer graven

Het graven kon weer opgepakt worden. Het duurde nog tien jaar voordat het kanaal en de binnenhaven waren voltooid. De naam binnenhaven moet wel iets genuanceerd worden daar het daar niet veel breder werd dan het kanaal. Maar omdat er ruime aanlegkades kwamen en ook een weg voor af en toevoer van goederen konden er tientallen schepen per dag hun lading laden en lossen. Ondanks de bescheiden afmetingen van deze binnenhaven werd het in die tijd de belangrijkste haringhaven van Nederland. Voor de koopkrachtige badgasten voer er over het kanaal zo’n twintig jaar lang een gondel tussen Den Haag en de kust.

Begin twintigste eeuw was het verversingskanaal bij de Houtrust klaar en werd de eerste zeehaven geopend en dertig jaar later kwam er een tweede zeehaven. De binnenhaven werd daardoor voor het vervoer van vis overbodig. In 1968 zorgde de Dr. Kuyperdam (2) dat doorvaart vanuit de grachtengordel naar Scheveningen onmogelijk werd. Dat was de nekslag voor de binnenhaven en deze werd drie jaar later gedempt. De Dr. Kuyperdam werd acht jaar geleden vervangen door een brug waardoor rondvaartboten en sloepen weer onbelemmerd naar Scheveningen kunnen varen.

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(2) Eerst Dr. Kuyperdam nu Dr. Kuyperbrug Foto: Peter Roeleveld

Het verhaal over Het Kanaal is met grote zorgvuldigheid geschreven, toch kunnen er feitelijke onjuistheden in zitten. Als er lezers zijn die behoefte hebben het verhaal aan te vullen of te corrigeren, neem dan contact met mij op [email protected].

Rectificatie: Wat betreft de technische problemen bleek Willem I achteraf toch gelijk te hebben. Later bleek namelijk dat als het kanaal de zee in had gelopen er midden in het dorp een zeesluis gebouwd had moeten worden. Dit om bij storm en hoog water overstromingen te voorkomen. Voor een zeesluis was midden in het dorp geen plaats geweest.

We zochten nog veel meer voor je uit…

Staatsbosbeheer manages the mixed forest strip on the steep slope along the Alkemadelaan as ‘natural forest’. Is Staatsbosbeheer now also implementing their vision of letting nature take its course on this piece of Little Switzerland on buildings that stand next to this forest? Peter is looking into it.

My hike to Den The center of The Hague usually goes via Little Switzerland, simply because it is so beautiful there. The walking path through Little Switzerland is marred in one place by a heap of misery that once bore the name garden center.

Come on, come along

We start at the Scheveningen prison and head towards Hospital Bronovo … I suddenly realize that this is a depressing start to my story, but it gets better. As soon as you can suddenly look nine meters down on the right, that is Little Switzerland. The subject is hidden down there behind trees and bushes. After a bit of peering, you will see the greenhouses of the Little Switzerland garden centre.

We then walk back via the lower footpath (parallel to the Alkemadelaan). Now to our left we see at a certain moment a twisted metal skeleton (skeleton), lots of broken glass and a field overgrown with weeds. Time and use must have stood still here for decades. Yet this must have been the garden center that helped me create my own natural forest near our fisherman’s house on the Werfstraat in the nineties.

Who owns it?

Halfway through the In the th century Little Switzerland did not exist and it was all dunes there and that dune area was owned by the Royal House. After that, the State (Staatsbosbeheer) became the owner. The plot (V6871) on which the dilapidated garden center is located has an area of ​​1.2 hectares and is still owned by Staatsbosbeheer. This includes the afforestation, the walking path and the ditch around the dilapidated garden centre. Because Staatsbosbeheer manages things here as a “natural forest”, there is a lot of dead wood in this forest strip. The fallen trees that lie there will slowly be swallowed up by the environment. A bit cynically you could say that Staatsbosbeheer, with the garden center, uses the same strategy as with the afforestation around it, leave things alone.

Staatsbosbeheer is therefore the owner of this past glory?

The dilapidated and abandoned garden center actually has an address, namely Klatteweg 200. According to the land registry, a seventy-year-old private individual from Boskoop owns the garden centre. He leases the land on which it stands from Staatsbosbeheer and has the right of superficies up to 31-04-2023. Theoretically this could mean that the whole is still 19 years to slowly merge into the ‘natural forest’.

