Photos of the farm, the Omtadaborg
To this day there is a farm on ’t Zandt in the province of Groningen, The Netherlands, on which our family name is based: the Omtadaborg (or Omtadaheerd) located at the Omtadaweg 8. There is still a moat around the farm. The current front house dates from 1867 and was probably built on the foundations of the medieval castle, the Omptedaborg.The Omtadaborg is one of the few remaining head-neck-trunk farms in the province of Groningen (fig. 1 to 4, photos 1920-1940, fig. 5 and 6, recent photos of the Omtadaborg).
1. The Omtadaborg with the residential house renovated in neoclassical style by Luilf Willems in 1867 (’t Zandt 1889-1989, pg. 206)
2. De Omtadaborg, house and garden around 1920 (Bulthuis)
3. De Omtadaborg in the thirties
4. De Omtadaborg (backside) around 1935
5 and 6 Recent photos of the Omtadaborg
Pictures from the 17th century of the Omptedaborg castle
Until the mid of the 18th century at the location of the Omtadaborg a castle could be found, the Omptedaborg. In figure 7 the location of the Omptedaborg, close to the village ‘t Zandt in Groningen, The Netherlands, is indicated by a red arrow.
7: Location of the Omptedaborg indicated by a red arrow
According to an article in ‘Ter Verpozing, Popular literary weekly supplement of her Nieuwsblad van het Noorden’, the Omptedaborg was a fairly large and sturdy building. It consisted of three continuous parts: the heavy main building on the right, the middle building with the entrance and the smaller left building. The building on the right is somewhat reminiscent of an ancient ‘stone house’, the oldest borgh type, actually a heavy defense tower. Proudly stood Ompteda with its nice medieval gables, its narrow windows, its lively turret’ (see fig. 8). Figure 3 shows a nice picture of The Omptedaborg in 1672 with the family arms of the Ompteda’s.
8: The Omptedaborgh in an article in ‘Ter Verpozing, Popular literary weekly supplement of her Nieuwsblad van het Noorden’
9: The Omptedaborg with the family arms of the Ompteda’s, Stellingwerf +/- 1723 based on Joris Camp 1672