Haarlerenk

Haarle originated as a small agricultural hamlet on the western flanks of the Haarlerberg and Sprengenberg. The name 'Haarle' is a combination of 'Haar' and 'Le'. 'Haar' stands for 'lange hoogterug' and 'le' denotes 'a forest with low trees in which there are pieces of pasture'.

The area was inhabited thousands of years ago. Various burial mounds are proof of this. On top of the Sprengenberg there are also so-called comb fields or celtic fields, field complexes dating from the late Bronze Age.

Haarle probably got more permanent habitation from around 800. Six hundred years later, the neighboring village consists of about thirteen farms, located on the north and south side of the Haarlerenk. These farms were leased to farmers, who each year had to give part of their harvest as a yield to the owners of their farms. The vast majority of the farms were owned by monasteries and chapters, the nobility and well-to-do bourgeoisie from cities such as Zwolle and Deventer. The joint owners of these large farms formed a common market, probably originating in the twelfth or thirteenth century. This form of organization protected the common unexplored lands that surrounded the neighboring community; Only the thirteen, later seventeen, entitled peasants were allowed to use it.

The market organization gradually lost its raison d'être in the nineteenth century. More and more lands are gradually being cleared under increasing population pressure. Small farms arise on the edges of the hamlet. The marke was divided in 1855; All farm owners were given ownership of large tracts of heathland and trouser land.

The present village, located between the two clusters of old farms, gradually emerged from 1791. In that year, the Catholic population of Haarle built a small church. A larger group of buildings gradually arose around it. Since then, specialisation within the population has also increased. For example, a weaver, shoemaker and baker were located in and around the village center. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, a flour mill was built on the Haarlerenk by Gerrit Loenink, at the time the largest farmer in the village.

From the end of the nineteenth century, the need for large amounts of agricultural land per farm decreased. Farmers were able to achieve the same yield on fewer hectares of land through better fertilization, including through fertilizer. The wild lands around the hamlet were mined bit by bit. Dozens of new farms were built at the beginning of the twentieth century in unexplored areas such as the Raams, the Witte Broek, the Eekte and the Zuidbroekte.

The extensive heathlands on the east and south side of the Haarlerenk were sold by the Haarlese farmers to the Almelose industrialist A.A.W. van Wulfften Palthe. He gradually expanded his land holdings to about 950 hectares. Heathlands were gradually wooded; the wood was sold, among other things, to the Limburg mining industry. On top of the Sprengenberg, Van Wulfften Palthe built an imposing villa.

After the Second World War, Haarle gradually expanded. With the construction of civilian houses on the Kerkweg and later on the Wolterinksweg, Haarle began to grow into a real village.

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