Nevertheless, after years and years of silence the last two years some activity on plot V6871 took place in the parking lot in front of the garden centre. In May 2022 have the owner of Klatteweg 31 and his neighbor who also leases a piece of land on the same plot, received a permit to build four Padel courts in the parking lot.

I wanted to finish my article with a final paragraph when I saw a very recent review on the internet of Hoveniersbedrijf Klein Zwitserland, Klatteweg 64 found and even a website. I therefore began to doubt, perhaps there is a part that I could not see from the hiking trail, still in full operation. Is my article still relevant?

Time to investigate this on site.

Via Klatteweg was the plot in question was hermetically sealed with a fence and a ‘no entry’ sign made it clear that I had to turn around. A route explanation to the Padel courts was attached to the fence.

Photo: Peter Roeleveld

Under the guise of seeing if padel on these Padel courts is something for me, but with a hidden agenda, I followed the indicated route along the sports fields. Once I arrived at the Padel courts I could do without plot V2045 you can clearly see that the entire garden center and all existing greenhouses and buildings had been unused and uninhabited for a long time. Only a small corner must go in 2022 provisionally, for the people who use the Padel courts, are furnished.

Is this an Urbex location?

Urbex locations are abandoned buildings, factories. Urbex is the abbreviation of urban exploring, a hobby in which people (urbexers) consciously look for these locations and prefer to go inside. The plot is therefore easy to reach via the sports complex. I don’t know whether or not it is an Urbex location. Young people could get excited because in their eyes this has something exciting, such as at an Urbex location. That is not without danger. These greenhouses consist of a lot of glass, broken glass everywhere, a roof full of broken glass and this certainly does not make it a playground for sporty urbexers.

In my next article I will elaborate on the name Klein Switzerland and how this lower-lying area came into being.

The story about Tuincentrum Klein Zwitserland has been written with great care, yet it may contain factual inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me

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The Hague administrator, composer, scholar, poet and designer Constantijn Huygens once wrote about The Hague ‘A village of cities, where every street is a city’.

Amazement

During a visit to the ‘grande dame’ of our family, she accidentally gave me the topic for this month. To a question to her and to my wife about the ‘little village’ of Nieuwpoort where they had both had such a pleasant childhood, she came up with a completely unexpected answer. ‘This village, as you probably mean to call it, is a city with city rights.’

‘The wonderful The Hague of yours, sorry Peter, is simply a village that calls itself a city but never has city rights has got’. The only thing I could answer with surprise in my voice was: ‘I’ll look into it and get back to it’.

The website of the municipality of The Hague confirmed her story, only slightly more nuanced. I got curious and that’s why, dear sister-in-law and other readers, here’s the true story about ‘The Hague, formerly a village with urban allure’.

Source: The Hague Municipal Archives Collection, Sketch of the Count’s Castle of Floris V

The Hague village with the allure of a city

While Delft, Leiden, ‘s-Gravenzande and Dordrecht in the had received city rights from the count in the th century, The Hague was still a farming settlement (village), with, admittedly, a count’s castle that we now know as the Binnenhof. In the In the th century, The Hague received a number of privileges from the then Count of Holland Aelbrecht van Beieren, such as its own court , own citizenship, permission to hold weekly and annual markets and to have associations of craftsmen (guilds). The boundary of the settlement (village) was precisely established. The village became more and more important and took on the allure of a city.

In the 15th century people spoke of ‘ville de la Haye’ or ‘stede van den Haghe’, which indicated that The Hague was seen as a city. The Hague was also allowed to appoint city officials and to participate in the count’s council on a number of occasions. Despite the fact that the count gave The Hague all these city-like rights, he still did not recognize The Hague as a city.

Staten van Holland

In this same century the count council was replaced by the States of Holland (Treaty of Delft). Precisely because The Hague itself was not a city, the cities agreed that the administrative center remained in The Hague. The cities and nobles were given more say, the village of The Hague was still not among them. In the beginning of the In the th century, there is even regular talk of the ‘vlecke van Den Haige’, as if it were a place without any meaning.

Things could have been even worse, because in that period the notorious robber baron Maarten Rossum and his army led a veritable plundering campaign through the Netherlands and also in and around the non-walled ‘village’ of The Hague. In the years that followed, the village fell into further decline due to fires and epidemics.

