De Meern

De Meern is a former town in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is a neighbourhood of the city of Utrecht, and lies about 5 km west of it. In 2001, it became together with Vleuten, a city part of Utrecht called Vleuten-De Meern.

The statistical area "De Meern", which also can include the surrounding countryside, has a population of around 10320.

History

De Meern was founded during the Roman times, because it was not only trade-wise but also a good strategic spot to build an encampment (castellum).

The Rhine was the Northern Border of the Roman Empire, and there were several Castella across the borderline. In De Meern, not only a complete Castellum has been found, but also several ships, roads, pottery and currency have been found. Most of these items (especially the big items) have been put back into the ground for perfect preservation, since the riverclay prevents them from rotting (it hardly lets oxygen through).

After the Roman Empire fell apart, trade in De Meern collapsed, leading to spontaneous migration to other (bigger) cities. During the Middle Ages, De Meern was just another farming village of no significance. Nowadays, De Meern is part of the agglomeration of Utrecht. Currently (2008), Utrecht is building 30.000 homes which will house about 80.000 citizens.