Achlum is a village in the Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 province of Friesland

Friesland

Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...

. It is located in the municipality Franekeradeel

Franekeradeel

Franekeradeel is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. It was created in 1984 by combining an earlier Franekeradeel municipality with the city of Franeker and parts of the former municipality of Barradeel...

, about 7 km southwest of the city of Franeker

Franeker

Franeker is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. It is located about 20 km west of Leeuwarden on the Van Harinxma Canal. As of 1 January 2006, it had 12,996 inhabitants. The city is famous for the Eisinga Planetarium from around...

.

Achlum has about 666 inhabitants.

History

The village has a church which dates from the 12th century and is placed atop a so-called terp

Artificial dwelling hill

An artificial dwelling hill is a mound, created to provide safe ground during high tide and river floods....

 mound. Around the year 1260 there was a priory of Augustinian nuns

Augustinian nuns

Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic orders of women living...

, a part of the Lúntsjerk monastery which was destroyed in 1530. At that time the prior in Achlum was rebuilt but in 1572 the Geuzen

Geuzen

Geuzen was a name assumed by the confederacy of Calvinist Dutch nobles and other malcontents, who from 1566 opposed Spanish rule in the Netherlands. The most successful group of them operated at sea, and so were called Watergeuzen...

 destroyed it again. In Achlum used to be a butter factory which processed the milk of local farmers to butter.

In 1811 a farmer from Achlum called Ulbe Piers Draisma established a mutual fire insurance. The insurance society was called Onderlinge Waarborgmaatschappij Achlum.

De Achlumer Molen

De Achlumer Molen, Achlum

De Achlumer Molen is a smock mill in Achlum, Friesland, Netherlands which has been restored to working order. The mill is listed as a Rijksmonument, number 15821.-History:...

 is a smock mill

Smock mill

The smock mill is a type of windmill that consists of a sloping, horizontally weatherboarded tower, usually with six or eight sides. It is topped with a roof or cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind...

 in Achlum which has been restored to working order. The mill is listed as a Rijksmonument

Rijksmonument

A rijksmonument is a National Heritage Site of the Netherlands, listed by the agency Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed acting for the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.-History and criteria:...

, number 15821.

Population

• 2009 - 635
• 2008 - 652
• 2005 - 663
• 2004 - 666
• 2003 - 664
• 2002 - 674
• 2001 - 679
• 2000 - 668
• 1999 - 652
• 1973 - 738
• 1969 - 796
• 1964 - 824
• 1959 - 881
• 1954 - 889