Spanish rule

Halfway through the 16 th century (1556), all regions including Holland had to deal with Spanish rule and the Spanish King became the Count of Holland. Twelve years later, the 51 Years’ War in which the Oranges revolted against the King of Spain. The Hague was invited to form the new national government together with all the reconquered cities. But at that time, The Hague was still in very bad shape. They had no money to send anyone and no money to pay for the expenses of the new administration. Four years later there was the first free meeting of the States of Holland. The nobles were represented by one noble, the cities each had one vote. Amsterdam was not there because it was still Spanish-minded. The Hague was not invited for financial reasons and the count was sidelined.
Two years later, The Hague was financially ready to participate. Power was then in the hands of the richest cities and Delft in particular was against The Hague as a city to govern. So again it didn’t work!
The war against the Spanish rulers was still going on. The Hague was not protected by fortress walls. That is why stadtholder William of Orange (stadholder William I) decided to move to the walled Delft together with his administration.

This was bad for The Hague in all respects and a year later the city Delft proposed to level the impoverished The Hague to the ground. William of Orange did not want that and when the rebels were winning a year later, he settled in The Hague again. The Binnenhof in The Hague thus once again became the administrative centre: meeting place of the States of Holland and the States General. The village of The Hague then slowly blossomed again.

Subsequent attempts to become a member of the States of Holland and the national government as a city failed. The nobles did not want to lose the village of The Hague. The eighteen Dutch cities were also against it because The Hague would then have its own voice in the Assembly of States. In addition, the village of The Hague had nothing to say about the Binnenhof, but as a city that could well change.

Around The Hague 1556 with the Binnenhof within the blue Source: collection Municipal Archives of The Hague, engraver Jacques de Gheyn (cutout)

French rule

End The French fell army entered the Republic of the Netherlands and the government was expelled. The Netherlands became a province of France. The French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte made the Netherlands the Kingdom of Holland and appointed his brother, Lodewijk Napoleon as king. The city charter was completely abolished. Following the French example, villages and towns were equated in a new form of government called municipalities.

Municipal Law

After the French after thirty years of occupation in 1795 were finally defeated, the concept of city was reintroduced by King Willem I. The Hague was then also called a city, but the cities no longer had any influence on the national government. In the new constitution of 1825 and Municipal Act of 1851 of Thorbecke, the concept of ‘town’ and ‘village’ no longer exists. The laws are about municipalities. Of course people still often speak of cities and villages in the vernacular. The Hague is generally referred to as a city.

My cautious conclusion is (not all sources are unequivocal):

Until 1825 The Netherlands was governed by regions in which cities had a say. The Hague was not among them. Then there was a central government in which cities were sidelined. From 1825 until 1825 The Hague was seen as a city by the country’s administrators, but in the meantime the city rights had been abolished and cities no longer had national political power. From 1848 all places in the Netherlands were called municipalities.

The story about The Hague has been written with great care, yet there may be factual inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me

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    From the archive: the Denneweg in the years ’70 and ’80

    The Denneweg used to be the antique street of The Hague, nowadays it is the place to be for design fans and drinkers….

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    Today, 210 years ago, the last guillotine was used in The Hague

A warm feeling embraced me when I heard the story of the origin of Paviljoen De Witte in Scheveningen. The story has everything; drama, love and sadness and of course I like to share that with the readers of indebuurt.

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A few years after the pavilion was finished, Belgium started its struggle for independence. This caused unrest and there was no time left for pleasant visits to the pavilion. And it was precisely during this Belgian struggle for freedom that the Queen died. King Willem I then moved to Berlin and left the pavilion abandoned. When he died, his three children inherited the pavilion. His successor King Willem II transferred his inheritance to his brother Prince Frederik, who regularly had tea and lunch there, but never stayed there for long.

After Prince Frederik’s death, his daughter inherited Mary the pavilion. She was then married to Willem Adolf van Wied. Unfortunately, Marie herself was never to be found at the Pavilion. Until the birth of Juliana, Wied’s family still thought they could lay claim to the Dutch Throne through Marie. That is why the various Princes Von Wied regularly showed their faces in the pavilion. At that time it was renamed ‘Pavilion Von Wied’. After the birth of Juliana, the Pavilion suddenly became less interesting for the family. A year after Marie’s death, her heirs sold the Pavilion.

