Cities in the Netherlands
North Sea Region II
The Story of Waterlandkerkje
Until 1970 it was the centre of an independent muni-cipality and realigned itself with Oostburg from then on. In the mid 19th century, the municipality also contained the hamlets of Turkeye, Klein-Brabant, Stroopuit and Plakkebord. During the Eighty Year War, some of the Protestant inhabitants of Belgian village Waterland-Oudeman fled a few kilometres north beyond the area under control of the Spanish. Established in their new settlement, they returned ‘home’ only once to tear down -stone-by-stone - their church and rebuild it in their new hometown: called Waterlandkerkje since. Although the church burned down in 1713, it again was painstakingly rebuilt and restored in 1956.