Berkenrode

Berkenrode is a former village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is first mentioned as a 'Heerlijkheid' in 1284, though first mention of a castle is found much later in 1466, the van Berkenrodes preferring to live on the Grote Markt in Haarlem. It is now a part of the town of Heemstede.

A small group of stately houses are built on the former grounds of the 'Heerlijkheid van Berkenrode'. The moat of the original castle can be seen on maps as a square near the Leidsevaart behind the current building called Berkenrode (no picture yet!). The house called Berkenrode was in fact called Westerduin, until Berkenrode burned down in 1747.Berkenrode was a separate municipality until 1857, when it was merged with Heemstede. [Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse gemeenten", KNAW, 2006. [http://www.knaw.nl/cfdata/publicaties/detail.cfm?boeken__ordernr=20061061] ]

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