Bergschenhoek is younger than you might think as a village — its first real construction dates from the twelfth century — and at the same time older than almost any other village in South Holland. In 1978 archaeologists found five fish traps here that are 6,200 years old. They had been placed by fishermen who camped on a small spot of floating peat in what was then a vast swamp. Bergschenhoek and its surroundings is, as far as we know, the oldest fishing position in the Netherlands.
Only in the twelfth century were people active here again — not for fishing, but for reclamation. From the banks of the Rotte residents began to drain the peat with long, narrow plots. Bergschenhoek became a typical ribbon village: a row of buildings at the end of those plots, with ditches on both sides. Crops grew on the peat and in the late Middle Ages peat was cut — fuel for the breweries of Delft and Rotterdam.
The photo above shows the Polderhuis — a characteristic sign of how this village is built on water management. Bergschenhoek was an agricultural community for centuries, until greenhouse horticulture and later new construction halfway through the twentieth century pulled the village toward Rotterdam. In 2007 Bergschenhoek joined Berkel en Rodenrijs and Bleiswijk in the new municipality of Lansingerland.
Today Bergschenhoek is a residential and horticultural village with the old ribbon village as its core. We run set pickup days through the municipality — centre, Parkzoom, Wilderszijde. Your bag goes along in the morning, and comes back in the evening clean, ironed and folded with the same driver. A service that fits a village that has known since 4000 BC: work goes on, but no one has to do everything alone.
How Wastas works in Bergschenhoek
On the set pickup day our driver is at your door. Clean laundry comes back by appointment — folded or on hangers, however you like it.
Other municipalities nearby
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