Agricultural exhibition

Fragment: One trip with him I remember vividly: the one on the occasion of a large agricultural exhibition on the Lammermarkt. This exhibition was held, if I remember correctly, once every five years in the Netherlands. I don't recall the name of the exhibition, but this year it was happening in Leiden and my grandfather took me along to admire all the state of the art agricultural machinery.
Send in by: André Spruijt

Memories

Fragment: Our house was located in front of the Lakenhal. Mrs Siere warned us to close the bedroom curtains, because the guard of the Lakenhal was spying on people in the night, at least, that was what she told. Never heard of it back then and I don't know whether or not is was true, but we closed the curtains after all.
Send in by: Joan Luijt-Verheij

That's where it happened!

'Texelaars' on the boat

My mother Thea Koks-Keesom (1915-2010) told us her uncle Hendrik Keesom would regularly come to Leiden by boat, all the way from the island of Texel. He would bring along many sheep and lambs (the famous 'Texelaars') to trade them on the Lammermarkt. On these occasions, this uncle would stay with his brother Willem Keesom, professor in Leiden.
In her childhood she has been on the boat back to Texel many times, to stay with her grandparents in Den Burg. In her student years (in the 30s), she took her complete ladies debating society along for a sleep over. Of course, the boat was meticulously cleaned beforehand. I think they sailed via the Kagerplassen or the Leiden Trekvaart, Haarlem, Amsterdam, through the Noord-Holland canal, to cross the water for Texel near Den Helder.
The story in our family goes that during the war, people were illegally transported in between the sheep on the boat.
Send in by: mrs. A.S.J. Koks

stealing milk

screaming pigs

My parents, sister and me (my brothers hadn't been born yet) lived with my father's father. We lived above my grandfather's workshop on Langegracht 103. He made transmission belts. The building has now been demolished.
Every week, my sister and me would go with grandpa to the animal market at the end of the Langegracht. This was in the late 50s of last century.
I remember the pigs screaming when the were taken up. The bartering of the farmers whenever a cow, sheep or other animal was sold or bought. The corrals for the animals. Maybe my passion for livestock was started back then. I do know I was disappointed when the market moved to the Groenoordhallen. When the Langegracht was filled in we moved to Leiderdorp. My grandfather passed away then.
Send in by: mrs S Bavelaar

'zuddes'

Your picture of the market in 1955 in the Leids Nieuwsblad on 17 June reminds me of my 'Uncle Jan Kuijf'. For years he was involved in the market, particularly because he sold straw for the corrals. His warehouse was located in an old building in the St. Aagtenstraat. As a child, he took me along sometimes. Later he was again involved in the market, that had by then moved to the Groenoordhallen. On other days he worked as a trashman. He divided loads for the ships heading for Nieuwkoop to heighten the 'zuddes' there. Later on, he rode on the bulldozer, taking trash to an excavation site in Noordwijk. He lived on the Rijn en Schiekade in Leiden with his wife.
Send in by: mr. Vroonhof

an overheated man

Fragment: The Lammermarkt was paved with rectangularly shaped bricks. In the old days, the sheep stood in between chains and the cafe at the corner of the Beestenmarkt was still a true sheep-traders place. On the other corner was a cafe, later a copy shop. There was a post office too, located in something like a makeshift building, next to the sexshop. I have once gotten involved in a scuffle there with an overheated man, who I later pushed out of the window of that post office..
Send in by: mrs J. Cliné

bringing around milk

When I was a young girl, I had to carry milk to the family Van Rijn. They lived in the mill. A man and his two sisters, that was always something special! My name is Leny Beunk Verhoeven from the milkshop, earlier mentioned alongside the picture of my grandparents. Before I went to school I also had to bring milk to other addresses.

And I have another story: I had a friend named Mieke Alink. Her father was janitor of the Lakenhal and our milkshop was located on Lammermarkt 27, so whenever I wanted to visit her, I went up in the mulberry-tree to enter the garden of the Lakenhal. We were allowed to go into the Lakenhal in the evenings. Anyway, you could pick the mullberies and they tasted delicious! Mieke's mother used to pickle them. Our paintings have been hanging in the museum for some years too. It was such a nice director, unfortunately I have forgotten his name.
Send in by: mrs L. Beunk-Verhoeven

The stingy one

You could say Willem Ravensberger, aka 'De Krent' (The stingy one), was the first homeless hobo after the World War II. He slept on the livestock market every Thursday, to make a little money there on Fridays.
The story goes he made a lot of money on the black market during the war and was a very rich man. He got married in the Lakenhal. He and his wife arrived there by carriage with white horses. Unfortunately, his money was worthless after the war, because he couldn't account for it. He burned his money behind mill De Valk. With his money love left him: his wife didn't fancy him anymore.

