Jane
29 December 2003
Well-signposted in the village of Noord sleen near Emmen, this hunebed lies complete with kerbstones close to its more trashed neighbour, D51.
Visible from D51, perhaps just 50 metres away, is D50 and this is a cracker. Ten metres long, maybe more, and with 8 of its original 9 capstones still there and all still supported by their uprights, this monument is in really good shape enhanced by its original kerbstones encircling the line of ‘dolmens’. And today, sparkling under yesterday’s snowfall, it was magical, the snowmelt creating beautiful abstract shapes and blueish light against the greeny grey stones. While Moth made photographs, I made a quick sketch.
29 December 2003
Following Julian’s instructions in The Megalithic European we quickly located D50 and D51 at the tiny hamlet of Noordsleen, near Emmen.
Our footsteps crunching the 150ms up the icy farm track towards the copse in which they lie, the first hunebed you reach is D51. With only three capstones remaining, this site feels a bit trashed, but with snow on the stones and the huge flat fields all around glistening it felt exciting and special to be there, as this was both Moth’s and Cleo’s first hunebed.
(Also known as Papeloze Kerk)
Last time I was in Drenthe, I had only a crappy map to work from so completely failed to find this one, which I desperately wanted to see. It turns out I had been only about 200 metres from the monument which lies in an intimate glade in dense woodland. Happily, this time, with Julian’s instructions in TME we found it immediately.
Even the approach is thrilling, down an avenue of trees, like walking into an early van Gogh drawing. And at the end of the avenue lies the prize! Today, covered with snow, it looked like a giant Christmas cake… and equally delicious and fulfilling. This is different from other hunebedden in that part of the mound has been rebuilt, so it gives a really good idea of what they might have once looked like. It reminded me of an over-sized Scillionian cairn.
I sat on the ice, my frozen arse forcing me to make a VERY quick sketch.
The more I looked, the more I loved it. This place is magic. If you come to Drenthe, make sure you see this one.
Emmen Schimeres is the only ‘langgraf’ in the Netherlands. It has a complete kerb of massive stones and its chambers are just beginning to show through what is left of its barrow. A monster and a beauty just on the outskirts of Emmen (off the Odoorn Road). Signposted. Opposite the Mazda garage.
‘It’s just like Wayland’s Smithy!’ exclaimed Cleo. She’s right. I’d been here before, but not in the snow.
The snow provided highlights which emphasized the tremendous length of this langgraf and the closely spaced massive kerbstones seemed to taper off into infinity. The snow also helped to throw out the shapes of the two exposed chambers, rising from the cushion of barrow still within the kerbstones. We all liked this one very much, and like Papeloze Kerk, if you make it to Drenthe, put this one on you list of ‘must-sees’.
A drive of no more than one kilometre north of Schimeres langgraf, Emmermeer (or Emmen Noord as Julian calls it in TME) is a really pretty little hunebed, sweetly sited three metres from the roadside on a piece of undeveloped heathland opposite some 1970s apartments. This one is quite small, but its four dainty flattish stones balanced beautifully on its legs has the appearance of a mini Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style house.
On the western outskirts of Emmen is Valther Forest. There are three hunebedden here, D38, D39 and D40. They’re not in fantastic condition, but they are in the most glorious woodland setting. Go there for complete peace.
D38, D39 and D40 stand in a delightful heathland clearing in the forest near Emmen. They’re all a bit wrecked, but the location is so gorgeous, they’re well worth visiting.
D38, D39 and D40 stand in a delightful heathland clearing in the forest near Emmen. They’re all a bit wrecked, but the location is so gorgeous, they’re well worth visiting.
D40 is the most impressive of this trio of ‘grafheuvels’ in the Valther Forest just north of Emmen. It would be a fairly long walk to them from the road, so risking the wrath of the forest ranger and being completely unable to read the signs, I drove up the sandy forest track until we found them in a bright forest clearing.
You approach D40 first, which is the most complete of the trio. Two great capstones are supported by six sidestones which seemed to us to have more beneath the ground level than above.
Strike off to the west for 20 metres through the low growing heathers and you find D38 and D39.
All three have distinct round raised ringed walls of sand hinting at the size and scale of what once must’ve been quite a necropolis of round barrows.
This wasn’t on our list, but we passed so close by it on our way up to Borger, we couldn’t resist calling in to say ‘hi’. Easy to find, this rather wrecked monument nevertheless has charms. It’s bucolic position in it own little copse in the middle of wide open fields is cosy and inviting. Only one capstone is still supported, the rest are down, giving it the feeling of a wounded animal, not yet quite willing to admit defeat. All but one hunebedden are in state care, with no risk of being ploughed up or dismantled, so Odoorn’s survival in it’s broken condition is assured. By the time we got to Odoorn, most of the snow had melted from the monument in the bright, crisp sunshine.
After lunching in a comfy and quirky typically Dutch eetcafe called ‘t Hunebed in the centre of Borger village, we made our way to the edge of the village to the largest hunebed of the lot – what Julian calls the ‘Great Borger Hunebed’. The Rijkshunebed Informatiecentrum is here, too, and sold lots of lovely books and stuff – but not a damn thing in English. Easy to find – just get yourself to Borger (a very pretty town) and follow the signs. Tip: its in the north of the village.
Borger is a monster. Simply huge. Deeply impressive, its giant backbone of capstones all supported, it does feel like a sleeping dinosaur or huge segmented insect larvae. I challenge the most disinterested person not to go ‘Ooh!’ at this one. It feels slightly soulless to me; though this might be because it is undoubtedly the most visited and exploited.
Drive back into Emmen and out the other side past the railway station on the Boslaan into yet another forested area , the Emmer Dennen, and you will find D45, the great Emmen hunebed just a 10 minute walk from the city centre. I had seen a photo of it on Hans Meijer’s wonderful site, but it didn’t prepare me for the mammoth, in-yer-face gorgeousness of it!
Again surrounded by mature mixed woodland, this impressed me more than the biggest hunebed of them all that we had first seen at Borger, in fact I find it hard to believe that the one at Borger is bigger. The lime irredescent flash of a woodpecker as it swooped through the branches lead our way towards it. On a high raised area of what remains of the barrow, six whopping capstones are held aloft by at least 17 uprights. It has endstones, a porch and I counted 13 kerbstones which once would’ve marked the edge of the barrow’s gigantic footprint. Apparently there once were 38 kerbstones, but who cares? The 13 that remain are sufficient evidence of a very tall, grand structure indeed.
D14 at Eexterhalte, near Eext and Gieten villages, is one of the bigger hunebedden, with six giant capstones all still up, a line of entrance stones and seven big kerbstones marking out the original shape. In a tree-lined clearing with it own parking space this must be a magnet for summer picnickers.
A nice little hunebed, five stones long, in a very rural setting. Today, the shelter from the drizzle afforded by the holly trees all around was very welcome.