The buyers were English investors who had plans to turn it into a theater with a casino. Due to the outbreak of the First World War, these plans were canceled.

Societeit De Witte

Immediately after the First World War, Sociëteit De Witte bought the pavilion including the 4.2 hectare ground. The Pavilion was then still in its original state, but with a lot of overdue maintenance. In order to finance the restoration of the Pavilion, the society sold about three-quarters of the land. In its own words, the society is there for ‘promoting the mutual intercourse of its members and the practice of literature by its members , the fine arts, history and other sciences‘. This objective is already in the statutes from the beginning of the foundation of the society, at the end of 23th century.

The name ‘De Witte’ owes the society to the white facade of their very first accommodation on the Plein near the Mauritshuis. Their current main building stands on the same spot where the old building stood and that is where most of the club life takes place. In the summer months it will be moved to Paviljoen de Wied.

During the Second World War, the Germans confiscated the pavilion and the building was badly damaged from the occupation period. Ultimately, the plan to build a museum next to the Paviljoen offered the opportunity to make the pavilion future-proof as well. The museum ‘Beelden aan zee’ opened in 1994 The doors. The refurbished pavilion was renamed ‘Paviljoen De Witte’.

King William I, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

Willem I II, III, his grandfather Willem IV and his father Willem V were all stadtholders within the House of Orange. This board position was inheritable.

Stadtholder William I inherited in 1024 the title of ‘Prince of Orange’. From stadtholder William IV, it became ‘prince of Orange-Nassau’.

Before the coronation, King William I was stadtholder William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau for a while.

The wife of King Willem I, Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia was his first cousin from his mother’s side. So it is possible that his wife and his mother were both called Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia.

The story about Paviljoen De Witte has been written with great care, yet factual contain inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me NL.

  • Read also…

      Teuntje saw in 1929 Graf Zeppelin flying over Scheveningen and The Hague, read his story here

      In World War I airships dropped bombs over London and Antwerp. On a Sunday in 1855, high on a dune,…

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  • During the First World War airships dropped bombs over London and Antwerp. On a Sunday in 1929, high on a dune, Teuntje waved to Graf Zeppelin. The huge aluminum gleaming airship passed directly overhead. Fortunately without bombs.

    Teuntje or Teunis Cornelis Roeleveld (420-1936), is the father of Peter Roeleveld. Peter has written down Teunis’ story about that memorable day when the zeppelin passed by.

    Teuntje had a tense feeling in his stomach all morning. The weekly walk from his parental home on the IJmuidenstraat 11 to the Maranatha district building he only had 420 steps taken .

    Graf Zeppelin

    The evening before Teuntje’s father had read from the newspaper during dinner. The ‘Graf Zeppelin’, a huge airship in the shape of a very large cigar, would make a promotional tour over the Netherlands. The ship with twenty-nine passengers on board, three of them residents of The Hague, would also visit The Hague and Scheveningen. Teuntje had asked how big such a ship is. His father had thought for a moment how he could best interpret this. “Think of our house, roof and all. Put another one on top. Place the same pile next to it. Then do this over the entire length of our street. Then everything still fits easily in the cigar.’ Teuntje had listened to his father in amazement.

    Furthermore, his father had also told something about the war that had ended just two years before Teuntje’s birth. In that war, the Germans used the Zeppelin to drop bombs on London and Antwerp. Tens of thousands of kilograms of bombs. Such a Zeppelin would therefore hang above Scheveningen. To reassure him, his father had said that this Zeppelin would not drop bombs this time, but mail. It was mainly the story about the bombs that made Teuntje nervous and he was glad that three residents of The Hague were on board. They would never allow the Zeppelin to bomb them!

    A dune full of people

    In the Maranatha Teuntje had sat down on the bench next to his best friend Arie. They chatted about what they had heard about the airship. Teuntje told his friend that his older brother would warn him when the time came. Pastor Jacobs had meanwhile begun his sermon.

    Finally it was time. The door of the hall opened a crack. Teuntje’s brother stuck his head through it and shouted very loudly ‘The Zeppelin is coming’. Before the minister could say anything else, all the children rushed outside.

