The Noordlaarderbos - hotspots

The varied content of an ancient woodland

The woodland of the Noordlaarderbos lies in an area which since prehistoric times has formed a link between the Hondsrug region and the wealthy Groningen farming villages along the Waddenzee. The wood itself was planted in the nineteenth century as managed woodland, but many of the ancient structures can still be found. The forest can be reached by unpaved roads only. 

Old cart tracks through the woods

Cart tracks and hunebeds

People already lived in this region five thousand years ago, as we know partly from the old cart tracks and burial mounds to be found here. There are also three hunebeds close to the wood. The hunebed between Noordlaren and the Noordlaarderbos is numbered G1 and is the only hunebed still standing in the province of Groningen.

The holes drilled in the lintel of hunebed G1 show that we came close to losing this last hunebed. In 1685 it was only in the nick of time that someone was prevented from pouring gunpowder into the holes to blow up the hunebed and sell the stone fragments.

Location data

Parking lot

Coordinates: 53°07’18.1″N 6°38’58.0″E

The Noordlaarderbos