All of a sudden he lost his house and money. He rummaged around and Leideners bought him drinks and food. At night he would sleep on the streets, the last years mainly in the Fokkestraat (near the Lammermarkt). A couple of students were concerned about him and bought him an old Volkswagen van. He slept in there from then on. At the end of his life he lived in the Elisabeth Gasthuis at the Ceciliastraat. They washed him, cut his hair and gave him new clothes. Mostly he only stayed there for a few days and went straight back to the streets. Whether or not he died on the streets I don't know, because by then I didn't live there anymore. He was a well known character around the Lammermarkt, everybody knew 'De krent'.
Ingezonden door: Hendrien Rietkerk-Jansen

my grandparents Verhoeven

This picture was taken in 1915 or before. The original was send as a postcard by my mother (Pietje Verhoeven) and the stamp says 17 June 1915. In the building a milkshop was housed, with a room for drinking coffee and farmers made their payments for the weekly animal market. On the picture you see my grandparents Verhoeven and one of my uncles.
Send in by: Kees Verhage

Jubel-VEBO

This picture of the sheep- and cowsmarket on the occasion of the Jubel-VEBO was taken on 2 September 1955. The picture is from the collection of the Historische Vereniging Oud Leiden, and is to be found on the website of Leiden's Archives.
Thanks to: Mr. Stol

Ad Sanctos

For years, my father owned the undertaker's business Ad Sanctos on the Lammermarkt. Many stories about this I don't know, but I do have many pictures of the Lammermarkt, made by my father.
Send in by: mrs Helma van de Geijn

wedding car with police escort

I'm a man 82 years of age. Between 1954 and 1962 I lived on Lammermarkt no. 19a. I lived in with my parents in law, the Mooten family.
My father in law owned a tabac shop and the farmers that came to the farmers market two times a week were good customers.
When I lived there I got married, but we didn't take into account that the market was held on the same day. That resulted in a police escort for our wedding car!
Living there was hectic, because in the nights preceding the market there was a lot of noice. The fences needed to be arranged and the farmers came in early too. It was lively though. Next to us the brothers Schouten used to live, and a bit further down the road there was cafe Siem Kossen. Then there was Willem Ravensberger (aka De Krent), who would do all kind of groceries for a reward. A nice neighbourhood all in all.
Send in by: mr. J. Zwart

drama on Lammermarkt 27

It's February 1912. Old KNMI data show the temperature in those first days of the month drops below 0 degrees. But then all of a sudden thaw sets in and temperatures rise to 7 degrees after 5 February. The canals are still icy and two little 9 year old boys step on the ice, behind the mill on 8 February. It's Jopie Verhoeven and his friend Segaar (I don't recall his first name). The boys fall trough the ice. People come to the rescue. One of the two boys is still alive, the other appears to have died. In all the hectic, someone says this boy is Jopie Verhoeven from the milkshop on the Lammermarkt. People take the living boy to Lammermarkt 27. Drama follows. In the confusion the two boys are exchanged and a bit later someone brings in the dead boy. In the narrow hallway, on the stairs upwards (the family lived above the milkshop), the two boys pass eachother. The mother (my granny) is desparate. In pure sorrow she writes an obituary in the local newspaper: 'Please do not bring your condolances'. In our family, the story goes that granny has never been the same again.
Send in by: Kees Verhage (grandson of granny Verhoeven-Singeling)

lammermarkt / Beestenmarkt Leiden in 1930

Thank to: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken

Lammermarkt / Beestenmarkt Leiden in 1940

Thanks to: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken

In relation to World War II, people practiced how to handel poison gas attacks in Leiden. These air protection activities took place on, among other place, the Lammermarkt, next to mill De Valk.

Lammermarkt / Beestenmarkt in 1933

Met dank aan: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken

Stadsreinigingsdienst reinigt de Lammermarkt na afloop van de veemarkt, 1939.

Lammermarkt / Beestenmarkt in 1964

Thanks to: Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken

J.H.Rubingh filmed the live stock market on the Lammermarkt in 1964.