Dokkumer Ee and early history Burdaard is a
terp village, consisting of two historic cores. The oldest part of the village is centred around a
terp that was built several centuries BCE. Burdaard is situated on the Dokkumer Ee, the canal connecting the cities of
Leeuwarden and
Dokkum. This canal played an important role in the history of the village. It is not known precisely in what year(s) the canal was constructed, though it already appears on the very first reliable maps of Friesland, which date back to the 1500s. Before the canal was constructed, there were two small naturally formed rivers, now called the Zuider Ee, ending in the sea at Leeuwarden; and the Noorder Ee, connecting Dokkum to the sea. At the time, both of these cities were still located on the coast and important local sea harbors. At some point in the
Middle Ages, the Middelzee, the bay connecting Leeuwarden to the wider ocean, silted up completely, and as a result its harbor became unusable. The risk of the harbor of Dokkum silting up was much smaller, so a direct waterway connection between the two cities was created: the two small rivers were connected by digging a canal between Tergracht and Burdaard. It is likely that this happened in the 13th century. The local
Cistercian monastery, the
Klaarkamp Abbey, might have played a role in aiding this project, as part of a wider mission to develop remote, poorly accessible regions–which seems to have included northern Friesland. The Dokkumer Ee itself also started silting up after a while, to the point that trade was being obstructed and boats had to divert to another waterway. In 1506, the canal was completely
dredged, in order to deepen and widen the waterway so boats could again sail through. Again, Klaarkamp Abbey carried out some of the work associated with the dredging. In 1646/1647, another improvement was made to the canal: a parallel road was constructed on the northern side of the canal. This road was used by horses pulling
trekschuiten, a style of sail- and
horse-drawn boat used for passenger traffic in the Netherlands at the time. Several
toll houses were constructed alongside the road, including one in Burdaard. Along the Dokkumer Ee, the village expanded
in a linear fashion from the original core centred around the village
terp. In 1777, the canal was again deepened and widened, to be able to meet the demands of ever-increasing shipping traffic. Previously, the canal was much too shallow: at Burdaard, it was even possible to safely wade through the canal. The deepening of the canal made this impossible, so at the same time, a bridge was built in Burdaard. The Doniaterp acquired its name sometime long before the 18th century. Historically, there were three farmhouses on the
terp. The northern half of the
terp was most likely demolished between 1875 and 1915. It is unknown when the southern half was demolished, but probably earlier than the northern half, because the transportation of soil from there was considerably easier. Alongside the two existent major
terpen, there were four minor
terpen that are now (almost) completely gone or hard to recognize as a
terp nowadays. The Terp Baerd was situated north of the village, just south of the Iedyk road. It was demolished completely in the second half of the 19th century, leaving a small
wetland area that is at a lower elevation than the surrounding farmland. Nowadays it is only recognizable in satellite pictures and in the jagged borders of the surrounding fields. The Terp van Kolkhuizen suffered the same fate, and is even harder to recognize nowadays. Another
terp, the Terp met de Reamskûtel, is mostly intact, but is not very recognizable, due to its low height. It has just one farmhouse. During construction work in 1998, the site was excavated, and small shells in the layers of soil below the oldest part of the mound were dated to approximately 500 BC, meaning the Terp van Kolkhuizen (and almost certainly other mounds in the surrounding region as well) has been inhabited since at least that time period. The fourth minor terp, the Wierde van Hollebrantsje, is nowadays only visible as a slight difference in elevation.
Recent history In 1897, the
cooperative dairy factory Concordia was founded by
dairy farmers from Burdaard. The foundation of the factory was part of a nationwide movement: until the 1880s, the Netherlands was the largest exporter of butter to England. However, in the following years, the overall quality of Dutch butter fell due to an increase in additives such as
margarine and fats. Hence, Denmark replaced the Netherlands as England's biggest butter export partner, exporting five times as much butter as the Netherlands in 1890. The Dutch government and agricultural organizations intervened: they promoted the rapid foundation of dairy factories throughout the Netherlands, as a measure to improve the quality of butter. In the 1890s, local dairy farmers in Ferwerderadiel were called upon to open cooperative dairy factories: the first factory was founded in
Marrum, in 1891; quickly followed by a factory in
Bartlehiem in 1893, and finally several years the Concordia factory in Burdaard. The Concordia factory operated until 1965. In that year, the factory's owners decided to join neighboring cooperatives in Leeuwarden and Marrum. The buildings that housed the factory were demolished in 1988 and 1993, and houses were built on the empty plot. Residents of Burdaard desired to commemorate his fundraiser, and in June 2019, a statue of Maarten van der Weijden, designed by a local artist, was revealed in the harbor of Burdaard. In 2019, the village became part of the municipality of
Noardeast-Fryslân. == Culture and heritage ==