Lost place names: Lange Ruige Weide

Who has ever heard of Lange Ruige Weide? Residents of Driebruggen and the surrounding area in South Holland are certainly familiar with this name. But was it ever a place name? We go back to before the French era, for at that time this municipality consisted of the manorial estates of Lange Weide (later the hamlet of Langeweide) and Ruige Weide (later the hamlet of Ruigeweide), as well as Kortehoeven. The main residential area was Driebruggen. The old Town Hall of Lange Ruige Weide During the French period, the municipality of Lange Ruige Weide, located in the province of Utrecht, was dissolved on December 31, 1811. However, after the French era, the municipality was reinstated on January 1, 1818. In 1821, the municipality was incorporated into the province of South Holland. A delivery office was established in Nieuwerbrug in 1852. From 1863 onwards, this delivery office also served the places Langeweide, Waarder, Rietveld, and Barwoutswaarder.

     

The Lange Ruige Weide auxiliary post office was established on May 1, 1872. The auxiliary office belonged to the jurisdiction of the Oudewater post office. The office holder was provided with a name stamp, issued in April 1872. It was not until August 3, 1892, that he received a date stamp, a small round stamp. The two separate words Ruige and Weiden were now written together, so that the name read Lange Ruigeweiden. The small round stamp was replaced by a large round stamp on March 9, 1901. The images of the small round and large round stamps come from the stamp book of De Munt, the maker of the stamps. Consequently, the impressions do not contain characters for the day, month, and year. These were supplied separately.

The large circular stamp was in turn replaced by a long bar stamp on October 3, 1907. The place name now consisted of three separate words again, and the letter N after Weiden had disappeared.    This stamp lasted only ten years, as it was replaced by a short bar stamp on December 28, 1917. And the old name stamp was replaced by a new one on June 23, 1921. On September 30, 1928, the auxiliary post, telegraph, and telephone office at Lange Ruige Weide was closed and replaced by a post, telegraph, and telephone station. The stamp was allowed to be retained.    In March 1958, an order was placed to have a new stamp for Lange Ruige Weide made by the firm Numerofa in Amsterdam. This became an open bar stamp. The stamp was put into use on April 11, 1958. On January 31, 1964, the congregation of Lange Ruige Weide was dissolved. This stamp remained in use up to and including November 30, 1967. The name of the post office at Lange Ruige Weide was changed to Driebruggen effective December 1, 1967. And that meant new stamps once again. The Driebruggen/Woerden stamp was used on forms processed at the office. It signified that Driebruggen belonged to the jurisdiction of the Woerden post office. The date stamp was manufactured by the Braungardt company in Germany and is known as a cylinder bar stamp. A long history, with many changes. First in the province of Utrecht and then in the province of South Holland. First an independent municipality, then divided among other municipalities. First belonging to the postal area of ​​Nieuwerbrug, then Oudewateren, and finally Woerden.