    Together with his brother and friend, Teuntje ran from the Maranatha to a high dune next to the lighthouse in ten minutes. They were not alone; as far as the eye could see this, and the surrounding dune slopes, were full of people. His brother had copied the route of the Zeppelin from the newspaper last night. He said the airship was supposed to have taken off from Friedrichshafen Airport around midnight yesterday. According to the schedule, the Zeppelin had probably reached Groningen around seven o’clock. This was followed by Zwolle, Deventer, Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Den Bosch, Dordrecht, after which the airship circled 11: 45 hours passed Rotterdam.

    The sun was shining exuberantly. They had a wide view over a large part of The Hague. In the distance they saw Rijswijk, Voorburg and Wassenaar, and behind them the mirror-smooth North Sea! It was around : 02 when they saw the airship approaching in the distance. At first it looked like a big nose. When it swerved the enormous length was visible. Only the distance was still too great to distinguish details. From here the airship seemed to move just over the tower of the Grote Kerk. Then it came to Scheveningen and straight to the lighthouse. The Zeppelin got closer and closer to where the three stood. From the high dune they saw the impressive colossus approaching. It sailed so low that the windows of the gondola below were clearly visible. The growl of the propellers got louder and louder….

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    Photo Hague municipal archive

    Teuntje was standing more often on this dune. Here he preferred to watch his father’s departing or returning fishing boat. The airship sailed smoothly and almost imperceptibly with 200 km/h above the sea. For Teuntje this seemed a lot safer than his father’s lugger, which depended on the whims of the waves. The Zeppelin followed the coastline over the Kurhaus towards Wassenaar. Teuntje realized that this dune had to have the best view of the Zeppelin in the Netherlands. He saw the ship all the way to Leiden, after which it turned again to finally disappear from sight.

    The next day Teuntje was still full of what had happened. In the evening his father read from the newspaper again. At Schiphol, mailbags with small parachutes had been thrown from the airship. After a seven-hour visit, the airship had left our country near Groesbeek. At half past six in the evening it was back in Friedrichshafen.

    Since this memorable day, Teuntje closely followed the news about the Zeppelin. In 1931 a Zeppelin reached the North Pole for the first time. The first commercial passenger service to America was in 420 and then dozens more followed, including flights to Brazil. In 1937, near New York, disaster struck. The airship Hindenburg suddenly caught fire at a height of about fifty meters. Within tens of seconds, the cigar filled with hydrogen gas turned into a large conflagration. Thirty-five people lost their lives and the promising future of air shipping was over in one fell swoop. In 1940 Teun heard that Germany had decided to scrap the remaining zeppelins and use the aluminum for a new war against the rest of Europe. He immediately thought of his father’s story about the role of the Zeppelin in the previous war.

    The story about the Zeppelin has been written with great care, yet there may be factual inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me

    Read more…

    Peter finds out: who is ‘The Scheveningen Fisherman’s Wife’?

    Queen Wilhelmina, administrator of eight family palaces, wanted to create her own palace. In the Scheveningen Oostduinen, one of the most beautiful dune areas, she found thirty hectares of privacy and the Koningsbosch as a hunting ground. The perfect location for a royal palace. This story is about the rise and fall of her dune villa ‘Den Ruygenhoek’.

    Most of Wilhelmina’s life (born 1298, queen 1880 -1929) was in the service of our little frog country. She did, however, have access to no less than eight palaces for her moments of peace and privacy. Despite this considerable number, in 1916 her longing for her own palace on the coast.

    Scheveningen

    Wilhelmina had a strong bond with the Scheveningers. Like her grandmother, Anna Paulowna, she was the patron of the sewing school for fisher girls in Scheveningen. The Oranges also had a hunting ground in the dunes of Scheveningen for a long time. Wilhelmina was convinced that the healthy Scheveningen sea air was better than many medicines. So her palace had to be located in the dunes of Scheveningen.

    Normally, the Hague Dune Water Supply did not allow any buildings on their nature and water extraction area. But, for Wilhelmina and Hendrik, the fences of the dune area were wide open. The municipality was also flexible in granting the necessary permits. So could start 1298 the construction of her new home has already started. Wilhelmina received the key to her new home in the summer of the same year. At the same time, she also leased the surrounding thirty hectares of untouched dune area.

