The grain silos in the port of Assen, Hekmans Boo in Schoonebeek, the Broken Circle/Spiral Hill artwork in a sand excavation near Emmen, the Holthersluis near Beilen, the Polder Gemal at Peize, Molen de Berk at Barger-Compascuum and the ‘small’ radio-telescope near Dwingeloo.
What do they have in common? They are all new protected provincial monuments. Every Sunday we put one in the spotlight.
The oldest new provincial monument is the Hekmans Boo (1646) in Schoonebeek. A lot has been crafted on the Boo over the centuries and that will soon happen again. A Boo is a cattle shed with a very primitive living area for a shepherd plus a hay. Booën there were plenty of Schoonekerdiep from the year 1500, about forty spread over a ten -kilometer strip. The Hooischuur van Hekmans Boo dates from the 18th century.
Of the still existing Booën, some in Germany are still in the original state in the old place. Of the originally forty Booën, only two have been preserved in the Netherlands. Hekmans and Wilms Boo. But the Wilms Boo was destroyed by fire in 2004 and was rebuilt in 2008 as a modern replica, with a house and a holiday home. Van de Hekmans Boo is over a large part of the original material.
The large farmers from the village had a BOO in the remote and juicy stream valley, where oxen in the summer were grazed and parked. Every day back to the farm in the village was too far and too much work. Moreover, the oxen had to be fattened and not waste energy on walking. During the summer months the animals stayed outside day and night. In the spring and autumn they were parked at night and fed in the Boo.
The farmers with such a herd were ‘big’ for that time. Often there were around twenty cows in a BOO, while the average number for a farmer at the time was seven or eight. For a number of centuries, until 1850, the whole rich farmers were through that slaughter trade. When that market collapsed, they lost everything.
The cattle were provided by De Booheer, often a single young man who stayed with the animals in the Boo for months. That shepherd lived very primitive. A small part of the cattle shed, often the last two trusses, sometimes finished or separated was the living area of the Booheer.
Often there was only a bedstead, a cupboard and a fireplace for open fire. The Booheer therefore lived very alone and sober. In the summer there was contact with other Booën and their shepherds. De Booheer often smelled for an hour because there was no toilet or shower. Most shepherds were able to knit their own socks.
The frame of a Boo is of oak. In addition, the barns were covered with material that was available. The walls were mostly made of straw or braided twigs contaminated with cow destination or clay. The roof was made of straw. In the course of the centuries there were sometimes outside walls of the living space that partly consisted of masonry, partly of half -timbered work with clerit work in between.
The stable section was sealed on the outside by a thick layer of reeds with decorative sweaters and had shelves on the inside. The beams were often so low that you could walk there alone.
In the Boo the cattle stood with its head to the outer wall, in contrast to what was customary in Drenthe, namely with its head directed to the part.
The Boo was built by Hindrik Taaten and Hermen Schulten from Schoonebeek. Until 1810 all owners from the Scholten family came. Then the property went to the Hekman family and the name was changed to Hekmans Boo.
The Hekmans Boo has traveled a lot and there is a lot of vertery. In 1924 the Frisian farm researcher Klaas Uilkema investigated the Hekmans Boo. He was worried about the state and wanted to capture the quickly disappearing material as completely as possible. In 1958, the cattle barn, rebuilt several times, was still in its original place in Nieuw-Schoonebeek. The state was very bad. Hekman wanted to break down his Boo. The province put a stick for that, bought and disassembled the Boo and saved it.
In 1975, rebuilding in old style on Burgemeester Osselaan in Schoonebeek followed. But there it suddenly got in the way in 1996 because of the expansion of a residential area. Both buildings moved again, this time to the Katshaar dairy in Vlieghuis. When the two barns there were disused in 2021, Hekmans Boo moved back to Schoonebeek again to be stored there again.
In Schoonebeek there are grand plans with the two BOO buildings: Horeca, a family farm, a farewell house for the deceased, a bed and breakfast and an animal meadow. The place where all this should come: around the former recreation building of the NAM that also appropriately the name The Boo has.
Now that De Hekmans Boo can officially call himself a provincial monument, the initiators see it as an extra support. The Hekmans Boo also gets a new role, as a catering point and daytime activities.