Vliedorp
Vliedorp is a vanished village on a mound. After disasters such as the Christmas flood of 1717, all that remains is the old cemetery and the story of a special place.
Vliedorp is now little more than some old gravestones and a few trees, but it was once a lively village with a rich history. It originated in the Middle Ages and a stone church arose around 1200, probably on the spot where a wooden church had previously stood. The name Vliedorp, meaning "refuge", sounds like a place where you should be safe, but that did not always turn out to be the case.
In 1717, disaster struck during the infamous Christmas flood. 32 houses were destroyed and 48 people perished, along with an impressive number of animals: 142 cows, 29 horses, 16 pigs and 194 sheep. Yet things were already going downhill for the village earlier. In 1651, Vliedorp was ecclesiastically merged with Houwerzijl and in 1694 the last marriage took place there. A year later, the church was demolished and the tower had already been moved to Houwerzijl by then.
After the ...
Vliedorp is now little more than some old gravestones and a few trees, but it was once a lively village with a rich history. It originated in the Middle Ages and a stone church arose around 1200, probably on the spot where a wooden church had previously stood. The name Vliedorp, meaning "refuge", sounds like a place where you should be safe, but that did not always turn out to be the case.
In 1717, disaster struck during the infamous Christmas flood. 32 houses were destroyed and 48 people perished, along with an impressive number of animals: 142 cows, 29 horses, 16 pigs and 194 sheep. Yet things were already going downhill for the village earlier. In 1651, Vliedorp was ecclesiastically merged with Houwerzijl and in 1694 the last marriage took place there. A year later, the church was demolished and the tower had already been moved to Houwerzijl by then.
After the Christmas flood, the last residents left the village. By 1750, all the houses were gone, and even the weem, a vicarage farm, was demolished after 1800. However, the cemetery remained in use for a long time. Until the 20th century, funeral processions brought the deceased from Houwerzijl across the water to the abandoned mound.