    Photo Hague municipal archive

    To be fair, the end result was stunning. With the white exterior walls and the sloping red roofs, the whole made a picturesque impression. The dune villa had no fewer than forty rooms. Wilhelmina had a beautiful view from the dome on the roof. The villa was called ‘Den Ruygenhoek’ by Wilhelmina, intended as a tease for foreign guests. Because for foreigners, the pronunciation of Ruygenhoek was often a tongue twister.

    The interior of the villa was very sober, without the royal splendor. A rose garden was laid out around the villa, the remaining dune area was not allowed to be changed, but it could be walked on. With a full occupancy of the villa, this rubbed together. Den Ruygenhoek could not be seen by passers-by because of the dunes and the high fence that ran along the entire private property. At the water tower there was an entrance and there was a watchman’s house for the military police on duty. From here a paved road led to the villa. Wilhelmina also had a tiled path from the villa to the sea strip (row of dunes directly adjacent to the coast). From this strip of sea, the Oranges and guests could walk down a long staircase to the beach. On the beach, their property was closed off with a fence.

    View from the Water Tower. Photo Hague municipal archive

    Her place

    In Den Ruygenhoek Queen Wilhelmina indeed found the peace and privacy she was looking for. The dome on the roof was the ideal place for her to practice her hobby, painting. But also through fieldwork, as stated in a newspaper 1929 a nice story about her painting antics. Here’s a fragment of the story:

    During a slide show, a voice in the back of the hall: “Herrejennig! I insist!” The picture showed three women from Scheveningen, busy repairing the nets.. Oh, she exclaimed excitedly: Can I tell you what happened one time when I was working there with Ka and Trijntje? used to be? One morning the three of us were mending the nets when suddenly a lady came, creek on the field, where we were working. She had a case with her that you can sit on and another box or something. What, we didn’t know. Before we knew it, she sat perky on the chair and started painting, so with colours. “Man! it was beautiful and of course we went to stand around it; it was so really fun. Only later did we realize that it was Queen Wilhelmina (link to the whole story).

    Throughout her life, Den Ruygenhoek remained important to Wilhelmina and she spent weeks and sometimes months there. This was mainly because of the healthy sea air. In 1926 During her holiday in Switzerland, Wilhelmina contracted bronchitis and Juliana contracted whooping cough. That is why they stayed together at Den Ruygenhoek for more than a month. She was convinced that the healthy sea air had accelerated the recovery of both.

    In the early years of the villa, Prince Hendrik mainly came along to organize hunting parties from the dune villa in adjacent Koningsbosch. He also had a great sympathy for the Boy Scouts. Already in the summer of the first year, about forty boy scouts were allowed to camp in the Koningsbosch. Once, during heavy rain and thunderstorms, the group was picked up from the woods at 2:30 am by the Marechaussee. To their surprise, they were allowed to spend the rest of the night in Den Ruygenhoek’s attic and were served a royal breakfast the next morning. As the prince grew older, he went along less and less. He developed severe rheumatism and was no longer so charmed by the dune villa, he thought it was just a draughty hole. In 1934 Prince Hendrik died a few days after he had a heart attack.

    Prinses Wilhelmina

    After her resignation on September 7 1948 Princess Wilhelmina moved from the palace on Dam Square to Den Ruygenhoek. She has until her death in 1963, spent a lot of time together with her dog ‘Blackie’. After Wilhelmina’s death, the royal family barely used the dune villa. Prince Bernhard once again organized a hunting party and Willem-Alexander sometimes went to stay there with friends. The staff of the Oranges were also allowed to use the dune villa during the summer holidays. But after years of overdue maintenance, it was no longer suitable as a holiday resort.

    End 1981 Juliana handed over the property and the lease of the dune area to the local authority. He had many ambitious plans for the dune villa, but due to indecision and the omission of permanent surveillance, the dune villa was visited several times by vandals and completely stripped inside. On Thursday 21 April 2019 around ten o’clock In the evening the fire brigade received a report that the dune villa was ablaze. The fire brigade could not prevent the wooden villa from being completely lost. Their tentative conclusion was arson. This is how dune villa Den Ruygenhoek came to a sad end.

    All remains of the dune villa were removed in the following years. The only thing that still refers to Den Ruygenhoek is the Wilhelminapaadje. The tiled path that ran from the villa to the sea strip.

