Olst-Wijhe is a municipality in the province of Overijssel, eastern Netherlands. It borders the Overijssel municipalities of Zwolle to the north, Raalte to the north and east and Deventer to the south; and the Gelderland municipalities of Voorst, Epe and Heerde to the west. The municipality was created on January 1, 2001 through the merger of the two former municipalities of Olst and Wijhe. Municipal offices are mainly located in Olst.

History and economic activities

Both Olst and Wijhe are old towns. Olst, which is believed to have been founded sometime during the seventh century, is first mentioned in chronicles in 947, Wijhe in 960. Traditionally, agriculture (fruit and corn), cattle, meat processing and (river clay) brick production were the prime sources of income in the area. Nowadays, the towns are mainly commuter residences for people working in Deventer and Zwolle; both towns have a railroad station on the Zwolle-Roosendaal main line (route 3600). The surrounding land still relies heavily on agriculture. There is some small industry in Olst (machinery manufacturing) and Wijhe (meat processing).

Geographical features

Although the border between the provinces of Overijssel and Gelderland largely runs along river IJssel, there are two left-bank exclaves opposite the towns of Olst and Wijhe, in which the villages of Marle (north exclave), Welsum and Welsumerveld (south exclave) are situated. There are cable ferries between Olst and Welsum and between Wijhe and Vorchten in the municipality of Heerde (there is no direct connection between Marle and the rest of Overijssel).

Apart from river IJssel, several more streams flow through the municpality's territory. They are called wetering ("waterway") and are natural streams that were channelised in the eighteenth century. From west to east, these are Zandwetering , Soestwetering , Groote Vloedgraven , Oude Wetering and Nieuwe Wetering . All these streams flow together at one point or other to form the Zwarte Water river near the city of Zwolle. On the left side of river IJssel, near the village of Welsum, there are several more wetering streams, all but one of them on the Gelderland side of the border. The easternmost of these, the Terwoldsche Wetering , forms the western border between Olst-Wijhe and Voorst.

Population centres

The municipality consists of the following villages and hamlets (with 2005 population figures): Boerhaar (218), Boskamp (1,169), Den Nul (550), Duur (181), Eikelhof and Overwetering (295), Elshof (508), Fortmond (104), Hengforden (425), Herxen (321), Marle (72), Middel (219), Olst (4,738), Welsum and Welsumerveld (596), Wesepe (1,159) and Wijhe (5,807).

Sights

Eikelhof

• The murder cross , erected in medieval times to commemorate/atone for a highway murder and source of many apocryphal mythical stories. It bears the legend

INT JAER UNSES HEREN MCCCC EN XCIII
STIERF HIER JOHAN LUCKENS
BID VOER DE SELE
(In the year of Our Lord 1493 | Johan Luckens died here | pray for the soul)

Olst

• A Romanesque Protestant church completed in 1264, partly built from its predecessor's sandstone, otherwise from brick
• Two eighteenth-century windmills
• The "Overijssel Beacon" (Baken van Overijssel), a modern piece of art made of aluminium at the right bank of river IJssel, signifying the entrance to Overijssel province

Welsum

• A nineteenth-century windmill
• A saddle-roofed Protestant church (nineteenth-century nave, sixteenth-century steeple)

External links

• Official Website
• Detailed Falkplan map
• Web site containing subpages about Olst and the Eikelhof cross