Barendrecht (EN)

History

During the early Middle Ages, the current territory of the municipality of Barendrecht consisted of three different ambachten (jurisdictions), namely East Barendrecht, West Barendrecht and Carnisse.

How and when these districts came into existence is unclear. What is certain is that in the early 14th century, the jurisdictions West-Barendrecht and Oost-Barendrecht were a fief of the count of Holland. Carnisse, however, was held in fief of the manor of De Merwede, which was sold to Dordrecht by Mr Van Boetzelaer in 1604. The three boroughs, i.e. the jurisdiction where the lord could assert his rights, took more precise shape with the embankment of 1483. That is when the territory more or less took its current shape.

In the French era, the districts were merged into one municipality for the first time. This situation lasted only briefly. On 1 January 1837, east and west were reunited and the municipality of Barendrecht as we still know it came into being. In 2008, the archives of the Barendrecht municipality were transferred to the Rotterdam City Archive.

Researching the archives

A large part of the village archives has been lost over time. The oldest surviving part is a register of the ambacht West Barendrecht in which mortgages, deeds of conveyance and other matters were recorded that were passed by the sheriff and aldermen. This register starts in 1611. The archives of Barendrecht from 1812 onwards have largely been preserved.

• Jurisdictions of East-Barendrecht, West-Barendrecht and Carnisse (1611-1811)
• Municipality of Barendrecht (1811-1923)
• Municipality of Barendrecht (1924-1988)

Other archives, visual material and literature

Stadsarchief Rotterdam also holds material from private persons, companies and institutions that are or have been active in Barendrecht. Go to the Archives search page.

Visual material is accessible via the Image bank.

Books and magazine articles can be found in the Library catalogue (publications from 1994 onwards) or in the card catalogue in the reading room (publications up to 1994).

Family tree research

There is currently not much available digitally from the Barendrecht civil registry. If available to the public, original civil status records can be requested from the reading room of the city archive.