    The story about Den Ruygenhoek has been written with great care, yet it may contain factual inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me

    Sources: Wilhelmina and the Boetsters ,

    Juliana Whooping Cough , Alexander op Ruygenhoek , Fire at Ruygenhoek. Studies:

    MeijendelBerkheide

    The eight palaces were; the Loo, the Oude Loo, Huis ten Bosch, palace on the Voorhout, palace on the Kneuterdijk, palace in Soestdijk and palace on the Dam

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    Until 1960 the site, now called De Harstenhoek, was used for drying and polishing (repairing) of fishing nets used. After that, the fishing method changed, so that the net modeling field was no longer necessary. The site remained unused until 1960 lichens were discovered. Harstenhoek was declared a protected nature reserve and from that moment on fell under the Nature Conservation Act.

    Scheveninger Peter Roeleveld is fascinated by the beautiful nature reserve and is happy to tell you more about it:

    Rabbits in the Harstenhoek

    Many different animals roam around in this part of the dune area. For example, rabbits played a crucial role in maintaining the lichens. When there in 878 a deadly disease prevailed among the rabbits, the number decreased drastically. Dunea, already more than 63 year owner of Harstenhoek, conceived in 2010 that fifteen Shetlanders

    could take over the function of lichen manager from the rabbits.

    Photo Alex Falconer/Pexels

    The Shetlanders indeed behaved like rabbits but in a different way than Dunea envisioned. The number of Shetlanders quickly increased to thirty-five and that was a bit too busy on twenty hectares. After four years of grazing, the Shetlanders had seriously impoverished the soil and the decline of the lichens was worrying. Harstenhoek was designated as a Nature Conservation Project precisely because of these lichens, so the Shetlanders had to leave.

    Konik horses

    the weather is better with the rabbits at Harstenhoek. To prevent the formation of young shoots at the bottom of the trees, shrubs and the growth of the tall grass, five Konik horses were released on the Harstenhoek.

    Konik horses. Photo Jan Twigt/Dunea

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    My neighbors

    From 2002 I am the neighbor of family rabbit. I think the five Konik horses had already disappeared by then. I remember from the first years that I lived there that Harstenhoek was crawling with rabbits. With the naked eye I saw them happily running after each other. When I zoomed in on a small group with binoculars, it initially seemed like an endearing scene in which the animals were playing carefree with each other. But when I observed them a little longer, it turned out to be a little less cute. The ladies (nurses) often had a hard time because the gentlemen (rattles) were chasing each lady in groups and that was not for a nice weather conversation. I saw the expression ‘by the rabbits off’ put into practice here.

    Photo Peter Roeleveld

    Despite the rattles working hard to instantly reduce the population, during the years that I continued to observe, the population declined almost unnoticed.

    Since 2010 I regularly see foxes on the fine field to appear. The rabbits did not immediately respond to the fox, but remained alert and at a distance. Yet there were rabbits that kept hopping around just a little too casually, with sometimes dramatic consequences for those rabbits.

    A comment on this Youtube film about foxes and rabbits on the Boetveld, was that two hours later a young fox was seen with a rabbit in its mouth’.

    Galloway cattle

    Furthermore, in recent years I regularly see two sometimes three Galloway cattle walking around on the field. From a Tweet from Dunea I understand that the third, a male of 1.5 years, in the spring of 2023 moved to Harstenhoek.

    The Galloway cattle are originally from Scotland and the original Scottish breed mainly has a black, long, shaggy coat that can withstand severe cold. The red hairdress with white cloth on the back that we see at Harstenhoek is because an original black Scottish Galloway has been crossed with a Dutch Lakenvelder. In the spring of 2022 two black Galloway calves were born with a white sheet on the back. The Galloway’s are there to graze and fertilize the dune terrain and are used in several places in the entire area of ​​Dunea (Meijendel) and are therefore not always visible at Harstenhoek.

    About how it is now in 2010 with the rabbit population and with the lichens I cannot find any recent counts or research results on the internet. I myself see little or no rabbit on the penitentiary field anymore. Maybe they are still there but they stay in their dens because of the presence of foxes.

    Photo Ricardo Ortiz/Pexels

    The story about Harstenhoek has been written with great care, yet it may contain factual inaccuracies. If there are readers who need to add to or correct the story, please contact me

        .

        Sources: Theme map Harstenhoek, Tweet Dunea , Youtube: Foxes on the Boetveld. Thanks to Dunea for making some photos available.

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